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PostScriptUM #46
Laura Tripaldi
Colloidal Ontologies: The Gendered Body at the Interface of Matter
Writer and independent researcher Laura Tripaldi shows how politics can play out in the nanoscale dimension, by focusing on the role of colloids in defining what “matter” and “bodies” are. When, in 1856, Michael Faraday experimented on gold colloids and investigated their behaviour, the reality of what was known as “matter” and was usually perceived as a collection of intrinsic properties became much more elusive and complex. Even our entire biological bodies could be understood as remarkably intricate colloidal systems consisting of trillions of tiny biochemical particles dispersed in water. One hundred years after Faraday’s experiments, gold colloids were first used in modern pregnancy tests. This revolutionary invention gave women the possibility to make autonomous choices about their bodies, and serves as an example of how non-human nano-actants participate in our politics and ontologies.
EN | 14.8 x 21 cm | 18 pp | COLOUR | soft cover | 2023
ISBN 978-961-7173-30-7 (Printed)
ISBN 978-961-7173-28-4 (Digital)
Colophon
Laura Tripaldi
Colloidal Ontologies: The Gendered Body at the Interface of Matter
PostScriptUM #46
Series edited by Janez Fakin Janša
Publisher: Aksioma – Institute for Contemporary Art, Ljubljana
Represented by Marcela Okretič
Proofreading: Miha Šuštar
Design: Luka Umek
Layout: Sonja Grdina
Cover image: Anna-Versh, TEM-Image of gold nanoparticles, 2019
Source: Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0. https://tinyurl.com/3juk425d
(c) Aksioma | All text and image rights reserved by the author | Ljubljana 2023
Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana
Published in the framework of the programme Tactics & Practice #14: Scale
Related event: Tactics & Practice #14: Scale