Residency at YHA Dartmoor: Creative Inspiration From An Ancient Landscape, Dartmoor, UK
Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund amd Arts Council England.
During our time at the residency, we intend to activate the site of Dartmoor National Park through the process of anarchiving. Anarchiving relates to the idea that sites can be understood as a living archives. As artists, Melissa Schwarz and I, engage with it as such and try to ‘re-alive’ the myth-infused sites of Dartmoor to imagine alternative realities. The output will be a ritual performance that will be captured and become part of a film in which we engage with the site’s past, present and future. As research-based practitioners, we intend to apply the lenses of hauntology, post-humanist thought and eco-feminist narratives to the history and mythologies of the area and connect them into narratives which can tell an audience about the hidden meanings of the site. In this context, we are also especially interested in the body in space, in connection to an eco-feminist approach which we bring out in our ritual performance.
The residency output: Forest, Stone, Flesh: Spectral Traces and Bodily Archives ︎
Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund amd Arts Council England.
During our time at the residency, we intend to activate the site of Dartmoor National Park through the process of anarchiving. Anarchiving relates to the idea that sites can be understood as a living archives. As artists, Melissa Schwarz and I, engage with it as such and try to ‘re-alive’ the myth-infused sites of Dartmoor to imagine alternative realities. The output will be a ritual performance that will be captured and become part of a film in which we engage with the site’s past, present and future. As research-based practitioners, we intend to apply the lenses of hauntology, post-humanist thought and eco-feminist narratives to the history and mythologies of the area and connect them into narratives which can tell an audience about the hidden meanings of the site. In this context, we are also especially interested in the body in space, in connection to an eco-feminist approach which we bring out in our ritual performance.
The residency output: Forest, Stone, Flesh: Spectral Traces and Bodily Archives ︎
2024
Podcast Episode
Just In Her Metapod: Digital Accelerationism in Modern Society with Nella Piatek
Part of podcast series led by Andrea Evgenieva, London (UK)
For the first episode of “Just In Her MetaPod”, we are joined with Digital Artist, Future Researcher, And Associate University Lecturer (UAL, Goldsmiths) Nella Piatek. As part of my research on the processes of Accelerationism in Online cultures, I interviewed Nella to learn more about her futuristic creative-cyber practice. The conversation revolves around the impact of technology on society, exploring themes of accelerationism, nihilism, and the blurring of realities. Nella offers a nuanced perspective on accelerationism, while challenging traditional notions of art and technology. We discuss the potential of digital technology to accelerate societal progress and the importance of democratizing art and technology. The conversation also touches on the concept of the cyber witch, a symbol of empowerment and resistance in the digital age. Throughout, Nella and I emphasize the need for creativity and hope in the face of apocalyptic nihilism and doomerism.
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For the first episode of “Just In Her MetaPod”, we are joined with Digital Artist, Future Researcher, And Associate University Lecturer (UAL, Goldsmiths) Nella Piatek. As part of my research on the processes of Accelerationism in Online cultures, I interviewed Nella to learn more about her futuristic creative-cyber practice. The conversation revolves around the impact of technology on society, exploring themes of accelerationism, nihilism, and the blurring of realities. Nella offers a nuanced perspective on accelerationism, while challenging traditional notions of art and technology. We discuss the potential of digital technology to accelerate societal progress and the importance of democratizing art and technology. The conversation also touches on the concept of the cyber witch, a symbol of empowerment and resistance in the digital age. Throughout, Nella and I emphasize the need for creativity and hope in the face of apocalyptic nihilism and doomerism.
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2024 February
Lecture and Workshop
When Gesture Becomes an Event
I had the pleasure to run another workshop day with MA Design Expanded Practice on a topic I love - gesture, movement and ritual.
We looked at Judith Butler’s Theory of Performativity, Speech-Act Theory, gestural metamorphosis, ritual making in the immediate space, participatory performance, environmental simulation, process as an event, the experiential evolution and many more.
