The Alien Between us
(2025)
author(s): Laura A Dima
published in: Research Catalogue
This thesis, The Alien Between Us, explores the intersection of touch, technology, and human connection through interactive installations designed to foster intimacy, empathy, and ethical engagement. Rooted in a technofeminist framework, the research examines how mediated interactions can challenge power dynamics, reimagine consent, and empower marginalised groups. Drawing on psychoanalysis, affect theory, and feminist philosophy, the work investigates the triadic model of the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real, as proposed by Jacques Lacan, to analyse human-machine relations and embodied communication.
The installation utilises haptic technologies to create symbolic connections between participants, obscuring identity and gender biases while emphasising bodily empathy and mutual care. Through wearable sculptures and mediated touch, participants engage in spontaneous, fluid interactions that reveal new possibilities for connection and self-awareness. The thesis also critically reflects on the ethical implications of technology, addressing its potential for empowerment as well as its dangers, such as reinforcing societal inequalities.
By integrating personal experiences, artistic practice, and scientific research, the thesis proposes a model of interaction that equalises power dynamics, protects against abuse, and promotes responsibility. It envisions technology not as a tool for exploitation but as a medium for fostering meaningful, inclusive relationships between humans and non-human agents. Ultimately, The Alien Between Us seeks to heal our relationship with technology and the body, offering a vision of a more equitable and empathetic future.
Tears are the lubricant of life
(2025)
author(s): Noor Remmen
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague 2022
MA Artistic Research
Writing introductions and quickly pitching my thesis must have become easier by now I suppose. I’ve talked about it so much these past months and to my surprise people get excited when I do. Somewhere along the fragmented lines of my communication I must do something good. I’ve caught myself often in that I keep saying the same thing. Which I suppose I will do again now when people ask me what it is about. It’s a multifocal piece, written my me and my friends, through conversations and interviews, in which we try to deconstruct our notions on intimacy. I guess it’s about (auto)cannibalism, sliminess, sex, love, anglerfish, grinder, bodies, sickness, healing and community too. The body as an archipelago and a guide to how to slowly consume oneself and the other.
PERFORMING WORKING PD HKU
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Philippine Hoegen
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Performing Working looks at work through the lens of performance and at performance through the lens of work. Who are we when we work, and who are we when we can't work (anymore)? What exactly is work and what is it not? In the research, the championing of waged work above all other activities is problematised, as well as its status as a condition for citizenship and social participation. We look at the social exclusion that this causes for different people, and try to make divers forms of hidden work explicit, exploring the value of that work and the dynamics of the invisiblisation of those doing it. We use performative, transdisciplinary and co-creative methods. A crucial aspect of the research is developing conditions for equity and reciprocity in collaborations between the various actors within the research.
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague 2022 MA Artistic Research Writing introductions and quickly pitching my thesis must have become easier by now I suppose. I’ve talked about it so much these past months and to my surprise people get excited when I do. Somewhere along the fragmented lines of my communication I must do something good. I’ve caught myself often in that I keep saying the same thing. Which I suppose I will do again now when people ask me what it is about. It’s a multifocal piece, written my me and my friends, through conversations and interviews, in which we try to deconstruct our notions on intimacy. I guess it’s about (auto)cannibalism, sliminess, sex, love, anglerfish, grinder, bodies, sickness, healing and community too. The body as an archipelago and a guide to how to slowly consume oneself and the other.open exposition comments (0)