To intra-act is an alternative way of thinking about agency and how we approach the world. Intra-action differs from interaction in the following ways:
- Interaction: assumes entities that meet are completely separate and exist outside of one another’s influence.
- Intra-action: the theory that we are entangled in a collaborative process of becoming. We are constantly ‘exchanging […] influencing and working inseparably.’ (1)
Both the human and non-human are involved in intra-action. This includes giving agency to social and political conditions, and the apparatus involved in an experiment - slow glass could be an example here.
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An example of intra-action for Karen Barad - who created the term - can be seen in slime mould. Slime moulds display a ‘re-configuring of bodily boundaries’ as they morph from an uncoordinated group into a kind of multicellular slug connected by nerves and an immune system for example. (2)
What do slime and slow glass as a curatorial practice have in common?
Following on from my multi-disciplinary approach, slow glass gathers a multitude of stories, research, conversations, chance encounters existing within a practice. These encounters intra-act continuously with one another. They are always working within my practice and, even if not visible, are entangled in the project’s becoming. To the original question: What do slime and slow glass as a curatorial practice have in common? Slow glass, as a space that carries, may appear full of separate entities, but each project sees them morph, like the mould, into something connected and whole.
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- Karen Barad talking about slime moulds
- 1. Whitney Stark, Intra-action (2016), [last accessed [10/11/20]
- 2. Adam Kleinmann, ‘Intra-actions: Interview with Karen Barad’, Mousse Magazine, 34 (2012), 76-81, p.78
- Image: Photograph by Audrey Dussutour, featured here
SLOW GLASS AS CURATORIAL PRACTICEI. RE-FRAMING SCIENCE-FICTION 1.1 On Re-framing1.2 Critiquing macho science-fiction1.3 Annotations- Slow Glass1.4 Feminist Strategies1.5 ResourcesII. EXPERIMENTS: FIELD NOTES 2.1 Permeating disciplines2.2 Refraction 2.3 DiffractionIII. ENTANGLING 3.1 Shifting Temporalities3.2 Re-turning3.3 Intra-acting 3.4 ResourcesIV. FURTHER READING 4.1 Glossary4.2 Research fragments
SLOW GLASS AS CURATORIAL PRACTICEI. RE-FRAMING SCIENCE-FICTION 1.1 On Re-framing1.2 Critiquing macho science-fiction1.3 Annotations- Slow Glass1.4 Feminist Strategies1.5 ResourcesII. EXPERIMENTS: FIELD NOTES 2.1 Permeating disciplines2.2 Refraction 2.3 DiffractionIII. ENTANGLING 3.1 Shifting Temporalities3.2 Re-turning3.3 Intra-acting 3.4 ResourcesIV. FURTHER READING 4.1 Glossary4.2 Research fragments