However what I enjoyed the most is seeing the fantastical and wacky narratives come out of this - alien love stories, performances of egg fertilization, dance infestation.
Lecture given for MA Design Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths University London
We looked at Judith Butler’s Theory of Performativity, Speech-Act Theory, gestural metamorphosis, ritual making in the immediate space, participatory performance, environmental simulation, process as an event, the experiential evolution and many more.
However what I enjoyed the most is seeing the fantastical and wacky narratives come out of this - alien love stories, performances of egg fertilization, dance infestation.
Lecture given for MA Design Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths University London
An odyssey through the digital wilderness — from angels, girls, cyberwitches, cybernymphs, and swamplings, we trace the lineage of spectral bodies that have emerged from the digital ether. We delve into the cyberfeminist past and present, seeking not authenticity but the rich tapestry of artifice, play, and collective consciousness.
In this talk Nella Piatek theorises what it means to inhabit the spectral body. A spectral body exists in the fissure of technological systems, navigating the delicate balance between visibility and obscurity. Defying normative constructs of presence and absence, the spectral body is a leakage, seeping through and haunting the spaces it inhabits.
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In this talk Nella Piatek theorises what it means to inhabit the spectral body. A spectral body exists in the fissure of technological systems, navigating the delicate balance between visibility and obscurity. Defying normative constructs of presence and absence, the spectral body is a leakage, seeping through and haunting the spaces it inhabits.
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From sigils, runes, alchemy and symbols to the post-apocalyptic, otherworldly and non-human languages.
Had a fun time running this workshop with the Communication and Experience studio at MA Design Expanded Practice, focusing on semiotics and communication across space and time.
“A picture can hold a thousand words” but…which words?
Playing the role of the archeologist and the alien anthropologist we looked at how meaning is created culturally and how it can equally be re-interpreted based on our cultural perception.
Lecture given for MA Design Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths University London
Had a fun time running this workshop with the Communication and Experience studio at MA Design Expanded Practice, focusing on semiotics and communication across space and time.
“A picture can hold a thousand words” but…which words?
Playing the role of the archeologist and the alien anthropologist we looked at how meaning is created culturally and how it can equally be re-interpreted based on our cultural perception.
Lecture given for MA Design Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths University London
Extended reality and the economy of experience: how the contexts of image production and distribution are changing.
In an era dominated by constant technological innovation and global interconnectivity, it seems that the search for individual material possession has lost momentum, and that, on the contrary, more value is given to the experiences that enrich people's lives.
This phenomenon, defined by some scholars as the "economy of experience", is particularly evident in the younger generations and marks a detachment from the ethics of consumerism that characterized much of the twentieth century.
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In an era dominated by constant technological innovation and global interconnectivity, it seems that the search for individual material possession has lost momentum, and that, on the contrary, more value is given to the experiences that enrich people's lives.
This phenomenon, defined by some scholars as the "economy of experience", is particularly evident in the younger generations and marks a detachment from the ethics of consumerism that characterized much of the twentieth century.
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New position as Course Leader and writer of a 7-day intensive art course called "Worldbuilding, Alternative Realities and Story Realms". In this week-long course, we explored radical ways of seeing as a means to create alternative story realms and practice short filmmaking to examine how these can serve as catalysts for envisioning alternative realities and future narratives.
Course Leader and writer of a 3 week multidisciplinary design course called “Interactive and Critical Design” . I offer a quick theoretical and practical dive into the world of speculative design, critical design, cyberfeminism, non-human design, psychogeography and many other topics that I’ve had the pleasure to engage with over the years. I prompt participants to re-think how we interact with technology, space, and other beings and explore ways how values can be translated into design experiences.
