I Scared My Computer

At the time of writing, the UK has just set a new record for the two consecutively hottest days in February, which has sparked equal amounts of delight and concern. Although the hot weather is probably not, or at least only in part an effect of the increase in the atmosphere’s overall temperature, the concerns are real and justified. Hang fire disasters and solutions on ice. The trigger has been pulled and while we wait to see when the projectile of our dreams and aspirations will (back)fire, we root around for a mobilising narrative with the potential of bringing us together, even on some basic level, around caring for our immediate and future livelihoods. 

With recent environmentalist projects taking a turn away from preservation towards construction in acknowledgment of our already-constructed images of nature and the natural, there is a need for thinking creatively about the terms of this construction without grabbing for the myopic universalisms of the past. If modernity’s ignorance and optimism brought us into this sticky mess then information and complexity don’t quite seem to be unsticking us. Questions about the environment we inhabit become mirrors held up to humanity; fields for battles fought over definitions of humanness and ethical concerns whose complexities and intensities are multiplying by a factor equal to the number of emerging technologies proposing to solve the problems we are facing. 

Questions of identity have become inextricably entangled with questions of environment. Is the question of ‘how do we preserve?’ or its origin, ‘who is (p)reserving what and for whom?’, the question that we should be referring to as our primary navigational instrument? The line of questioning in the present exhibition of artworks and texts highlights the importance of continually interrogating our nature/culture construction, be they assemblages of plants, words, hardwares or softwares.

This exhibition, which has been curated in collaboration with The Westworks, the Royal College of Art and the RCA Students’ Union, is presented in one of the yet unoccupied shopfront spaces of White City Place; neighbour to the RCA’s temporary home in White City. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication comprised of four texts written by researchers (staff and students) from the College in response to a double article by Iranian philosopher Reza Negarestani, published in e-flux in 2014: 'The Labor of the Inhuman, Part I: Human' and 'The Labor of the Inhuman, Part II: The Inhuman'. 

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Exhibiting Artists

Seungjo Jeong
Anna Nazo
Adam J B Walker
Frances Young
Karen Bosy
Be Andr
Gareth Proskourine-Barnett

Contributing Writers

Elizabeth Atkinson
Eleanor Dare
Eleni Ikoniadou 
Kyle Zeto

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RSVP via Facebook

Free drinks, and performances start: 6.30pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm on 14 March.

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The launch and exhibition takes place during Know Your Home week and as part of the Students’ Unions’ ongoing SU Research Series, whose purpose is to create opportunities for researchers to present their work and strengthen the research community by creating connections with other communities within and outside of the RCA. This year, the SU Research Series focuses on questions around class, sustainability and self-care.