30% Seminar


You are welcome to attend the seminar marking 30% of my PhD. I will present my research in conversation with Laura Devendorf, from University of Colorado, Boulder.


When: Friday 24th 2023, 16.00 CET

Where: AT KTH Campus, room 4618 or online https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/66847309259

Title: Feminist Design for Ecologies of Intimate Care

Abstract:
In this seminar I will present the current research directions for my PhD, which is situated in the context of designing for menstrual cycles and intimate care. I draw from the call made by feminist technoscience and feminist posthumanities to resist the dominance of vision as the main pathway towards bodily knowledge (predominantly through screen-based interactions), and instead center the sense of touch when designing these technologies. This ‘tactful’ way of knowing, of sensing, holds potential to bridge the gap between ‘the sensor’ and ‘the sensed’ when it comes to the intimate body, and to bring the data representation and interpretation close to the body as well. To exemplify these thoughts, I will present past and current design projects that focus on bodily materials, specifically, intimate bodily fluids. These materials are particularly interesting for the tensions they create in blurring bodily boundaries of the human body, bringing in discussions on stigma, toxicities and ethical implications of doing this work. I will end by discussing challenges and future directions in hope of further exploring the ecologies of these intimate interactions, accounting for the various material, social, and environmental agencies that touch and are touched by the menstrual cycle.