Grammatikopoulou, C. (2024), “Spells and Specula: Some Technofeminist Strategies to Decolonise the Body”, Ferra, I., Ferra, F., Patelis, K. and Karatzogianni, A. (Ed.) Future Feminisms (Digital Activism and Society: Politics, Economy And Culture In Network Communication), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 21-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-414-620241003
In 2013 a small group of artists, activists and researchers gathered in Calafou, an ‘ecoindustrial anticapitalist colony’ located in an old industrial complex in the outskirts of Barcelona, to create the Pechblenda Lab. The initiative was a ‘TransHackFeminist space where free knowledge springs from raw experimentation (electronic repairs, experiments with turbines, bioelectrochemistry, sound…) and self-education’. Thus they set out to explore issues that relate to their bodies, gender and sexuality through innovative technological solutions and collaborative knowledge building, through the organisation of GynePunk workshops, the setup of online and offline collaborative spaces, as well as activist performances. In their TransHackFeminist Manifesto they call themselves ‘the Cyborg Witches of Calafou’.
This will be the starting point for our research into tech performative activism and the artistic practice of people that belong to this group or are loosely connected to it. In order to approach the topic, I will focus on three prominent elements in their first TransHackFeminist convergence in Calafou in 2014: the Speculum, the Witch and the Cyborg. These three elements will become the boundary objects for our theoretical approach to the colonisation and decolonisation of the body through science and technology, a quest that inevitably begins with seminal texts of technofeminism and postcolonialism, but is largely oriented towards Black feminism and gender theory, as well as queer theory. The theoretical discourse will be complemented by the presentation of artistic projects that belong in this research line. The projects presented are connected to Transhackfeminism, a movement that uses hacking as a means of resistance and generation of knowledge through transdisciplinary artistic, aesthetic or cultural practices. Through workshops, performances and DIY/DIWO/DIT experimentations, the activists presented here produce knowledge and build communities of knowledge exchange, promote free culture and explore the fluid territories that connect the human with the technological element. Applying the Transhackfeminist approach to the current text, we will not differentiate between theory and practice, but rather view both as tools to build the discourse.
Through the theories and practices presented, first, I will explore the process of colonisation of gender and technology and then, talk about decolonisation as a strategy to reconsider gender imperatives and technopolitical power.