Course Leader and writer of a 3 week multidisciplinary design course called “Interactive and Critical Design” . I offer a quick theoretical and practical dive into the world of speculative design, critical design, cyberfeminism, non-human design, psychogeography and many other topics that I’ve had the pleasure to engage with over the years. I prompt participants to re-think how we interact with technology, space, and other beings and explore ways how values can be translated into design experiences.
Starting a new position as Associate Lecturer in the Design Department at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Teaching across various units on MA Design: Expanded Practice throughout the entire academic year. Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops and supervising the Masters Project. Units include 'Studio Expanded Practice' or as unit co-lead 'Transfocality'
staff profile ︎
MA Design: Expanded Practice ︎
Teaching across various units on MA Design: Expanded Practice throughout the entire academic year. Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops and supervising the Masters Project. Units include 'Studio Expanded Practice' or as unit co-lead 'Transfocality'
staff profile ︎
MA Design: Expanded Practice ︎
2022 October
New Position
Associate Lecturer at The University of the Arts London
Starting a new position as Associate Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication at the London College of Fashion (LCF) and at the London College of Communication (LCC) at the University of the Arts London.
Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops andsupervising the Masters Project across MA Interaction Design and MA Fashion Media and Communication.
MA Interaction Design ︎
MA Fashion Media and Communication ︎
Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops andsupervising the Masters Project across MA Interaction Design and MA Fashion Media and Communication.
MA Interaction Design ︎
MA Fashion Media and Communication ︎
2022 July
Lecture
Praxis Plugged In: Applying Feminist Theory In An Increasingly Digital World
Lecture for the Praxis Plugged: Applying Feminist Theory In An Increasingly Digital World conference led by the Feminist Graduate Student Association (FGSA) Conference, Florida Atlantic University, Florida (US)
In this talk I speak about cyberwitchcraft as a design methodology for exploring alternative futures. I open the discussion with analysis of the current proliferation and how it hints towards a desire for new ways of creating connection, resistance and self care. I introduce cyberwitchcraft as a form of digitized feminism, that reclaims the figure of the witch and seeks ways for emancipation and empowerment in a patriarchal and capitalist determined world. However, most importantly I aim to discuss how cyberwitchcraft can be a valuable thinking tool in Critical and Speculative Design practice.
In this talk I speak about cyberwitchcraft as a design methodology for exploring alternative futures. I open the discussion with analysis of the current proliferation and how it hints towards a desire for new ways of creating connection, resistance and self care. I introduce cyberwitchcraft as a form of digitized feminism, that reclaims the figure of the witch and seeks ways for emancipation and empowerment in a patriarchal and capitalist determined world. However, most importantly I aim to discuss how cyberwitchcraft can be a valuable thinking tool in Critical and Speculative Design practice.
We’re barely glimpsing the vast potential and scope of technology. As new developments in the metaverse and VR continue to expand the realms of our experience, artists are finding innovative ways to explore the seemingly limitless potential of these new worlds.
Open Space at The Photographers’ Gallery has enabled six emerging young artists to experiment with augmented reality.
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Open Space at The Photographers’ Gallery has enabled six emerging young artists to experiment with augmented reality.
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The artworks in 'What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?' rebel against our endless desire for innovation and control, to which the extraction of minerals is inextricably linked. They regard minerals as independent entities that are given a voice in a world in which Western people are no longer the center of attention. For what are men compared to rocks and mountains?
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Every day we look at the black reflection of the screen of our phone, tablet or laptop. We see ourselves, but we can't look further at what's happening in the device. Yet the screens magically pull us towards them, we stare and reach for it.
New technologies have always been considered something magical, because they are abstract and often hermetic. We can't open them, we don't know how they came about. In Magic Mirrors, we want to show how magic and magical rituals can break open its seemingly hermetic. A scientific approach alone is not enough. We invite artists and visitors to break out of the black box together through imagination.
