Artery. A podcast on art, authorship and anthropology – Details, episodes & analysis

Florentina Manuel Martínez is a textile artist originally from the state of Veracruz, in the municipality of Chicontepec, in the community of Ateno. She is a Náhuatl language speaker. Currently she is living in Tamaletom (the municipality of Tancanhuitz, in the state of San Luis Potosí, México). Florentina is married to a Tének flyer man of Tamaletom. (Tének is an Indigenous group of Mexico and flying refers to the traditional ritual dance of prehispanic origins.) Florentina has lived in Tamaleton for 18 years and has learned much about the Tének culture. 

Michele A. Feder-Nadoff is an artist and anthropologist whose practice and research is concerned with the meaning of making [https://mfedernadoff.academia.edu].
Her longterm ethnography in Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, México began in 1997 initiated by her apprenticeship with a master coppersmith, Maestro Jesús Pérez Ornelas. This led to her founding the non-profit Cuentos Foundation, becoming a Fulbright Scholar and cultural anthropologist, PhD, El Colegio de Michoacán. Her critical aesthetics integrates onto-epistemology, performance, and phenomenology with multimodal and collaborative methods designed to decolonize education, art and anthropology. Her artwork is included in private and public collections worldwide. Recent publications include her edited volume, Performing Craft in Mexico: Artisans, Aesthetics and the Power of Translation, 2022, Lexington (Bloomsbury Press), her monograph An Anthropology of Making in Santa Clara del Cobre: Presence of Absence, 2024, Palgrave, and numerous book chapters and articles. She is the assistant editor of the Journal of Embodied Research and an independent scholar, translator, curator, video-producer, lecturer and a multimodal workshop facilitator.  

Claudia Rocha Valverde, PhD in Art History is a professor and investigator at El Colegio de San Luis (COLSAN) in the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Center in Mexico. [https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=aZ-M7XMAAAAJ&hl=es]
Currently, Claudia is the academic liaison of the CASA COLSAN Xilitla Project. Her fieldwork is in the region of Huasteca in the state of San Luis Potosi, where she has carried out research on contemporary traditions of pre-Hispanic origins. In particular, she has specialized in how the knowledge of Indigenous Nahua and Tének women is manifested in the history and symbolism of their clothing, which they wear today in ceremonial contexts related to the concept of Madre Tierra, Mother Earth, which reflects the natural environment in which they live.

For more (and the Spanish version) click here. 

Musicologist Dr Adèle Commins is Head of Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology. Her PhD from Maynooth University focused on the music of Irish-born composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Her recordings include contributions to an album of Irish piano accordion music released by Comhaltas in 2014 and vocal soloist on an album by Irish composer Sr Marie Dunne in 2015. She also contributes music in two local churches. Her recent research includes critically documenting the music of Co. Louth céilí bands from the mid-twentieth century. Her compositions featured in the seminal publications Tunes from the Women (2023) and some have been recorded by Cork-based Ceolta Sí (2020).

Ethnomusicologist and geographer Dr Daithí Kearney is co-director of the Creative Arts Research Centre at Dundalk Institute of Technology, where he lectures in music, theatre and tourism. His PhD from University College Cork examined the geographies of Irish traditional music. An All-Ireland champion musician, he has toured and recorded as a musician, singer and dancer with a number of groups including Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, and performed for President Obama in The White House. He recorded the critically acclaimed album Midleton Rare with accordion player John Cronin in 2012 and continues to tour regularly. He wrote and produced the musical To Stay or Leave (2005, 2015) and his compositions have been recorded by groups including Nuada (2004) and Ceolta Sí (2020). As a composer, he has received commissions funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltachts and Cork County Council.

Both Commins and Kearney have published extensively on music including contributions to the Companion to Irish Traditional Music and the Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland . In 2017 they released an album A Louth Lilt, featuring their own compositions, and produced the documentary The Road to Speyfest in 2016. International tours including North and South America, France, Scotland, Norway and England. They have composed and arranged a number of pieces for the Oriel Traditional Orchestra, of which they are musical directors. In 2024, they were commissioned by Louth County Council to compose the score for a music theatre production Brigid, Lady of Light for the 1500 celebrations of St Brigid in Co. Louth.


Dr Kayla Rush is an assistant lecturer in music at Dundalk Institute of Technology. An anthropologist of art, music, and performance, her current research examines private, fee-paying rock music schools in global perspective. She previously held a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, supporting ethnographic research with Rock Jam, a private music education organisation in Ireland. Her work has appeared in Borderlands, Liminalities, Feminist Anthropology, Journal of Popular Music Education, and IASPM Journal, among others. She is the author of The Cracked Art World: Conflict, Austerity, and Community Arts in Northern Ireland (Berghahn, 2022). She is also a recognized teacher and practitioner of creative ethnography, with a particular interest in ethnographic science fiction.

