Wild Mythologies
From the micro-cultures of childhood to religious festivals, art, literature and global histories, storytelling has been at the heart of the human experience as far back as we can decipher. To craft a story is to convey meaning through symbols, visual, aural and otherwise. We might not believe a story in literal terms, but it can communicate a sense of a lived reality in emotive and sharable ways. Stories and speculative fictions can help make sense of the world and suggest new cultural norms. But they can also reinforce historical patterns and attitudes, further embedding existing cultural values. Folklore can bring a community together, and propaganda divide it. The story, as a form, can be held differently – legends take lightly the tale's veracity, and fake news grips the attention of its viewer.
A Response to Research: Defenses as Reflex
In an era dominated by mass production, luxury materials, and digital ephemera, the challenge of shifting the audience’s focus from passive consumption to critical thinking is becoming more pressing. Engaging with humble, unadorned materials demands a deliberate attentiveness that disrupts the instant gratification and surface aesthetics pervading contemporary visual culture. When an installation requires sustained attention from the viewer without offering immediate resolution, there may be an opening for the viewer to move from passive observation to active participation. One viable consideration for sustaining attention is through enticing cerebral and sensorial faculties. More specifically, the invitation to be placed into a world of uncertain appropriateness may encourage the viewer to confront resistance or sadism to foster active inquiry required to awaken a dwindling buzz.
In The Lives of Flies, Tatiana Istomina creates a living (and dying) bio art installation,
Dancing with the Ghost: An Exercise in Counter-Forensics
On Poem for E.L. (or Processing the Violence of Imposed Narratives) by the artist Maya Gurantz.
Identifying the forensic turn in contemporary popular culture, media theorist Lindsay Steenberg argues that it appears at the intersection between science, the justice system, and the media. In her book, Steenberg asks: "Mediated or tabloid forensic science is an area where academics, journalists and the public are interested in asking the same questions—what effect do programs like CSI have on American culture?" (Steenberg 2013: 102) The obsession with unresolved crime cases, murders, or missing persons has resulted in a rising number of television programs and media content in which the forensic narrative seems