Tonight Nella presents Into the Ethereal (2021), an interactive and fictional narrative set in a post-internet future, where the servers of smaller social platforms such as Tumblr have been shut down as the larger platforms have become a monopoly. Using witchcraft rituals, the interactive work aims to explore radical future perspectives and new experiences that emerge when we relate to digital technologies in a more spiritual, sensual and emotional way.
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New technologies have always been considered something magical, because they are abstract and often hermetic. We can't open them, we don't know how they came about. In Magic Mirrors, we want to show how magic and magical rituals can break open its seemingly hermetic. A scientific approach alone is not enough. We invite artists and visitors to break out of the black box together through imagination.
Tonight Nella presents Into the Ethereal (2021), an interactive and fictional narrative set in a post-internet future, where the servers of smaller social platforms such as Tumblr have been shut down as the larger platforms have become a monopoly. Using witchcraft rituals, the interactive work aims to explore radical future perspectives and new experiences that emerge when we relate to digital technologies in a more spiritual, sensual and emotional way.
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Following a series of workshops for selected artists held in December, run by The Photographers' Gallery in partnership with curator Zaiba Jabbar (HERVISIONS), we have commissioned six new Augmented Reality works.
The final works will be launched monthly on The Photographers' Gallery website and social media from May 2022.
Each commission will also be supported by a series of one-to-one online guidance sessions with established curators and AR artists from the Open Space programme.
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The final works will be launched monthly on The Photographers' Gallery website and social media from May 2022.
Each commission will also be supported by a series of one-to-one online guidance sessions with established curators and AR artists from the Open Space programme.
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This podcast is part of the Witchcraft made Science series, a collaboration with curator Lieke Wouters. In this podcast, we approach the witch as a stereotype as well as a new feminist icon. Making space for the spiritual, the scientific and the sceptical aspects of witchcraft, all seen from an artistic lens. In this episode, we welcome designer and researcher Nella Piatek.
listen ︎
listen ︎
During Vanished Web, artists and designers Mariana Marangoni (UK/BR), Nella Piatek (UK/PL) and Wesley Goatley (UK) discuss recent work related to current and speculative endings of the internet. This gathering focuses on aestheticizing the frayed edges of the internet, resisting planned obsolescence of Big Tech and using witchcraft to honour our devices, but most of all it wants to show us that even when the internet ends, it will come back to haunt us.
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Modual: Open Futures was the University of the Arts London’s collaborative online workshop. In July 2020, we collaborated as design studios to develop creative initiatives that will address humanity’s needs at this unique moment in history. Over two weeks we imagined, developed and pitched creative projects for positive change, focusing on the climate emergency and a post-COVID world.
Funded by the British Council and in collaboration between The University of the Arts London, Glasgow School of Art, Design Machest, Studio Moross, Blast Theory and Extinction Rebellion
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Funded by the British Council and in collaboration between The University of the Arts London, Glasgow School of Art, Design Machest, Studio Moross, Blast Theory and Extinction Rebellion
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Nella Piatek
Nella Piatek is a critical designer, researcher and cyberwitch challenging the evolution of the human in conjunction with digital technology, along with the implications and values that this entanglement conjures. Their practice is a multimedia chronicle of a coven, materialised through performances, films and haunted operating systems. Through the lens of ecofeminism, cyberfeminism, and posthumanism, they reflect on how myths can offer insight into contemporary archives, impermanence, and hauntology.
Their alter-ego, Xris and the clan of cyberwitches and eco-priestesses, offers a perspective on how sites can be perceived as living archives. Anarchiving or ‘re-animation’ of these archives offers the opportunity to unveil the forgotten, often hidden narratives and failed futures that deserve existence as an alternative reality. Such a perspective offers a vessel to embody a voice against the consumptive relationship of the human species with nature and a figure that challenges the cyborgist behaviour already present in our everyday interactions with information technology.
