@ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

David Attenborough turns 100 years old on the 8th of May. He is a human who has spent his time loving the diversity of life on this planet. His documentaries helped emphasise the biodiversity crisis while also infectiously spreading this love of other species. My partner and I are thinking of having a small, gentle event on the day to recognise his life. Maybe a walk with friends, taking moments to stop and acknowledge the creatures around us. Want to join us, wherever you are in the world?

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

This weekend we had a collective work session for 'Another Infrastructure (AI)', an art project about the environmental and social impact of data centres in south Dublin.

Seven artists will build a community-run server and host artist led workshops and events over the next few months, opening conversations about topics including heat, disinformation, tokens, game systems, counter-maps and thneeds.

Including @dasha@post.lurk.org @yambunz and @aswemaysink@mastodon.social

#art #environment #dataCentre

mograph.social

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

I have been awarded a one-year studio residency at The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, where I'll be developing new work about the role of technology in rural places.

https://www.thedock.ie/artists/shane-finan-and-jack-collum

#art #artNews #criticalTechnology

thedock.ie

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 7mo ago

I feel deepy the weight of international news right now, and am trying to see beyond it to some more peaceful future. Even here on Mastodon, in what once felt like a quieter space, there is so much hurt, and it's manifesting as angry, cynical or very sad.

I think there needs to be space for softness, and I'm so glad of anything that gives space to this.

This is not avoidance, I am not turning my head away. But I believe a world needs to be built from gentleness, and that it is possible.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Authors, musicians, artists and designers get paid every time you take their work out from the public library. How great is that?

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@temporal_spider it's my favourite too! In our house sexy slugs is a term of endearment!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 8mo ago

Two days left to apply to be part of AMRO 2026 (Art Meets Radical Openness), a wonderful festival in Linz, Austria, that deepens thinking around critical technologies and art.

It is one of the best events I have attended, and only happens once every 2 years. This year's theme is 'Becoming Unreadable'.

https://radical-openness.org/en/amro26-call-participation

#art #OpenCall

radical-openness.org

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Anyone near #Dublin in Mid-April:

I'll be presenting at the SEED KNowledge Exchange, a free event about artists working with complex environmental data https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/sensory-experiences-of-environmental-data-seed-knowledge-exchange-tickets-1982889020438

The artists presenting are me, Cliona Harmey, Fiona McDonald, Adam Gibney and Cailean Finn.

#art #STEAM #TechArt #dataScience #ireland

mograph.social

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Lovely day #AttenboroughWalk We walked by a dry river that apparently never runs in the summer, up a cliff face in old-growth European larch forest. There were lots of amazing things on our walk but the highlight was this nest in the photo with tiny starling chicks. Other lovely moments: A baby robin joined the picnic. Bluebells galore. And there were lots of mayflies and midges. Even a solitary tick came to say hi to one of the children (there are undoubtedly a few more we haven't met yet).

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@_elena@mastodon.social when I was on commercial social media I felt like I was drowning. On fedi I can breathe.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@servus looks great, well done everyone!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@GlasWolf you sure can. It's much better than what I was thinking of, #MayvidEighthenborough

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@tarmot A few things: 1) A collection of textile craft processes with many local variations 2) Something that I have used in artworks, and learned to make in one process (though never well) 3) A part of a history of predominantly women's work 4) A material in garments designed to denote class in the 19th Century that became devalued through mechanical manufacture (both the value of the craft and the perception of class attached to it)

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Making Sense of Slow AI zine by AIxDesign

https://aixdesign.metalabel.com/slow-ai-zine

"What if AI didn’t run on Silicon Valley logic? Making Sense of Slow AI, compiles 40 pages of eclectic stories on Small, Esoteric, and Ancestral AI – inviting you to think small, make it magical, and plan for the past."