Mike Williams is a lifelong Silat martial artist, teacher and performer. He is experienced with Pencak Silat since 1992 and has travelled many times to Malaysia, Sumatra and Java in Indonesia. He developed his expertise in at least 6 styles of Silat from at least 5 distinct lineages, these styles are called Panglipur, Cimande, Sera, Silek Harimau as well as partial training of Harimau Berantai and Cikalong. He is the founder of West Kent Silat Pedepokan in the United Kingdom, to which he occasionally organises seminar visits with his teachers: Jak Othman, Maha Guru De Bordes, Abah Gending Raspuzi, Kang Cecep Rahman and Abah Azis.
 
Fatema Albastaki holds an International Master's degree in Choreomundus: Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage from the University of Clermont Auvergne (UCA), Clermont-Ferrand, France; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; University of Szeged (SZTE), Hungary; University of Roehampton, London (UR), United Kingdom.
She is an independent scholar training in Silat and dance in Paris. She is involved in micro-phenomenological interview training and is a member of the Martial Arts Studies Network. Her current research involves cultural history, anthropology, and the performing arts, focusing on Silat as practiced both in Europe and the global South.

Song: Kidung; Rhythm: Padungdung Kendor. By Kendang Penca from West Java Indonesia.
Performed by: Gending Raspuzi.
Permission granted for use in this episode.

Asimina Chremos (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist and dance improviser, with over thirty years of experience in dance-making. Asimina’s practice flows within and between creative ecosystems, including movement improvisation, textile design, and digital art. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Asimina created Quarantine Dance Practice Diaries, expanding on her self-videographic improvisation practice in the 2000s. Alongside her creative practice, Asimina also teaches, guides, and collaborates. Asimina is currently leading the Screenbodies Practicum at Leah Stein Dance Company, which offers an in-depth somatic and artistic exploration of how our bodies can relate and adapt to internet-enabled screens.

https://asiminachremos.space/
https://vimeo.com/asiminachremos
https://www.leahsteindanceco.org/screenbodies

Zihan Xu (she) is a medical and multimodal anthropologist, with an interdisciplinary background in anthropology, psychology, and creative media. Her research broadly focuses on art and improvisation, body movement and mobility, affect and emotion, and health and wellbeing. Zihan is currently pursuing her PhD in social anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

Sound clips included in the episode:
‘Quarantine dance practice diaries,’ 2020, practice diaries by Asimina Chremos
‘Keyboardbody,’ 2023, sound work by Asimina Chremos
‘Speculating through the body,’ 2022, an experimental video essay by Zihan Xu

Tomoko Hojo is an artist working with the fluidity between sound, music and performance. Recently she has been working on the theme of what makes (women’s) silenced voices audible in history, with a special focus on Japanese women who developed relationships with western countries, such as Yoko Ono and Sadayakko Kawakami. Her works have been exhibited and performed at Tate Modern (London), Issue Project Room (NYC),  ZKM (Karlstuhe), Emily Harvey Foundation (NYC), Contemporary Art Center Aomori (Japan),  SA))_gallery (Moscow), Scandinavia House (NYC),  Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin), TOKAS Hongo (Tokyo),  IKLECTIK (London), mh PROJECT (NYC / Japan). In 2023, Tomoko published ‘Unfinished Descriptions’ through Yoin press. This exhibition catalogue documents a show based on research on Yoko Ono and her exhibition in 1966 in London.

@hojotomo [id] https://tomokohojo.net/
 
Andrea Giolai is an Assistant Professor (in Dutch, an UD) of Ethnography and Performing Arts of Japan at Leiden University. He teaches and conducts research on sound, the body, musical heritage and its reconstructions. His current project on ‘Sonic environmentalism and Japanese intangible heritage’ is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/andrea-giolai

Lee Ki-Yeon (이기연) is an artist and activist known for her advocacy for democracy during Korea's dictatorship era. In the 1980s, she co-founded Minjung art (민중 미술 people’s art) collective 'Dureong' (두렁) and explored Korean cultural heritages, including mask dances and folktales. Her influence extended into clothing when, in 1984, she initiated the 'Wearing Our Clothes Movement' (우리 옷 입기 운동). This social movement sparked nationwide interest in 'Everyday Hanbok' (생활 한복) — a rendition of Korean sartorial heritage tailored for daily wear. Lee Ki-Yeon believes that a change in attire can catalyse a change in mindset and behaviour. This sentiment is an extension of her earlier cultural movements, which emphasised daily practices that encourage symbiotic living among diverse life forms. 

http://jilkyungyee.co.kr/

Kim Yoonha (김윤하) is an anthropologist who is interested in exploring how heritage practices can offer alternative worldmaking. She is currently a pre-doctoral researcher at the interdisciplinary research cluster "Matters of Activity”, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH). 

