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Performative Provocateur: Björk’s eco-feminist fantastical worlds as speculative spaces of fashion
Full text linkBjörk's Cornucopia (2019-) presents a conceptual music performance that defies the conventional global arena tour. In this speculative sci-fi worlding, Björk applies an interdisciplinary practice to intertwine fashion, scenography, and technology as visual components for storytelling. The overarching narrative of Cornucopia presents a utopian vision of a future that harmonises nature, humans, and multiple species.
This essay analyses the post-human world of Cornucopia through an eco-feminist perspective. Björk refutes social and cultural constructs of the female form and the misogynistic parading of the female performer. She occupies space beyond the perimeter of her body, remapping and reconceiving femininity. The analysis defines the costumes and set design as key to the dramaturgy of Cornucopia's through three main elements: body, space, and technology. Through a visual analysis, the paper reveals the ambiguity of the delineation and intersections of body-fashion-interior.
I argue for the importance of a spatio-visual critique to examine the intersection of fashion and spatial design, and how this provides a unique insight into the eco-feminist, fantastical world of Cornucopia as a Speculative Space for Fashion
Glasgow International 2026
No full textThe visual identity for Glasgow International 2026 is a continuation of the collaborative work between artist Matthew Arthur Williams and designer Maeve Redmond. It is developed through a series of examinations, observing the artefact as object. Using material that is tethered to the social and material histories of Glasgow’s environment and architecture, the two have produced a still life tableau of the city, which again reflects the works in progress currently being created for the festival itself
A Review of Prototyping in XR: Linking Extended Reality to Digital Fabrication
No full textExtended Reality (XR) has expanded the horizons of entertainment and social life and shows great potential in the manufacturing industry. Prototyping in XR can help designers make initial proposals and iterations at low cost before manufacturers and investors decide whether to invest in research, development or even production. According to the literature (54 manuscripts in the last 15 years) prototyping in XR in XR is easier to use than three-dimensional (3D) modeling with a personal computer and more capable of displaying 3D structures than paper drawing. In this comprehensive review, we systematically surveyed the literature on prototyping in XR and discussed the possibility of transferring created virtual prototypes from XR to commonly used 3D modeling software and reality. We proposed five research questions regarding prototyping in XR. They are: what the constituent elements and workflow of prototyping are; which display devices can deliver satisfying immersive and interactive experiences; how user control input is obtained and what methods are available for users to interact with virtual elements and create XR prototypes; what approaches can facilitate the connection with fabrication to ensure a smooth transition from the virtual to the physical world; and what the challenges are and what the future holds for this research domain. Based on these questions, we summarized the components and workflows of prototyping in XR. Moreover, we present an overview of the latest trends in display device evolution, control technologies, digital model construction, and manufacturing processes. In view of these latest developments and gaps, we speculated on the challenges and opportunities in the field of prototyping in XR, especially in linking extended reality to digital fabrication, with the aim of guiding researchers towards new research directions
Human-Nature: Relations, Resilience, Reciprocity
Full text linkHuman-Nature commissioned by the British Council focuses on research undertaken with Indigenous communities in Malaysia. The overarching aim is to provide resources to creative practitioners - in responding to, addressing and raising awareness of the climate crisis - and its effects. Its objective is to prepare researchers, arts and creative practitioners and wider stakeholders interested in working with Malaysia-Bornean communities. It seeks to address the complexities and sensitivities required when engaging with Indigenous communities towards developing relational and reciprocal approaches that contribute to the resilience and sustainability of communities.
The report lays out the Malaysian-Bornean background context including an exploration of how Borneo’s geographic features inform diverse ancestral practices. It highlights the potential and challenges within the Malaysia-Bornean contemporary landscape for UK and international cultural practitioners seeking to engage with communities respectfully and collaboratively. It introduces the UN Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance in building resilience to climate-related emergencies with local communities. Through connecting arts-based creative practice and collective models it offers considerations and approaches to create ‘safe spaces’ to deepen understanding around how Indigenous knowledges and ancestral wisdom can facilitate reciprocal relations between Malaysia and the UK towards envisaging new sustainable and equitable models and ways of working. Central to these ways of working is to propose a shift in research design and creative approaches to foster more collaborative ways of working. The goal is to move away from extractive practices towards narratives centred on mutuality, reciprocity and exchange
Making decisions real: designing artefacts to enable democratic localism and inform approaches to participatory policy making
Full text linkParticipatory governance and policy making are gaining momentum globally, with design approaches supporting the development of novel processes and outcomes. Focusing in on the potential of participatory design approaches in particular, this article advances notions of design as a mode of intervention that can be mobilised in response to legislative assets and deficits in specific policy landscapes. This is explored through a case study drawn from an ongoing programme of design research investigating the potential of participatory design in the political context of Scotland. Reflecting on this case with reference to the democratic vision of the pragmatist American philosopher John Dewey, the core argument is that if such efforts are to yield meaningful results, institutions require agile and flexible approaches to design. It also proposes that the way forward is not a universal solution, but a strategic response defined by critical reflection on existing legislative and policy instruments. We emphasise the importance of designing infrastructure that facilitates dialogue and collaboration between governments and communities. This allows for a final set of proposals relating to design’s potential contribution to policy making, specifically relating to the role it can play in influencing how legislation is implemented, evaluated, and, ultimately, reimagined
Rich Things
No full textInspired by the work of one of Scotland’s most iconic authors, Alasdair Gray, Rich Things is a layered creative commission and collaborative response to The Alasdair Gray Archive’s collection and the AGA’s first publication. Bringing together writer Chitra Ramaswamy, photographer Matthew Arthur Williams, marginal texts by AGA’s Custodian Sorcha Dallas and designer Maeve Redmond, this project draws on Gray’s creative influence to explore the quiet heroism of artistic persistence, memory, and place
Chora (artwork), 36 Gallery, Newcastle, Feb-March 2026
No full textChora is a collaborative RDF funded enquiry between Sara Barker and Rosie Morris investigating immersive installations and intimate objects as membranes of a ruined body, archiving and transmitting tacit, and complex knowledges of care. The projects first iteration is a new collaborative public installation for 36 Gallery, Newcastle, serving as an artistic encounter and host to engagement activities.
