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just wondering…

#AnimatedEssays #ClimateJustice #PosthumanistPhilosophy
Maria Martelli
Aron Nor
Mina Mimosa

We create animated essays that take radical and critical approaches to the current status quo in order to move people to feel differently, inspire them to imagine and reflect on complex subjects. By transforming academic knowledge into an audio-visual experience, just wondering… makes contemporary ideas from philosophy and sociology more accessible.

What will you be working on during the fellowship?

Taking inspiration from disability justice, total liberation and other critical perspectives, we will make more video essays on thinkers and concepts, including feminist theory, posthumanism and critical animal studies. We plan to collaborate with other artists and writers, dedicating space to the voices and narratives of queer and disabled people, as well as BBIPOC. We are able to produce about one short video-essay a month, or longer videos at longer intervals, depending on what is most timely, and on what kind of collaborations we are making.

Your Vision: to what future do you aspire?

Our future walks towards justice within and beyond community. We push towards things that are hard to think – by also feeling them. In this future, we imagine how it would be if our online platforms were not so monolithic, ad-driven and conflict-prone. We’re seeking (digital) futures that are open, kind and multiple. We reach out especially to vegan queers, eco/trans/feminists, anti-speciesists, lovers of philosophy and all those with whom we can imagine better worlds. Through research and animation, and by dedicating ourselves to producing knowledge that is free from paywalls, we are working to make this future our reality.

Tell us about yourselves. What motivates you?

We animate for people interested in social justice, those at the margins, those who cannot sleep because of climate change, for the ones moved by the destruction of the earth and those who ally with non-human animals. Though it is hard to build a community on platforms that prioritise quick engagement, we hold fast to the ideal of deep conversations that are held with compassion. just wondering… is our dearest project, as it is based on our friendship and, as three people coming from different intellectual and artistic backgrounds, on our journey of learning together. We believe that artistic projects bound together with theory hold a special force that can move people in new ways.