What could or should the year 2050 look like? What changes can we as artists make in what and how we work to realise this vision, particularly through the prisms of ‘neurodivergent creative practice and research? What’s wrong with now – why the need for bang on about ‘adult themes’ (term used in iPlayer descriptor) like anti-colonialism as we traverse to the future? Why must we bang on about ‘adult themes’? How to push back polite censorship and other pushbacks?
Thank you ever so much for facilitating the safe and thought-provoking space with your presentation yesterday. It was very rewarding to learn more a bout your work and context of the film. Thank you so much for this. So joyful, thoughtful and really inspiring way of talking about work. For me, in so many conversations around futurity and also neurodiversity softness and tenderness play a central role. And I was really pulled in by the octopus and the paintbrushes of your clips – soft, yet full of creative potential and ability to act on the world. Malleable and also shaping the world. There are so many unfurling thoughts in my head about this’
Organiser of University of Cambridge workshop A. Nikolova
Thank you so much for this. So joyful, thoughtful and really inspiring way of talking about work
Participant of the same workshop
Photos of Castlefield workshop by Helene Heilbron @heleneheilbronphoto . Above: ‘Double Entendre‘. Still from Exercise III: Curating Change (Cat and Muse), from How to Thrive in 2050. Below: Extract from Popular Culture and the State in East and Southeast Asia, edited by Nissim Otmazgin, Eyal Ben-Ari (p197, Routledge, 2012)
This new ‘masterclass‘ — one of many to continue the task of knocking/mocking the master’s (sic) story — premiered on May 2022 as an in person workshop preceded by a portfolio session at the Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK. 16:30-20:30. Another version was run at University of Cambridge, November 2022. In this course, we will look at clips from my commissioned film about a ‘neuro-futuristic’ 2050, How to Thrive in 2050 currently playing on BBC iPlayer, then break into groups and share thoughts and action for our immediate and longer term future. We will cover tactics to push back the pushback, such as forms of censorship and control. No it ain’t Singapore 2001 anymore (read about how Persistence of Vision was illegal as it broke the ‘political film act’ here, here, here on Wikipedia, and extract from a Routledge book in the screenshot below). We also aren’t just referring to the strongmen tactics ala Putin or Big Brothers, as the Big Aunties and neo-colonialism are alive and kicking in overt and disguised/polite forms in multiple registers alike in our world in commotion today .
