Ritual Re-valuations

Concept Text:

Hetero-capitalist values permeate dominant methods of existence in terms of methods of consider time and inhabit space. The path toward “development nations” and “mature individuals” has become a path centered around the nuclear family unit and wage labor. Environmental relationships, community love, and personal expression fall by the wayside as outdated or childish modes of being. Inspired by the intersection of postcolonialism and queer temporalities, Ritual Re-valuations will present a series of brief encounters from fictional situations outside of hetero-capitalism. Packaged as what initially comes across interactive fiction following a “day-in-the-life”, the format will quickly loosen it’s threads as magical realism and collaged poetics which leave room for multilogic questioning of the assumptions governing values behind our time. Collage and poetry as media are unbound by the continuous image or continuous sentence. As such, collage and poetry can defy a uni-logical narrative and give opportunities for multi-logical revelations. The process of creating Ritual Re-valuations will act as a self-diagnosis on Tonia’s own dreams, wishes, and trauma as a body paining myself to function within the hetero-capitalist hegemony that scams the world they care about out of love and respect every day.

Bio:

Tonia B****** is an interactive artist, co-founder of Browntourage media collective, and M.F.A. graduate from USC Interactive Media & Game Design. Her methods build intimacy through collaboration as a way to process social issues with fresh aesthetics and radical imagination. Her projects span various forms from web-based new media to VR performance art. She has exhibited and spoken about her work in design, diversity, and technology internationally.