A Poetical Science: Exploring Art, Feminism and Technology through Contemporary Curatorial Practice

Exploring alternative knowledge and drawing on my curated exhibition A Strange Kind of Knowing (Arusha Gallery, London 2019) this project will present a multidimensional vision using curation as matrix, to illustrate how Womxn in art and technology employ care, relational ethics, and intuition to find new knowledge Arguing against separation

of "Technic and Magic" (Campagna, 2018), I would advocate for a more complicated holistic and pluralised practice

that "extends beyond ... literal technological mechanics" (Russell, L 2020 Glitch Feminism). "A Poetical Science" seeks to critically engage with evolving narratives in art, feminism, and technology; investigating the marginalization of womxn's contributions to technology and art and seeking to show that alternative knowledge characterises it.

Acknowledging the 'magical' emotional and intuitive, it will challenge the dominant 'technic' narratives that often

exclude the feminine just as "Xenodata Spirit Tactics" posits a critical stance against the commodification of knowledge within techno-capitalist systems, advocating for a 'xenopraxis' that disrupts established epistemes. (Anikina, A. and Keskintepe, Y., 2023).. (Corneliussen, 2011; Powell, Bagilhole, Dainty, & Neale, 2004; Webster,

2006). . Matrix Mother Womb Network System

Researching Ada, Plant ("enchantress of number" Plant 97) and others, I will trace a lineage of practice and map a genealogy of womxn's techno-artistic practices, reclaiming overlooked culture and narratives in a contemporary context. Using an intersectional lens (Cho, S., Crenshaw, K.W. and McCall, L., 2013) to look beyond a Euro-centric

perspective and examine how artists globally have co-opted alternative knowledge to found technological systems

as poetic tools (Gajjala, R., 2004 & Seu, M & the Cyberfeminism Index Project) this will be curation in its original

meaning, pertaining to care, to reappraise Lovelace's legacy. As Elizabeth Grosz says "history, the past, is larger than the present, and is the ever-growing and ongoing possibility of resistance to the present's imposed values" (Grosz 2020). 7 / 24 I will research feminist theoretical frameworks and analyse institutional exhibitions, such as in Wired Magic at Haus

der Elektronischen Kunste Basel 2022, Still I Rise: Feminisms Gender Resistance Nottingham Contemporary 2018, and Griffin 2022 inc. Cybernetic Serendipity ICA 1964, where mirrors in Gordon Pask's Colloquy of Mobiles were 'female'. I would draw from Professor Danica Maier's research guidance on textile repeat patterns and variants and

processes and archival research. Qualitative data will be collected through interviews with artists, curators, and technologists. Working with NC, an algorithmic approach to curation might map the exhibition which will act as performative space embodying 'poetical science', showcasing the vital role of 'magic' in the construction of technological realities

(Federici, S., 2020). It will also serve as method of inquiry - 'a sensory matrix of the haptic, visual and auditory that the spatial exhibition offers and for which curating offers a kind of dramaturgy' O'Neill, 2016. The project will make a meaningful contribution to current feminist theory, providing new insights into the

contributions of womxn in the field of art and technology, presenting a nuanced perspective, the project will advocate for a future where technology and 'magic' are inseparable -ethically, emotionally, and relationally