Trans Futures

Originally conceived as multiple iterations in different locations, TRANS FUTURES was unfortunately interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic after the first run.

The first TRANS FUTURES workshop / transgenic performance was run in collaboration with MedialabMX in Mexico City during February of 2020.Over the course of 3 days spread out through a week we performed plant transgenesis with the soil bacteria Agrobacterium Tumefaciens who is able to insert “xenogenes” into a plant’s genome. Looking at the coloniality embedded in current manifestations of these technologies, we asked: what alter past~present~futures can we create, and how can we, "repurpose technologies for progressive gender political ends..." as challenged by Xenofeminism.

Workshop Blurb from MedialabMX call for participants:
"This workshop is an introduction to Synthetic Biology and plant transgenesis from a queer perspective. We will go over the basic concepts of cell biology and learn techniques for in-silico (on a computer) DNA design. We will also do an in-vivo (in a living plant) genetic modification procedure called Agroinfiltration. Together we will look at the violent colonial patriarchal structures that have produced these technologies and ask if and how it’s possible to, "repurpose technologies for progressive gender political ends..." as challenged by the 2016 Xenofeminist Manifesto."

The full workshop curriculum can be accessed here under the "TRANS FUTURES" tab.