Fertile Grounds: A Conversation with Andrew Mallinson (Feminist Internet) 22/10/24
Queerness finds its centre within our cities — bodies together, meeting, making, whose actions radiate outwards, drawing others in. Cities create a framework for community, offering safety in numbers. But what of bodies that exist outside the sanctuary of the city, of a queerness that tries to sow its seeds in country fields? Often, to be visibly queer in rural contexts is to exist at the margin — hyper-visible. The rural has its own centre, a rigid orthodoxy that rarely offers itself as fertile grounds for queerness. For many queer people in these communities, the screen becomes a means of escape, creating portals to our cities. Yet technology is more than a pathfinder; it offers the means of rendering the body anew, forming communities in virtual paradises. Join us for a conversation on the relationship between queerness, the rural, and technology, hosted by Feminist Internet co-founder Andrew Mallinson. By looking to technology as a way of building bridges, we will question how we can de-centre queerness from our cities. Can we envision a model of queerness that thrives in the countryside? What might a rural framework for queerness look like?
Voice Profiling and Resistance: A Talk with Amina Abbas-Nazari 27/09/24
The sounding of and listening to voices is increasingly mediated by artificially intelligent machine listening and conversational systems (such as Amazon's Alexa). These systems profile voices to surveil, analyse and understand people in ways which are normative, over-simplistic and ultimately harmful to those who are marginalised within society. In this event, Amina Abbas-Nazari will present their PhD research that investigates these issues and propose ways to reveal and resist voice profiling in and by AI, through an expanded understanding of the sounding of voice.
Cultus & AI Religiosity: A Talk with Zach Blas 14/05/24
We have invited Zach Blas is giving a talk at the Pervasive Media Studio (14 June) as part of Queering AI. Zach will discuss his newest work CULTUS, an immersive moving image installation that addresses a burgeoning AI religiosity in the Californian tech industry.
Join our 2024 workshop cohort for Queering AI
We're running a series of 4 artist's workshops in 2024 and are looking to recruit a pool of paid attendees. If you're an artist, programmer, educator or citizen interested in building a queer tech community we'd love to hear from you.
Next Future Speculations Reading Group, 16/04/24
We will be discussing Neptune Frost directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman at the Pervasive Media Studio. We will also be screening this at the Department of Film, University of Bristol on 15th April at 6pm. More information, please email katy.dadacz@bristol.ac.uk
Drag and Drop Workshop, 19/03/24
How has technology changed drag culture? Can we use AI to invent our own drag personas of the future? Join us for an evening of creativity at the Watershed's PM Studio, find out more here.
Queer Tech Meet Up X Future Speculations Reading Group 19/09/23
Queer Tech and the reading group came together for a lovely evening to discuss two incredible texts; Hacker Manifesto McKenzie Wark & The Real World of Technology Ursula Franklin
Creating Queer Values in Community Tech 30/1/24
A space to share our experiences in queer spaces, university/institutional spaces, tech spaces to create values for machine streams. This value creation was an interpretation of Dr Max Liboiron and the CLEAR Labs value creation and consensus making practice.