prOphecy sun

Feminist Bodies in a Posthuman Mountain Imaginary

Abstract

From afar, nestled in complex rows, the mountains of the Columbia Basin appear as wondrous, breathtaking and hyper-impenetrable beings. But up close they are vibrant and seem impervious to human touch even after long occupation and mineral mining, holding space for a plethora of organized systems in which trees, plants, water, mycelium threads, linking roots, fungi and other life forms cohabitate, communicate and live in a state of consensus. Yet, even then, these systems, organisms and water passages are competing against and challenging each other, and in a way, co-becoming other (Dooren, 2016). Theorists describe this complex act as a multispecies relationship, which continually re-forms and transitions into something new – revealing more-than-human shared spaces of temporality (Kirksey, 2014; Morton, 2010).

Inspired by the multiplicity of regions in the Columbia Basin in southeastern British Columbia, in particular, the traditional territory of the Sinixt communities surrounding Nelson, this presentation will explore Feminist Bodies in a Posthuman Mountain Imaginary, a multichannel artwork featuring a series of vignettes filmed in the mountainous communities and water passages surrounding the Basin. The artwork creates artistic accounts and movements between historical, fiction and figuration – all in response to the ever-changing landscape of the watershed. Referencing recent traditions of Art 2 Intervention, Performance Art, Land Art, and the canon of feminist art history and what Donna Haraway calls “vibrant-human actors,” my research seeks to investigate some of these tensions by invoking feminist stewardship (Haraway, 1988; 1997; Hayles, 2008). Asking the questions: What does a posthuman mountain imaginary look like? How do the watersheds change the ecosystems throughout the Basin region? Can bodies move through these systems without disruption? And, how do the views up close vs. far away change these systems?

Bio

prOphecy sun is an interdisciplinary performance artist, movement, video and sound maker, mother and Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University. Originally from Vancouver, she is currently living in Nelson on the unceded territories of the Ktunaxa, Syilx and Sinixt peoples. Informed by her creative studies in vocal and movement improvisation, her practice celebrates both conscious and unconscious moments and the vulnerable spaces of the in-between in which art, performance, and life overlap. Her recent research has focused on ecofeminist perspectives, co-composing with objects and matter, extraction and surveillance technologies, and site- specific engagements along the Columbia Basin region and beyond. She performs and exhibits regularly in local, national and international settings, festivals, conferences and galleries and has authored several peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and journal publications. She holds a BFA and MFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. She is also the recipient of the Carmichael Canadian Landscape Exhibition Jurors Prize, the Governor Generals Gold Award, CKCA Major Arts Award, and has received support from the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, Helen Pitt Scholarship, Graduate Studies and the Provost’s Office at Simon Fraser University.

Matthew Goldsmith

Elfriede Jelinek's Greed: Watery bodies, Vibrant Matter, and Feminist Ecopolitics

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide an eco- and material-feminist reading of Elfriede Jelinek’s novel Greed. The novel, set in a small village in Styria, Austria, centers the small-town exploits of Kurt Jensch, a village police officer, husband, father, and killer of women. Originally published in German in 2000, the novel was translated into English in 2006. Greed is unique in that in addition to Jelinek’s signature attention to the cruelty and violence underpinning Austrian society, Greed pays additional attention to Austria’s natural environment and environmental concerns, such as the commodification of water and nature, environmental degradation related to mining and other ecocidal practices, and the environmental impacts of capitalist consumption. Jelinek’s attention to the environment and environmental degradation, especially as it relates to water, allows for a novel reading of the work, particularly the entanglement of violence against women and the environment, and the way such an understanding of interconnection and co-vulnerability opens new possibilities for thinking feminist subjectivity differently.

Bio

Mitch Goldsmith is a PhD candidate in interdisciplinary humanities at Brock University in St. Catharines, ON which is located within the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. He is a member and former research fellow with the Posthuman Research Institute at Brock.

Discussion