Witchcraft made Science with Anna McCarthy

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 artistic lens. In this episode, we welcome artist and researcher Anna McCarthy. Anna McCarthy is known for her interdisciplinary, collaborative, and also often humorous, poetic as well as political approach. The artist studied at the Kingston University of Art & Design London, the Akademie der bildenden Künste München and at the Glasgow School of Art. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Haus der Kunst, D-0 ARK Underground, Kunstverein Göttingen, Kunstbau im Lenbachhaus, Goethe University Frankfurt and the Schaustelle Pinakothek der Moderne. In 2019/2020 she taught as a substitute professor at the Akademie der bildenden Künste München and in 2020 received the USA Scholarship of the Bavarian Ministry for Science and Art. Anna McCarthy also plays in the bands MOON NOT WAR and WHAT ARE PEOPLE FOR? We talk with her about her performance IT'S A STAKE STRIKE, which took place in 2021 during GLOBAL ANGST, part of the Spielart Theater Festival in Munich. As the grand finale of GLOBAL ANGST,  Anna McCarthy staged a radical abstract opera to tame the world’s fears. By igniting the global Angst wicker man with a closing ceremony that manifests new shapes from the fire, symbolically countering its initially destructive nature and often ritualistic affiliations to bigotry (be it witch hunts, book burning or the Ku Klux Klan), Anna McCarthy reclaimed it as an element for replenishment and rebirth. In a theatrical and musical rendition, she took on the persona of Lucy Strike to call out the wicker man to honour current and past victims of bigotry.

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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.