Abstract
Keywords:
Contemporary witchcraft, Coven, Biotechnology, Bioart, DIY, Do-It-Together, TechnoFeminism, Magic, Collaboration, Anticapitalism
Bioart Coven is an intersectional feminist collective of 75 international artists, makers, and activists, including cisgender, queer and nonbinary contemporary witches, witchcraft enthusiasts and occult- curious; we are technophiles, hackers, scientists, and healthcare workers as well as academic researchers and non/postacademic critical thinkers—all of whom have gathered around a powerful, niche set of sociopolitical interests. These interests are encapsulated as a promiscuous interchange between witchcraft and TechnoFeminism, which I call TechnoFemininst Witchcraft. The Bioart Coven name gives an appreciative nod to, and adapts of the title of the book, Bioart Kitchen; Art, Feminism and Technoscience by Lindsay Kelley. In Bioart Kitchen, Kelley investigates the history of domestic labour and its role in sci-tech development, revisited through a feminist lens. Important to note is that she refrains from mentioning or alluding to witches, though many of us have worked from our kitchens. Bioart Coven initiates from a feminist historiography of the figure of the witch as intimately linked with the birth, development, and socioeconomic expansion of industrial technologies—including biotechnologies. As a coven, we look at how working with vital materiality, technoscientific and communal ritual processes across digital space informs relational aspects of consumptive culture, through the lens of the witch.
- WhiteFeather Hunter is an internationally recognized Canadian artist as well as SSHRC Doctoral Fellow and Australian government scholar at The University of Western Australia. She has presented work in institutions across the world, most recently at Art Laboratory Berlin, the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, and Romaeuropa. Hunter’s art practice incorporates biotechnology, feminist witchcraft, video performance and pedagogy to create disruptive sci-tech narratives towards bodily autonomy. Recent publications include in Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies and Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research.