Translation by Kim Yoonha with chat GPT, and narration by Descript Overdub.

Misumi Lancia is a virtual YouTuber (VTuber) idol and metaverse “resident” with developmental disabilities and gender dysphoria. For her, the virtual being Misumi Lancia is a “VRChat existence art,” aiming to escape her physical body by merging with machines and networks.

Website https://www.metamisumi.net/
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@LanciaMisumi

Liudmila Bredikhina is a Ph.D. candidate at Malta University, Department of Gender & Sexualities, Faculty for Social Wellbeing. Since late 2019 she has been researching cute virtual gender practices among Japanese male VTubers using feminine-looking avatars from the perspective of feminist and masculinities studies.

https://malta.academia.edu/LiudmilaBredikhina
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BredikhinaL

Narrator and translation proofreading: SheerPanic.

Rabab Chamseddine (b.1997, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) is a Lebanese (spoken word) poet and film-maker based in Tyre and Beirut, Lebanon. She is currently completing her master’s in Literature at the American University of Beirut. Her poetry unfolds as an exploration of the bilateral theme of love and loss, and the poetics of meaning-making that emerge between them, in that very space of mourning, in Beirut. Chamseddine began her spoken word poetry journey in 2017 by partaking in poetry nights hosted in the hubs and communal cafes of Beirut, to later become the winner of Beirut Poetry Slam 2018. Her work will be appearing in an anthology entitled We Call to the Eye and the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Descent (Persea Books), edited by Hala Alyan and Zeina Hashem Beck, as of spring 2023.  
Find her on Instagram @ rababchamseddine 
Rebecca Appleton is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She is currently undertaking PhD research about the politics of contemporary women’s poetry in Beirut, Lebanon. The project researches the emerging and evolving performance and politics of women’s poetry in Beirut, focussing on poetry’s capacity to generate alternative spaces for personal, social, political, and gendered expression as the city negotiates crises. 

Emiko Agatsuma is a dancer and a choreographer specializing in Butoh, a  dance genre that emerged in Japan in the1960s as a reaction to Western modern dance. Having graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1999, she joined the largest Butoh Company - Dairakudakan founded by Akaji Maro. She had performed in every Dairakudakan production until 2019. She now heads the AGAXART production company for Butoh dancers and artists in Japan. Emiko is a recipient of the prestigious Best Young Artist 2015 Award by the Japan Dance Critics Association and she represented Japan in 2020 at the 39th annual Battery Dance Festival in New York City, USA.
https://agaxart.wixsite.com/agart/home
@emiko.agatsuma
  
Iza Kavedžija is an Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She is specialising in Japan, with primary research interests in art and creativity, the life course and aging, and health and wellbeing. She is currently leading an AHRC-funded project entitled ‘The Work of Art in Contemporary Japan: Inner and outer worlds of creativity’.
https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-iza-kavedzija

Translation and narration by Kaori Yoshikawa. 

Bronagh Lawson is an artist based in Belfast who has written a blog about the vibrant local contemporary visual arts scene for the last ten years. Previously she ran cross-community cross-border development programmes for 13 years. Originally from Portaferry and Strangford, Northern Ireland, she is a Fulbright scholar and graduate of Winchester School of Art. Bronagh is a co-founder of the Hydrangea project, a Belfast-Chicago collaboration which uses contemporary art underpinned with art therapy to act as a healing mechanism. Her book Belfast City of Light: Looking and Listening to Belfast Come with Me is based on her experience as a non-churchgoer attending every church in Belfast for a service. 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/bronagh-lawson/belfast-city-of-light/paperback/product-1z7ympqj.html?page=1&pageSize=4
https://iarc.ie/exhibitions/previous-exhibitions/ebb-and-flow-prints-by-bronagh-lawson/
https://us4.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=849f2610883f3b34ac8274556&id=595d763c41

Kayla Rush is an anthropologist of art, music, and performance. She is an assistant lecturer in music at Dundalk Institute of Technology in Dundalk, Ireland. Kayla's previous research examined community arts in contemporary Northern Ireland; her book on this research, The Cracked Art World: Conflict, Austerity, and Community Arts in Northern Ireland, was published in June 2022. Her current research is focused on private, extracurricular, fees-based rock and popular music schools.
https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/RushCracked
https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00054_1