Abstract
This paper explores human bodily fluids for morethan- human collaborative survival. We present four utopian fabulations in which urine, menstrual blood, and human milk are designed with beyond the scale of a singular human body. Each fabulation illustrates queer scales and uses of bodily fluids through extended or improper uses as pathways towards caring multi-species relations within a damaged environment. From these narratives, we reflect on imagining generous collaborations for an openness towards unknowable possibilities and crafting different measures through the tensions of coinciding scales.
Keywords
Bodily fluids, Collaborative survival, Queer scales, Queer uses, More-than-human, Breast milk, Urine, Menstrual blood, Speculative design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2021.23
Citation
Helms, K., Juul Søndergaard, M.L.,and Campo Woytuk, N.(2021) Scaling bodily fluids for utopian fabulations, in Brandt, E., Markussen, T., Berglund, E., Julier, G., Linde, P. (eds.), Nordes 2021: Matters of Scale, 15-18 August, Kolding, Denmark. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2021.23
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
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Scaling bodily fluids for utopian fabulations
This paper explores human bodily fluids for morethan- human collaborative survival. We present four utopian fabulations in which urine, menstrual blood, and human milk are designed with beyond the scale of a singular human body. Each fabulation illustrates queer scales and uses of bodily fluids through extended or improper uses as pathways towards caring multi-species relations within a damaged environment. From these narratives, we reflect on imagining generous collaborations for an openness towards unknowable possibilities and crafting different measures through the tensions of coinciding scales.