#ai #slowAI

aixdesign.metalabel.com

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@gloriouscow@oldbytes.space @cr1901@mastodon.social I hear you, and thanks for posting this. I am also jaded from this. I know people who use these tools, and am finding the flattened argument against them hard to sit with. In particular, two friends who are severely dyslexic have found some solace in chatGPT as an aide. They are aware of the problems, but are also aware of their systematic exclusion based on ability. This is not as black and white as people tend to make it on here.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@clarity@xoxo.zone this is the sentiment my partner and I also apply. We live frugally and sometimes worry about rent or bills, but a special occassion for us is extraordinary food, and always worth it.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@AquaClaire@ecoevo.social that is so nice, thanks for the tag! @nature@fedigroups.social

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Adept I hear you, though I also think it's wonderful that we work together with our elders and ancestors to build futures. He is an inspiration and a mentor, and I am grateful for the time he has given to us and still gives.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@GlasWolf fine, but I get to pick the next one.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@AquaClaire @temporal_spider @nature nice one, love it! Both the video and your plan.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@joannaholman that's a nice addition. Thanks for suggesting it!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@kayserifserif it's great, well done! I remember seeing the artist Ben Grosser speak a few years ago, where he said something along the lines of 'I'm not a good programmer, but I am good enough to figure out a way to do what I want to do'. I think this is a great way to think about code.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@mousebot thanks, I'll give that a look! It's in Technics & Time II! I haven't read I. (no doubt both reference Leroi-Gourhan — I know the name but not the writing so don't want to infer knowledge). I always find etymologies interesting starting points, and I love seeking out definitions of technology. One of my favourites is by Sara Hendren and Caitrin Lynch, who write from the perspective of disability engineering and claim concisely that 'all technology is assistive'.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@mousebot I hear you and thanks for this. The Leroi-Gourhan idea is interesting, I don't know them. Not a counter-argument to your point about flint, but an expansion: Is a spider's web a technology by this definition? They have been honed over millennia, and are fundamental to what a spider is. As to tekhne-logos — sorry I was being playful with the shortness of a toot and cherry-picking a meaning to stoke discourse. Yes of course you are right — Stiegler also expanded on this at length.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@mousebot thanks for your answer! I guess your question depends on how you define technology. Some definitions would make a flint stone a tool. Some would make it a technology. Some might argue that it's both. To take the etymological definition (c. 13th Century), a technology is 'tekhne' (art) + 'logi' (discourse): a discourse on art. So I guess some books, if not all books, might fall under this category. My question isn't seeking a definite answer, just a convergence of thoughts.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@tfb wow, a history worth writing up! I also loved having my own customised everything. I joined my first print shop in 2008, so much later but we still ran litho presses. One of my colleagues had worked in the company since the 1950s, and he taught me everything about design. He was a lovely man, just hitting retirement as I arrived in the door. He had done all the manual techniques like letterpress, and had trained himself up on Apple machines and Quark XPress in the 90s.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Dataless I hear you. I don't necessarily agree with any of the definitions, and there are so many more. I'm interested in the possibilities. Thanks for yours (or Adams').

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@tfb I didn't know that! I've done that too! I worked in print shops long after they stopped processes like physical type but got to try my hand at a few. I did offset printing though. But it does develop my question: is the book a technology, or is it the result of technologies? The same might be asked of a website.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Is a book a technology?

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 15mo ago

A reminder, this Tuesday 3pm BST I will talk about my #art project 'aiteann' using fire, charcoal, video and photograph.

