Experimental Communication
Julia van IJken
Julia van IJken is an artist and writer whose practice explores the intersections of media ecology, trauma studies, embodiment, evolutionary biology, persuasive tech and the more-than-human world.
During her BA in Fashion Communication and Promotion at Central Saint Martins she developed a keen interest in the embodied experience of video work and performance in a physical space. In this time she worked for artist Katerina Jebb and the academic journal Vestoj, as well as writing for 1 Granary, where she interviewed the likes of Lidewij Edelkoort, Julie Verhoeven and Antonio Banderas.
Working with a strongly research-led approach, at the RCA her practice has evolved from an interest in dress and the function, anthropology and poetics of our bodily adornments to a broader exploration of bodies in heavily mediated worlds, encompassing performance lectures, writing, video and sound work.
I am interested in the ecologies of tech: the human animal and our relationship with our tools, looking at the nature of technology in the widest sense of the word, encompassing all human inventions.
What are the paradoxes, possibilities, limitations, impacts and poetics of living with tech? What ways of life do technologies inherently create, whether designed intentionally or unintentionally? What are the impacts we are unaware of? How can we bring these into conscious awareness? And how can these impacts be counter-balanced? What role can community, connection and embodiment play in this?
GIF techno stress
Stemming from the parallels between the numbing and disembodying impacts of human technologies and the impacts of trauma on our bodies and nervous systems, this project looks at the relationships between our disconnection from our physical bodies, our relationship with others and our relationship with the natural world.
Designed to reflect the rhizomatic nature of this body of research, the website features multiple entry points that flow into a small selection of impressions of this research. Every element is extended into relationship with another, leading the viewer through a non-linear network of connections.