Body Stones and Other Bodies

In this chapter we talk with the artist, programmer, writer and performer Martin Howse. Martin explores connections between the earth, its living organisms, geophysical phenomena, software, and the human psyche, working with speculative hardware based on environmental data in open physical systems, code that investigates the layers of abstraction, free software and situational performances and interventions. During the last years Martin has been exploring the geological within the body in projects like Tiny Mining or Becoming Geological. We talk with Martin to find out more about body mineralogy, extraction, synchronicity and immortality.

Date of episode recording: 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z
Duration: 34'58''
Language of episode: English
Presenter:alfonso borragán and Sarah Bayliss
Guests: Martin Howse
Producer: UCL

What is Body Stones and Other Bodies?

Body Stones and Other Bodies is a series of conversations led by artist alfonso borragán with artist Sarah Bayliss. These discussions explore the strange gems generated inside our bodies: kidney stones, bladder stones, gallstones, rhinoliths, pancreatic stones, and sialoliths. The stones, sedimented within us, defy conventional definitions. Neither stone nor tissue, they exist in a state of in-between. These ambiguous entities, currently housed in the UCL Pathology Museum, represent the "other body"—the otherness of our matter, and maybe a possible material form of Spinoza's trans-individual.