Research interests:
Cyberfeminism
Eco-feminism
Cyborg Theory
Anarchiving practices
Hauntology
Post-humanism
Speculative Design & Alternative Realities
Nella is also an academic at Goldsmiths University and University of the Arts London, and an artist that develops this discussion through various exhibitions, festivals, and panel talks; for example The Photographers’ Gallery (UK), Ars Electronica (AT) and Oddstream Gallery (NL).
CV
SPECIALISATION
Media Theory / Critical Design Practice/ Speculative Narratives/ Future Thinking / Film Making
THEORY
phenomenology of digital being / cyberfeminism / digital subcultures / cyborg theory
PRACTICE
anthropological futures / socio-technical imaginaries / scenarios / rituals / new media
EXPERIENCE
October 2022 - Present
Associate Lecturer, University of the Arts London
Associate Lecturer in the Department of Media and Communication at the London College of Fashion (LCF) and at the London College of Communication (LCC) at the University of the Arts London.
Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops andsupervising the Masters Project across MA Interaction Design and MA Fashion Media and Communication.
MA Interaction Design ︎
MA Fashion Media and Communication ︎
October 2022 - Present
Associate Lecturer, Goldsmiths University London
Starting a new position as Associate Lecturer in the Design Department at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Teaching across various units on MA Design: Expanded Practice throughout the entire academic year. Tutoring, lecturing, leading group seminars, workshops and supervising the Masters Project. Units include 'Studio Expanded Practice' or as unit co-lead 'Transfocality'
staff profile ︎
MA Design: Expanded Practice ︎
July 2023 - Present
Course Leader and Consultant, Era Vision, Beijing
Course Leader and writer of a 7-day intensive art course called "Worldbuilding, Alternative Realities and Story Realms". In this week-long course, we explored radical ways of seeing as a means to create alternative story realms and practice short filmmaking to examine how these can serve as catalysts for envisioning alternative realities and future narratives.
Course Leader and writer of a 3 week multidisciplinary design course called “Interactive and Critical Design” . I offer a quick theoretical and practical dive into the world of speculative design, critical design, cyberfeminism, non-human design, psychogeography and many other topics that I’ve had the pleasure to engage with over the years. I prompt participants to re-think how we interact with technology, space, and other beings and explore ways how values can be translated into design experiences
October 2021 - October 2022
Guest Speaker/Special Lecturer (SL2), University of the Arts London
Guest speaker leading workshops, talks and group discussions.
2021, MA Interaction Design, LCC, University of Arts London.
2022, MA Fashion Media & Communication Summit 1: HYPERBODIES, LCF, University of Arts London.
July 2020
Modual: Open Futures Collaborative Workshop, University of the Arts London
Co-created a brief that imagined, developed and pitched a speculative project for positive social change.
June - July 2020
Post-Interia Initiative, Port 0: Future design research team, Escola Massana
Took part in a collective experiment aimed at critical inquiry and exploration of speculative practices for social re-stabilization post Covid-19. Was part of a working group focused on social practices around conviviality and their connection to the ecological transitions.
