Keynotes & Recorded Events

by Michael

HIVES meetings and events are open to the public, including but certainly not limited to: students, non-students, artists, curious parties, larvae, comic-lovers, poets, and all others. Please enjoy these recordings as a way to engage in scholarships and conversations at a distance: both physically and temporally.

A white man with short black hair is reading aloud behind a pop filter and microphone. He is looking at a book in his left hand.

Jordan Scott
HIVES Keynote

Jordan Scott Keynote and Reading

On December 4, 2020, HIVES wrapped up its fall season of events with a keynote presentation and reading from Jordan Scott. Scott provided us with readings from several of his works, including Night & Ox and Lanterns at Guantanamo. 

Riva Lehrer's portrait of Eli Clare. Eli, a white disabled genderqueer person, kneels on a forest floor. He has short hair and glasses, wears a button-up shirt, shorts, and hiking shoes, and is clutching a small tree that comes up through his shirt. On the ground near him are a flannel shirt and clippings of his hair

Eli Clare: “NOTES ON CURE, DISABILITY, & NATURAL WORLDS”

Clare Keynote Video

Eli Clare presented his keynote, “Notes on Cure, Disability, & Natural Worlds” for the HIVES Research Workshop and Speaker Series on the topic of disability studies, animal studies, and popular culture.

Petra Kuppers: “Hives 2019 Keynote”

Kuppers Keynote Video

In December 2019, HIVES had the fantastic opportunity to host Dr. Petra Kuppers for a keynote presentation and reading of her work from Ice Bar, Shoreline of Infinity, and Gut Botany. The full video of the talk is available here!

In the top right of the image, A Black woman with a contemplative expression stares at the camera. She has a full afro and is wearing a grey tunic top and camouflage pants. Moving clockwise: A Black man with coiled hair looks off-screen to the left with a contemplative and perhaps even sad expression. A Black woman with close-cut hair rests her chin on her hands. She is wearing a grey button-up shirt and looks intently up and out of the frame. A Black woman in a blue headwrap and a colorful crop top sits in front of a lot of bright green foliage.

The Future is Faith

The Future is Faith Event

Featuring the musical stylings of Rizzo Frenzy and readings from Thiahera Nurse and Isaiah Rivera, this is a night of music, poetry, and conversation as we reimagine body/mind/spirit together.

As a content note to help you better decide how to be in this space, these writings and songs speak of: mental health trauma, suicide, antiBlack violence, lynching, miscarriage, needles, drug use, alcohol use, ableism, and misogyny.

Under the text "Resurrecting Jatayu," a one-winged vulture is visible in midair. Several disembodied wings and wing-prosthetics dapple a forest scene, and in the foreground another vulture rises into the frame with a golden prosthetic wing. The entirety of the image is overlaid with semi-transparent gold circuitry.

Forest Tales: Resurrecting Jatayu

Forest Tales: Resurrecting Jatayu Video

In this episode of Forest Tales, Anuj joins HIVES participants in a game of collaborative storytelling centered on Jatayu’s wing.
Forest Tales is a queer, SF, ecofeminist retelling of the South Asian epic, the Ramayana, bringing the tradition out of the past, and into the present. As a speculative cinema project, it not only reimagines the epic but the cinematic form itself, drawing attention to the material and bodily facets of this medium. Rather than an energy-intensive industrial cinema that fetishes the screen, what emerges in Forest Tales is an artisanal cinema, invested in community and collaboration. Based on a range of sensory inputs including sound, text, and images, participants collectively co-create an ‘imagined’ cinema, based on characters from the epic. To learn more about the project, please visit: handspuncinema.wordpress.com

Preform and Deform

Preform and Deform Introduction

This screening and discussion took place in collaboration with the Broad Underground Film Series. This video is our introduction to a program of short experimental film that limp, wander, and roll at the intersection of race, disability, and performance.

Dr. Aren Aizura: a discussion of Mobile Subjects

A Talkback with Dr. Aizura

HIVES and the Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities working group at MSU welcomed Dr. Aren Aizura for a discussion of his book, Mobile Subjects: Transnational Imaginaries of Gender Reassignment.

Four images are on a background of pink and blue hexagons. The top right shows a person with sie/hir pronouns in front of a black background, sie is wearing a blue shirt and has dark brown hair. The next panel on the right shows a person with brown skin leaning away from the camera. He has a crown of flowers, silver eyeshadow, and a flower over his lips. The bottom left panel shows a woman with white skin, brown hair, and glasses writing on a whiteboard. She is wearing a green top and black and white skirt. There is an image of a metal disc that is connected to her neck with dotted lines. In the bottom right panel is a white man with fiery red and black hair. He is wearing red and black glasses and a leather jacket.

Collaborating at a Distance: Buzz-Zine Contributors Panel

Panel Recording

On March 4, 2021, HIVES hosted a panel on collaborating at a distance in the creation of the first volume of the Buzz-Zine. We had the pleasure of hosting four creators (Anuj Vaidya, Jonathan W. Thurston-Torres, Natalie Phillips, and seeley quest) whose work is part of the first ever Buzz-Zine: A Collection of Art and Writing on Human Animal Relations. These creators shared their work, discussed the role of disability and ecology in their artmaking, and talked about the impacts of the last year on their artmaking practices.