Research Catalogue

ارض حريه كرامه وطنيه land, freedom، collective dignity a slogan that has been with me for a long time, since the revolutionary moment in Tunisia in 2010, when we raised it in the protests, wrote it on the walls, banners that we held high, we sang and shouted it, it recurred in our writings, in our conversations, in our dreams of the sovereignty and independence of our lands. today I see, we see, houses bombed, falling down, turned into dust, piles of stones, dirt. the land carries it all, embraces the decay and transforms it. Down there, other times lie, invisible, suspended from the narratives of control and structures of oppression that dominate the realm above. in the past semester, perhaps even years, I have turned my attention to the interstices in cities that have been created, or rather overrun, by the political programming of urban spaces. They have become areas that have no specific function, no specific production value, no active role in the web of trajectories, signals, instructions, restrictions, power relations... they are just there immanent I like to go there, to step aside from the flow of traffic, to stand in the in-between corners that people hardly look at. I am always wandering, wondering how I can inhabit them, reconvert them, activate their performative potential, claim other times and relations that neutralise or reverse the dominant narratives around me. I took the act of strolling as a ritual, a method. I looked and all I found was dirt, soil, biomass, decaying debris, stones inhabited by microscopic organisms, a complex stratum composed of various "others". everything felt connected and embedded in itself. robert smithson wrote in an article: "the city gives the illusion that the earth does not exist. but what I saw was a symbiosis of things we often see as separate, they grow, they evolve, they shift as a one, a network of self-organising systems. There's no master, no slave. I saw in the land a biosphere highly charged with inter-independent times, stories, histories, memories, dreams, identities, homes, belonging, roots... they are all there, traces of our past, inherited from our ancestors, and of our present, which we define ourselves. monday, half past nine, the air is slightly aggressive, my hands are cold, I am collecting soil in this area behind the railway. I haven't broken any laws I promise, I haven't jumped any barriers, I've just been following the side of the canal. I don't really choose where I stop, the ground calls me, I respond. I walked to the back of this area that has no title, I found a small door hidden behind the herbs. It opened onto a cemetery, beautiful and quiet. I remembered Michel Faucault and his concept of heterotopia, which also fascinated me during the first semester. he described them as spaces absolutely other, the city's sacred and immortal wind. I saw in the in-between spaces of the city what I call heterotopias, a land for altered human and non-human relations, friday, february is almost over. spring is shyly approaching, I could see and touch it as I bent down to collect some earth. today I had an encounter with a microscopic, translucent creature. I've observed so much autonomy and self-sufficiency through it. vivieros de castro, a brazilian anthropologist interested in the amazonian cosmologies and amerindian perspectivism (the way in which humans, animals, and spirits see both themselves and one another, an idea that suggests a redefinition of the classical categories of « nature », « culture », « super nature » based on the concept of perspective). said in one of his lectures: "the experience that each 'self' has of the 'other' can, however, be radically different from the experience that the 'other' has of its own appearance and practices." -- Lecture 1, p. 51 it seems to me that when we turn our gaze to our other, non-human selves, who perceive reality from a different perspective, within a very different temporality, we learn so much about how the world is of relative semblances, for example, what is solid earth to us is airy sky to the beings who inhabit the strata below us, and what is airy sky to us is solid earth to those who inhabit the strata above us. it is a world of relative semblances, where different kinds of beings see the same things differently. in the last few years, before coming to the Netherlands, i've been volunteering on organic farms, dynamising the soil, collecting and redistributing biomass, planting wild forests... this has taught me a lot about how what happens in the soil can influence what happens above it, in terms of self-organising structures, symbiosis and, above all, solidarity. these last few months have also taught me that solidarity comes with love, it's hard to relate to the feeling without having love as a drive.

The Past is Rotting in the Future: Exploring the Aesthetics of Absence in Daily Life, embarks on an exploration of absence within the human daily life, examining its manifestation through relations, processes, and objects. It seeks to understand how absence is not merely a void but a significant presence that shapes perception, memory, and imagination. Through a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates personal narrative with academic writing, this research investigates the ways in which absence is performed, textured, and materialized. Central to the thesis is how photography, as both a personal and artistic practice, serves as a critical medium for discussing and visualizing absence, navigating through personal experiences of loss, and broader philosophical questions about how absence influences and constitutes our understanding of the world.

By researching crematoria and graveyards I try to break the taboo surrounding grief and death. What are the elements of design at these places that could provide comfort? What are the stereotypes about death culture that prevents us from fully accepting what happens to us when we die?

ART OF IMPACT 2022-2024 Expand your imagination to envision alternative futures! Arts universities have the potential to play a pivotal role in challenging times and the students are vital actors, often the voice of change. Nine students are here presenting their thesis, essays and parts of their degree projects! The Master program in Film and Media “The Art of Impact” is focused on how art has an impact on society and how art can change the society we live in. The program is research preparatory and consists of two years of full-time studies at advanced level. Working in different formats and new technology on digital platforms, the students have deepen their understanding of storytelling and its potential impact on their audiences. Community outreach, innovation, as well as global and urban contexts all interconnect, integrating sustainability skills and thinking to boost innovation and creativity in transition initiatives. Storytelling in challenging times. Hello future, here we come! Tinna Joné Head of subject Film & Media Assistant professor in documentary storytelling Stockholm University of the Arts

A master's thesis that aims to see how 2D animation can visualize hallucinations in VR, while examining the greyzone between technology and spirituality in the animation process. The animations are made for the VR documentary film: Urban Witches, by Nicia Fernandez.

(Eng) During the isolation in Mexico due to the pandemic, two groups of people fought their own ideals to prevent the disease: those who believed in scientific research, and those who followed shamans wisdom, the indigenous witches. Contrary to what people might believe, there are still a lot of beliefs in ancestry medicine in urban areas. During 2020 I have filmed clips of beliefs and traditions in different parts of Chihuahua, Mexico. I continued the research in Sweden and displayed the process at Tales Festival with sounds, objects and the film in VR. The name of the project: URBAN WITCHES. I aim to continue the research on ancestral connectivity from a scientific point of view. _________________________________________________ (Esp) Durante el aislamiento de la pandemia, dos grupos de personas defendieron diferentes posturas para prevenir la enfermedad: los de ciencia y los que siguen el chamanismo de los nativos indigenas, del cual mucha gente del area urbana aun practica. Durante el 2020 filmé un poco de sus creencias y tradiciones en el Estado de Chihuahua. Continué la investigación en Suecia y mostré el proceso con una instalación de arte la pelicula en VR, sonidos y objetos en el Festival de Tales. El nombre del proyecto: URBAN WITCHES. Mi objetivo es continuar investigando la conectividad ancestral desde el punto de vista científico.