September 2019
Shift Summer School, Glasgow School of Art
Part of a progressive week of design innovation and creative project management workshops, in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Queen Margaret University
TALKS
2025
“Digital Angels Are Watching You: They Kept Your Girlhood For Late” for Everyone is a Girl Online: Tumblr Symposium at Theatreship, London (UK)
2024
“Accelerationism and Fluid Cyber-Identities” Part of podcast series led by Andrea Evgenieva, London (UK)
"From Angels to Swamplings: The Sisterhood of Spectral Bodies”
Part of Cyber_Identities, at Hypha Studios, London (UK)
2022
"Praxis Plugged In: Applying Feminist Theory In An Increasingly Digital World" Feminist Graduate Student Association (FGSA) Conference, Florida Atlantic University, Florida (US)
2021
‘Witchcraft Made Science’ : Episode 4 Part of a podcast series led by Future Based (NL)
"Into the Ethereal: Speculative Post-Internet Narratives"at ‘Goodbye Internet’ Festival at Oddstream Gallery, Nijmegen (NL)
EXHIBITIONS
2025
‘Interstices of Inhabitance’ - Ethereal Maison Gallery, London (UK)
2024
‘Mudsimmer’ - Alt R x Gossamerfog Gallery, London (UK)
‘Eden Transcends Reality’ - Pushkin House, London (UK)
2022
‘What Are Men to Rocks and Mountains?’ - Oddstream Gallery, Nijmegen (NL)
‘Open Space AR’ - Photographers’ Gallery, London (UK)
‘Magic Mirrors’ - Oddstream Gallery and Extrapool Dubbelweekend, Nijmegen (NL)
2021
‘Visceral Realities’ - University of the Arts London, London (UK)
2020
‘A View from Somewhere’ - ‘A New Digital Deal’ Festival at Ars Electronica (AT)
‘Future Experiences’ - in collaboration with Glasgow School of Art and the Sustainable Futures in Africa Network at The Lighthouse, Glasgow (UK)
2019
‘Post-Interia 2020’ - published by Port 0, online
2018
‘わノべ (Wanovation)’ - at Kyoto University of Arts, Kyoto, (JP)
‘Synesthésie' - ‘Nuit Blanche Kyoto’ Art Festival, at 大垣書店四条店, Kyoto, (JP)
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Ongoing
Framing Cyberfeminist Hauntology as a Socio-Cultural Artefact of Cyberspace: Spectral Modalities and Traces of Presence in Internet Subcultures
2021
Through the Lens of Nonconformist Cyberwitches: Witchcraft as a Design Methodology to Explore Alternative Futures
Machine Visions: AI and ML Representation in BBC Media, in collaboration with BBC Research and Development andUniversity of the Arts London
Seeing the Invisible: Aestheticising the entanglements of Google’s reCAPTCHA (Research Project + Satirical Output)
The AI Blackbox: Theistic conceptions of artificial intelligence prediction (News analysis)
2020
Re-imagining Flânerie as a Design Tool (Epistemology)
IO: Future Responses to the Tensions of Fast-paced City Life (Participatory Design, Psychogeography, Spectrum Mapping)
Future Experiences: Sustainable Development and the Global South, in collaboration with Sustainable Futures in Africa Network (SFA), Innovation School at Glasgow School of Art and University of Glasgow
2019
Evolve: Sustainability and compactness in new forms of furniture that adapt and grow with the contemporary families, as they move towards a more volatile, temporary and closely packed living environment
*winner of the Annual Neil Morris Prize - Best Furniture Design 2019
RESIDENCIES
2025
MAYES CREATIVE DARTMOOR Residency at YHA Dartmoor: Creative Inspiration From An Ancient Landscape, Dartmoor, UK
funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund
ETHEREAL MAISON Residency - Resident at the Ethereal Maison Gallery, London, UK
2024
ERA VISION Residency - Beijing, China
commissioned by Era Vision to create ‘What Would They Have Wanted’ film
QUEERING NATURE: THE QUEST - A RANDOM KINGDOM Digital Residency
funded by the European Union, Goethe Institute, OFAJ DFJW, Insitute Francais, Lios Labs, Deathless Flowers
2022
OPEN SPACE AR - Digital Residency commissioned by the Photographer’s Gallery London and Hervisions (Zaiba Jabbar)
PUBLICATIONS
2024 Everyone is a Girl Online Vol. 2: Seduction - ‘loving_bytes’ piece published
EDUCATION
University of the Arts London, London College of Communication, England
Masters of Arts (MA) in Interaction Design Communication with Distinction
Glasgow School of Art, School of Innovation, Scotland
Bachelor of Design (B.Des.) in Product Design with Honours of the First Class
Dissertation Distinction - Published in GSA Library
Kyoto University of Art and Design, Japan
6 month Exchange Program in Advanced Design
Contact
︎ Instagram
︎ Linkedin