As collaborators we draw on feminist spatial theory (Kristeva, Irigaray, Grosz), ecofeminist material intra-action and polyphony (Barad, Wall Kimmerer, Bakhtin, Ozeki, Cuddon), contemporary research into felt-knowledge and co-authorship (Springgay; Brand; Pallasmaa, Gale & Larkin), and archaeological research into neolithic tombs and kinship. Our installation investigates this as a porous, relational architecture (Ebling) —a container that behaves like a living or ruined body (Bachelard, Sasraku): a host, a skin, a shelter, a site of memory.
The resulting artwork forms a semi-translucent suspended muslin painting you walk into and around created by Morris, alluding to a womb, tomb or shrine. Placed inside at child-heights, in folds, and as drawers Barker’s works resemble votives, field-trays, archaeological fragments, sifted through and pushed into corners. Sally Pilkington’s 5:1 commissioned sound further intensifies space of comfort, introspection and dissonant dialogue with human and more-than-human bodies.
Morris’s methods of production are material and relational rather than representational, rooted in the embodied experiences of familial domesticity and reciprocity with the more-than-human. Acting as proxy or shroud for the human body, its size demands an enactment of arduous domestic labour: time spent grappling, folding, souring, mordenting, bathing and stitching. These actions are archived: red cabbage shibori-dye emphases bed-sheet-scale folds and creases, modifiers of soda crystals and vinegar alchemise colour, printing gestural traces of wringing, smearing and mopping. These actions set in motion a continuing a material intra-action between leaky, decaying, and digestive more-than-human-bodies, as materials drip and hang to dry, further interacting with heat and light.
The fabric’s form is bodily, mammalian (breast-like), and intestinal, echoing neolithic tombs and sarcophagi references to the body, kinship, and flesh-eating. There is a post-human flow (Fowler, Ingold) as objects destabilise to become material and relational: fabric bulges and wafts, revealing tensions between fluidity and solidity, further complicated in dialogue with Barker’s lyrically placed ‘Supports’ and at times transparent assemblages which frame, pinch, press, pierce, protrude, gather and conceal
Public Sector Radio in Scotland: A View from The Tenementals
Full text linkWritten evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee enquiry on Scottish Broadcasting
Every Tree Tells a Story: The role of the treescape in generating citizen wellbeing
No full textEvery Tree Tells a Story (EVERY TREE) is a participatory citizen science project based in Glasgow that explores the deep and multifaceted connections between urban treescapes and citizen wellbeing. Using artist-designed postcards, the project invited individuals of all ages to share personal stories and reflections about trees in their lives. Over 200 participants contributed to a growing archive of narratives, drawings, and memories, revealing multiple dimensions of human-tree interactions. Through qualitative analysis of 178 postcards, four key modes of well-being were identified: emotional (e.g., serenity, joy, grief), relational (e.g., family ties, shared rituals), physical (e.g., play, movement), and spatial (e.g., sense of place, beauty).
Findings highlight the restorative infrastructure provided by treescapes, which serve not only as ecological assets but as vital components of urban health and community identity. This paper outlines how these insights can inform policy, as they did Glasgow’s new Forestry and Woodlands Strategy (2024), by emphasising the social value of trees in promoting holistic urban wellbeing and encouraging inclusive, story-based engagement in environmental planning
Anselm Adornes: Travel, Trade, Cultural Exchange, and Intellectual Networks in Scotland, Bruges, and Jerusalem
No full textAnselm Adornes (1424–1483), merchant, diplomat, humanist patron of the arts, explorer, and pilgrim, is a pivotal figure in the cultural history of fifteenth-century Western Europe. His significance as a trusted advisor to James III of Scotland and Charles the Bold of Burgundy and his agency and influence within dynamic intellectual and artistic networks has not received the scholarly attention it deserves. Bridging the world of commerce and courtly diplomacy, Anselm Adornes is a charismatic individual who provides the perfect case study for this ambitious multidisciplinary book. Fresh perspectives on the account of his extraordinary pilgrimage across the Mediterranean to the Holy Land reveal perceptive observations not only of pious practices, places, peoples, and customs, but also of the importance of maps and navigation. As well as connecting Adornes to key works of art, architecture, manuscripts, and travel writing, this compelling volume uniquely sheds light on his deep relationship with Scotland and shows that country’s active engagement with the wider world. It will include transcriptions and translations of key documents, all previously unpublished, which makes it an important resource for those wishing to understand this exciting period of European histor