AGP is an artmaking initiative that aims to explore post-anthropocentric, posthumanist and vegan creative work that go against the preexistent anthropocentric (arrogant, human exceptionalist and hierarchal) discourses.
It is a “project” because thinking and creating outside the norms of the lengthy culture of human dominance over nonhuman individuals is not an easy feat, and it needs to be revisited repeatedly, changing and transforming itself with time. Therefore, this is an ongoing project looking for ways of artmaking that do not contribute to the physical and epistemic violence against animals and offer new (post-anthropocentric) ways of artmaking and criticizing visual culture and arts.
Human exceptionalism (or anthropocentrism) feeds on the “anthropological machine” (Agamben) that constructs an ever-shifting ideal of the “Human” while at the same time creating Other(s) over which the Human has dominance and the “right” to exploit and kill. How do we disrupt the machine so that other ways of being, becoming and relating to the “other” can be visible and sensible? How do we consider nonhuman animals as individuals in visual culture without the human gaze that undermines, ignores, otherizes, or disrespects the gazes of animals? What are the problems with the current anthropocentric culture?
AGP came to life in 2023 as Ece Nada was working on her MA thesis, which focuses on literary and visual narratives that include animals as objects and subjects. As she continues her research through PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities, specializing in Culture and Aesthetics, there will be more exhibitions and workshops to discuss and experiment around these issues with fellow thinkers and artmakers.
Logo design: Engin Arer
Image used in logo design: still from Havva Zorlu’s “Look Again” video collage.