Witchcraft made Science with Alexandra Neuman

This podcast is part of the Witchcraft made Science series, a collaboration with curator Lieke Wouters. In this podcast, we approach the witch as a stereotype as well as a new feminist icon. Making space for the spiritual, the scientific and the sceptical aspects of witchcraft, all seen from an Alexandra Neuman is an interdisciplinary reptile currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Drawing on ideas from postcolonial theory and multi-species feminism, her work focuses on positioning human being as an ecological process rather than as an individual body or self. She received a BFA in Visual Arts and Anthropology from Sam Fox School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis (2015) and an MFA in Visual Arts at University of California, San Diego (2021). She is a past participant of the Arteles Residency in Haukijarvi, Finland, the PRAKSIS Residency in Oslo, Norway, and the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art in Berlin. Her films have shown at Anthology Film Archives, Museum of the Moving Image, and the Eyeslicer. She is a Webby Award Honoree as well as the recent recipient of the Initiative for Digital Exploration of Arts and Sciences (IDEAS) grant at Calit2. We talk with her about the card deck radical becoming in the ongoing now, which is inspired by the divinatory practice of the Tarot, this interactive card deck employs the potential of play, chance, and continuous reshuffling towards unraveling the humanist doctrine of separation. through the conflation of implicit anthropocentric binaries such as nature/culture, life/nonlife, human/animal, male/female, mind/body, past/future, same/other, self/world, radical becoming in the ongoing now envisions a praxis of planetary subjectivity in which every Now moment is an opportunity for submerging oneself into the moisture of the W/hole. (source: Alexandra Neuman)

Om Podcasten

Questioning established frameworks. Why do we want robots? What about the ethics of new technologies? What is privacy? What is valuable? What role does intuition play in science? What is knowledge? And how do we obtain knowledge? What is morality? What does ‘evolution’ mean? How do new technologies influence our norms of social interaction? What does science say about religion? How does religion deal with science? What is AI and can we speak of cognitive computers? Can we gather new insights into the world through art? Which role does art play in producing knowledge? What is intelligence? And how should we consider the intelligence of animals and plants? Do animals have emotions? Are we hard-wired beeings? Does the world really change at a faster pace? What do the terms ‘sustainability’ and ‘innovation’ actually mean? What does it mean to be human? What are the consequences of my actions? Asking questions can provide access into gaining insight. In many areas, too few questions are asked, or a subject is merely discussed unilaterally. Future Based wants to organize discussions with experts in their field to ask critical questions. Not to necessarily find straight answers, but to formulate more specific questions, and to foster a deeper understanding of the world we live in. After all, the world is constantly changing. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to forget the importance of reflecting on how the world is changing, and in particular what the consequences of these changes might be. Future Based Podcast addresses issues ranging from the natural sciences and philosophy to art, technology and economics; a different subject will be highlighted in every podcast. We will engage in discussions with academics, field specialists and experiential experts.