This week we were lucky enough to have Xtine Burrough, media artist, author, and UT Dallas Associate Professor, join our class discussion and speak to us about her work. During the online portion of class, Xtine explained her book, Art as Social Practice, and the inspiration behind it. Similar to the mission of this course, Xtine’s book explores “how artists use their creative practices to raise consciousness, form communities, create change, and bring forth social impact through new technologies and digital practices.” Xtine explained that “emerging technologies” doesn’t just refer to what we might generally consider technology to be today. I found the examples of the seed, communal VR spaces, and artificial intelligence to understand mushrooms and their communication to be particularly interesting. There exists a diverse set of technologies Xtine explores, which I believe is incredibly important in any workspace. While the methods and kinds of media practices these artists might engage with differ, they have one thing in common; they produce work with the intention to raise consciousness, foster communities, and elicit change. Xtine is passionate about “creating participatory projects for networked publics and using digital tools to translate common experiences into personal arenas for discovery.” Therefore, such work is inherently altruistic and multidimensional.
Source: https://vitalcapacities.com/4748/
During the second portion of class, we met up with Xtine outside on campus! We were given the chance to further explore her mission to expand, transform, reimagine, and create new platforms for meaningful exchange in both physical and virtual spaces through use of one word poetry. One word poetry is poetry that can be said in one breath.
I really appreciated the simplicity of this exercise, as much of the world is so complex. I often associate poetry with well-articulated thoughts and detailed imagery. It was nice to hear a poem could be exactly these things but still short. Knowing my poem had to be said in one breath took the pressure off and allowed me to hone in on what message I wanted to get across in one short breath. My small group and I chose the theme of stress; it felt fitting given that we are all preparing for finals around the corner. While we collectively agreed that we’re all under academic stress, we acknowledged that we all have our own unique stressors as well. I decided to cater my poem towards the stress I feel knowing that I am graduating in a few weeks. I am constantly worrying about the life I am going to live, rather than the one I am currently living. It feels as though my life is fleeting before my eyes and I am in a constant state of fear of the unknown. My one breath poem is written below:
Why must I want all of the lives I am not living?
I really appreciated Xtine for sitting down with my group and discussing our theme. I could tell she genuinely cared about us and our stories. She also asked us how we alleviate stress, which prompted us to go around in a circle and share how we participate in self-care. It was a really beautiful shared experience to listen to everyone’s poem. Upon further research into Xtine and LabSynthE, this project aims to “create intimate experiences for public participation that translate technological interactions through poetic gestures.” I am so thankful to have been introduced to such a wonderful project! I opted to call the number Xtine shared and left a message of my poem in hopes that it contributes to a great sense of community outside of the one we created on Wednesday in the Sculpture Garden.
Source: https://www.tclf.org/landscapes/franklin-d-murphy-sculpture-garden
Sources:
Art as social practice: Technologies for change. Routledge & CRC Press. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://www.routledge.com/Art-as-Social-Practice-Technologies-for-Change/burrough-Walgren/p/book/9780367758462
LabSynthE: Labs & Studios. ATEC at UT Dallas. (2022, January 16). Retrieved May 22, 2022, from https://atec.utdallas.edu/content/labsynthe/