The core of my research project is equally divided into three theoretical scopes, that encompass several questions:

1. the feminist killjoy: who is she and what can she do (for our future): What is the role of the figure of the feminist killjoy in the public sphere of resistance? Assuming the feminist killjoy as an archetype of a non-gendered queer whose aim is to make a noisy difference, can we find this character in artistic moving images? How do we look at feminist killjoys?

2. processes of identification and representation of non-hegemonic bodies: What is the role of identity in artistic (re)claims? Can we make a case for instrumentalized identification? Can we talk of different potencies of self-representation (or avatars) in the processes of making/claiming identities and worlds? And what about the importance of representation, of feeling seen in/ through others’ bodies?

3. a brief history of moving-image as resistance: killing joy 24 frames per second: Is it possible to identify three video materializations of the feminist Killjoy from the 1970s, and again in contemporaneity? How did this figure evolve in the 50 years of growth for the feminist movements, and regarding XXI century intersectional feminism? Can exhibition formats encompass a figure such as the feminist killjoy? Could (or should) curating be a feminist way of killing joy? Central to this investigation, the figure of the “feminist killjoy” (Ahmed, 2010, 2014) embodies the opposition to the Western patriarchal hegemony and the relations of alterity that it establishes, as it is the figure that, par excellence, contradicts the institution of instrumentalized happiness. Feminist killjoys can “kill” ordinary happiness with their chronic unhappiness, when accusing a moment of sexism, exposing the pains that systemic violences imprint on non-normative bodies, or refusing to perform gender constraints and normatives. This figure, I argue, is essential to intersectional feminist theory, by directly defying expectations and assuming a demarcated anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal position, while raising awareness and rendering visible forms of violence perpetrated by these oppressive systems and allowing the expression of bodily (re)actions. This research will look at artists and artworks that materialize this figure while trying to map out the importance of making this role visible to the public, recognizable under the sign of radical social possibilities of the moving image.

This research will also rehearse and experiment with curatorial and programming practices that might have something to learn from these processes. This is the main point of the investigation: to inform and contribute to more respectful practices of curating, programming, archiving, and processes of rendering visible. Starting from a practice-based interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, this research will be intertwined with and informed by the development of public programs within the scope of the theme, such as talks, workshops, movie screenings, and an exhibition. In these public programs, I establish my practical basis: through an active engagement in knowledge-production activities which aim to develop public and human sensibilities, while opening the space for discussion and other critical inputs which are not necessarily framed within an institutional or academic discourse (but should always inform the latter). These programs will also allow experimenting with the researched methodologies and technologies, within the expanded field of public engagement and community participation in art-making and social processes.