Straying as Research by Katharina Swoboda

In Stray: Human-Animal Ethics in the Anthropocene (Power Publication, 2017), film scholar Barbara Creed introduces “straying” as a unifying concept between human and animal life in the Anthropocene. The obvious question – What could straying with more than human beings look like? – remains unanswered. As a response, this project aims to establish straying as a research-based methodology. Creed defines the stray as an abandoned creature and declares its marginalized existence to be a precondition for being named a stray. In contrast, my project attempts to activate other and more affirmative potentials to the condition of straying.

Open ended questions - What might straying look like in the more-than-human realm? - What do human and animal strays have in common? - What might feline straying look like? What can I learn about straying from cats?- What would a stray video look like? - What might straying look like in digital spaces? - What could stray objects look like?

I am not sure yet where this project will lead. And I am excited about its potential and the possible artistic reactions.

For next year's conference, I propose a multimedia presentation followed by a discussion of the current status of my project.

Stray cloud

A pop cultural preposition of stray objects,

from 30''

Grumpy Cat - is an online stray. Grumpy Cat has been all over the net.

Note: I tried to create this application without cat pictures. But I failed at the last moment. Cats are just too awesome not to be pictured.

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Katharina Swoboda - Straying as Research - 2025