Catastrophes and Promises is a book of fragments. It was made from brief words heard during the plenary panel at 4S-EASST 2016 in Barcelona, and written down on torn-out notebook pages. These word fragments have been painstakingly pieced together. They tell their own story, one made from the residues of another time. They make a…
This piece was composed and performed for the STS Problems roundtable, as part of 4S-EASST 2016 conference in Barcelona. Endre Dányi and Noortje Marres invited and inspired short interventions in response to the question ‘Does STS have problems?‘ The piece suggests more than one problem for reflection… Download and read ‘This is not a…
In March, the UK National Infrastructure Commission released a report on how the electricity grid needs to change in order to keep the lights on, and meet the 2050 targets to reduce carbon emissions by 80%. The report is called ‘Smart Power‘. It proposes 3 changes to the grid: increased interconnection with other countries; actively…
“This is how I was born, how my creator, Victor Frankenstein, sparked me into energetic life…” So began my performance-paper at 4S 2015 (Society for Social Studies of Science) and AAA 2015 (American Anthropological Association) in Denver. I performed a character who haunts the islands of Orkney, abandoned out of hubris after her creation by…
Ebban an’ flowan is the world’s first poetic primer on marine renewable energy. The book focuses on the Orkney islands, as the leading international test site for this nascent energy industry, and expands to reflect on its relationship with the Nordic countries across the sea. Through both language and technology, the book explores how use…
Free to download. A collection of seven cards demonstrating the invisible work ongoing at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), in the Orkney islands, Scotland – the world’s first grid-connected test site for wave energy and tide energy – and the place where I have been working since 2003. Seasmith, Prophet, Transducer, Storyteller, Beacon, Selkie:…
As part of my performance paper at Nordic STS this year, at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, I created a Wordmap to guide visitors through my world-made-in-words, a world made from my fieldsite in Orkney. It reflects on the machines we choose to make our worlds, and our futures. The performance featured this wordmap, a reading…
There is a long archaeology of futures in the mobile telecoms industry, futures that have appeared with much fanfare, been forgotten, and then resurrected once more. The ‘watchphone’ (recently popularised by the Apple Watch) is perhaps the most recent example of a walking dead future, with a history and archaeology from decades past. There are…
Poem for an Entangled Age, handcrafted book. This poem was written and edited during the symposium Environmental Entanglements: Art, Technology & Natures at Det Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Copenhagen, 28-29 October 2014, where both artists and academics performed and discussed their work. The words are drawn from the speakers’ presentations and subsequent discussions. The poem…
This book chapter began as a performance keynote at 4S/EASST 2012 annual conference in Copenhagen. Lucy Suchman, Pelle Ehn, and myself were asked to consider the conference theme ‘Design and Displacement: Social Studies of Science and Technology’ and how that might be situated in different places around the world. (Inspired by the Orkney Mailboats project).…