Free, online, book here: https://www.maltingsberwick.co.uk/whats-on/shane-finan-firecult-artist-talk/

mograph.social

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jrp oh yeah for sure re exploitation of rural spaces (although urban places with low average incomes also suffer this). And I should say that I am from a very rural area and also live in one; I've been awarded this residency in the county I live in, which is the lowest population in Ireland, so I am only extending ongoing work. If anything, this next phase will be more urban! The rural town where I will be artist in residence (c. 10,000 people) is significantly larger than the town I live in.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@IarfhlaithO yep! It's amazing — libraries are just win-win-win.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 16mo ago

Replying to

@simoon@post.lurk.org wish I was there and best of luck with it. The image of the keyboard looks amazing!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 18mo ago

Replying to

@troublewithwords@wandering.shop I never gave it much thought but I think this list sums my favourites up too.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 18mo ago

Replying to

@l03s@post.lurk.org wahoo congratulations!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@leaflitter yes, it's about time. Welcome on to Mastodon! I don't know if you were here already, but we've just found one another. I hope you are doing well.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Dataless interesting. What is a chair then in Adams' view? There are lots of definitions of technology. Donna Haraway once described technology as basically things that extend the funtions of a human body. Bernard Stiegler highlighted technology's etymology: tekhne (art/craft) + logos (discourse) — so technology is a discourse on art. Each definition could offer different answers, to both book and chair.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@haverholm absolutely they can be both! Fair point! I guess I'm just teasing things out a little. Interesting to sequence language -> printing -> internet. I sometimes wonder if the internet is more like language -> semaphore -> telegraph -> internet. Or maybe, again, both. I don't mind this hole digging deep :) I'm asking the question using a socratic method because I'm trying to help myself through the labyrinth too. I don't expect an answer but am really grateful for your replies.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@coleoptera@timetheft.social wow that's brilliant! And intense. Thanks for sharing.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@leaflitter@merveilles.town please do! And enjoy the walk!

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@leaflitter@merveilles.town wow, a whole world one walk! Even many worlds! Thanks for sharing.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@gisgeek @olibrendel I think the nature of federated social media means there are a lot of reasons your sample will be badly biased. For example, many non-English speakers choose to filter out anything posted in English. Also, even many boosts can still reach only a small pool if there are lots of shared connections. While I find this poll broadly interesting, I think what it really answers is how many researchers are in your broad local feed, and not reflective how many are on mastodon.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@haverholm yeah I have a memory of McLuhan writing something like that too. Heidegger and Haraway both suggested this too, with slight nuance on how they meant it. You could also take another definition of technology as harbinger of violence, and again books could qualify (much as I love them, they serve this purpose too). This tangling of culture and technology in a book is an interesting point though. An individual book might be a part of culture, and books might be a technology?

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@leaflitter@merveilles.town what a lovely message to read! Thank you for including me in the picture somewhere, though this is all yours. Masks are a great approach, I might look at doing something like that also with gorse. I really love how this looks.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@yaxu I was working with a data analyst recently who talked about making 12-dimensional graphs. Each 'dimension' was another related piece of data. He was just talking about the complexity of geteing all that into a printed document, in two dimensions. But that's a long way to say, I think it is just for the axes of information. In a 2D graph, you have an x-axis and a y-axis.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@JubalBarca@scholar.social this is really nice. I like a lot of the designs but am 100% up for the birds over the humans. The one with what looks like AI-generated photos of historical figures is a bit frightening.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@haverholm I'm thinking that too. But is a confluence not maybe also a technology? Based on your definition, is a hard drive a technology? In a way this answer might be a subjective, if there is an answer at all.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jrp yes, we have some good rural fiber here too, thanks to a publicly funded national rollout. However, I learned from rural studies colleagues that 'rural' in Ireland is very different from rural spaces in many other countries in northern Europe, because of a few historical events. As an artist, I try to look deeper at that history, and what it affects today in terms of major landworks, electrical infrastructure, and distributed data centres in very remote places.

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Fionnáin @ephemeral@mograph.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@haverholm I'm not seeking a definite answer anyway, but I'm interested in these thoughts. Thanks for sharing yours! I love this idea of books or hard drives as extensions of memory. By some definitions, technology is an extension of the human body. So by this, the book and the hard drive might both be extensions of the brain. Or as you suggest, they might not be technologies at all but objects. In this case, maybe the difference between hard drive and book is the interface (body or machine).

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