Mimesis in Turbulence (2024)
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Mimesis in Turbulence (2024) is an Art-Based Research project that interrogates the entanglements of art, science, and posthumanism through a critical exploration of simulation technologies and their sociopolitical implications. Situated within the Structured Light Laboratory at the University of the Witwatersrand, the installation utilizes scientific tools such as vector vortex beams and simulations of atmospheric turbulence to challenge conventional paradigms of knowledge production. By integrating the digitally modulated voice of South African activist Stephen Biko and archival anthropological portraits, the work critiques colonial and neoliberal epistemologies, emphasizing the historical and ongoing processes of racial and cultural categorization.
The project reimagines the laboratory as a hybrid cultural space where aesthetic and epistemic disobedience can be enacted. Through the interplay of light patterns, turbulence simulations, and archival imagery, Mimesis in Turbulence questions the boundaries between the observer and the observed, proposing that phenomena are co-constituted by material and discursive intra-actions. This approach aligns with Karen Barad’s agential realism, emphasizing the situated and relational nature of knowledge. By embedding Biko’s voice within the simulation, the work foregrounds the intersection of technology, memory, and resistance, inviting audiences to engage with the complexities of representation and power.