From cows and chickens to rats, donkeys, and elephants, how should artists and designers approach the relationship between animals and humans? How can art and design challenge dominant anthropocentric narratives?
In this first edition of Lens of Impact, we are joined by Radhika Subramaniam, Associate Professor at The New School’s Parsons School of Design, and Daniel Hellman, a Swiss artist and animal liberation activist also known as Soya the Cow. In a discussion moderated by Caroline Dionne of Parsons, Hellman and Subramaniam will share their uniquely situated perspectives as practitioners working in Switzerland and the US, and explore the different lenses through which they approach their practice.
Lens of Impact is a joint initiative between Swissnex and the School of Art and Design History and Theory (ADHT) of Parsons School of Design. This event series invites Swiss and US-based speakers to engage in a cross-cultural discourse on art and design.
Presented by the School of Art & Design History & Theory at Parsons School of Design and Swissnex.
Radhika Subramaniam is Associate Professor of Visual Culture at Parsons School of Design/The New School, New York where she was also the first Director/Chief Curator of the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center (SJDC) from 2009-2017. She is a curator and writer with an interdisciplinary practice, exploring the poetics and politics of crises and surprises, particularly mobilities and walking, cities and crowds, art, and human-nonhuman relationships. Recent essays include Open Letter from Rattus Norvegicus to New York City, Notes for a Seedy Politics, and Donkeywork: An Eulogy.
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Animal rights, climate activism, music and queer feminism – spiced up with a good dose of drag: that's Soya the Cow. The alter-ego of Swiss performance artist, musician, and activist Daniel Hellmann blurs the boundaries between male and female, human and cow, and manages the balancing act between a serious desire to change the world and a humorous sense of lightness. After performing at animal rights and climate protests, international tours in theaters and art festivals, and appearances on TV shows such as The Voice of Germany, the singing drag cow comes to join us virtually in New York. With emotional songs and surprising storytelling, Soya will immerse you in her fascinating bovine universe that challenges the human self-image as the center of the universe.
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Caroline Dionne is a scholar and educator with a background in art and architecture criticism and curation. She is an Assistant Professor of History and Theory of Design Practice and Curatorial Studies and Interim Associate Dean of the School of Art and Design History and Theory (ADHT). Sitting at the intersection of literature, language theory, philosophy, and architecture, her research examines the role of language in everyday acts of placemaking and collective design practices, with focus on the politics of place—how power dynamics of gender, class, and race shape subjectivities. Her book, Design Theory, Language and Architectural Space in Lewis Carroll (Routledge, 2023) proposes design theories of the emergent based on a close reading of the complete works of nineteenth century writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll.
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