Mediated Natures panel at ISEA Durban

This month I had the privilege of traveling to Durban, South Africa to present on a panel at ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Arts) with some very inspiring artists and academics. Our panel was called Mediated Natures, Speculative Futures and Justice and was organized by Meredith Drum and Margaretha Haughwout. The panel took place over two sessions. The first included: Cesar Baio + Lucy HG Solomon, Grisha Coleman and Meredith Drum. The second included: Tyler Fox, Magaretha Haughwout, Simone Paterson and Rachel Stevens (me). I presented research in progress—I am looking at the site of the St Lawrence River where it acts as a border between Canada and the US and bisects the Akwesasne Mohawk territory. The site is home to the St. Lawrence Seaway Eisenhower Lock and Moses-Saunders Hydropower Dam, three superfund sites created by General Motors and Alcoa Aluminum, and a host of invasive and migrating species—a rich site for entangled existences. I haven’t landed on a form for the project, likely to be experimental documentary, and I haven’t yet found my “radical aesthetics,” but in the meantime, the presentation is called:

Place of the Big River (Kaniatarowanénhne)
Infrastructure, Waterways and Alien Others: Technologies of Collaboration through Contamination

Of course, there were so many great projects and people at ISEA and in Durban to get to know. Visiting South Africa for the first time was a gift. Pieces of the continent started to become more distinct and legible to me and sociopolitical complexities articulated in real time. Durban is a busy seaport town and used to be a major hub in the sugar trade. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, his autobiography about growing up biracial under Apartheid, was recommended and now on my list.

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Port of Durban

Map of the St. Lawrence Seaway