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Re-Wildering Our Senses

Rediscovering and Developing Our Animal Intelligence

As artificial intelligence and AI agents continue to dominate discussions about the future, I feel compelled to highlight something equally important: organic intelligence and animal instinct.

The rapid advancement of technology must not make us forget the extraordinary capacities we humans possess through our senses. Some, like sight and visual processing, have been heavily trained and enhanced in the digital age, while others—such as our sense of smell—have been neglected and dulled. It’s time to reclaim and re-learn this powerful and often underestimated sense.

My favorite sense!

Science is finally recognizing that smells carry critical information. We already know that dogs can detect early signs of serious illnesses or warn of an impending epileptic seizure. Unlike sight, which registers what has already happened, our sense of smell can detect changes years before a medical diagnosis—for example, identifying Parkinson’s disease up to 12 years in advance. And not just by machines—by humans!

Emma Frans, in Svenska Dagbladet, shared a striking example:

*“Once upon a time, smell was one of the most important tools for doctors when diagnosing patients. Modern research now shows that it is possible to detect Parkinson’s, diabetes, and even cancer through scent.

Twelve years before Scottish man Les Milne was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at age 45, his wife Joy sensed something was wrong. She noticed that her husband had developed an unusual smell. After his diagnosis, she met other Parkinson’s patients and realized they all shared the same characteristic scent.”*

Historically, doctors routinely used their sense of smell in diagnosis. Today, we are seeing rapid technological advancements in e-noses—electronic noses equipped with sensors that can recognize scent patterns. These tools have enormous potential in healthcare and could reestablish smell as a crucial part of medical diagnostics.

But alongside this technological progress, we must also train our own human abilities to detect and interpret scents. Physicians should develop their sensory skills as a complement to AI-based tools, rather than relying on them entirely.

We have yet to fully address the ethical implications of our growing dependence on these systems—questions of responsibility and human accountability. Future healthcare must not be built solely on machine precision but rather on a collaboration between humans, animals, and technology, where all senses are included. Only then can we create a more holistic and preventive approach to healthcare, one that embraces the full potential of our biological and sensory intelligence.

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Stockholm Design Week

I just had the honor of moderating a session at Stockholm Furniture Fair, where young designers, in collaboration with Stockholm Stad, reimagined the future of the city’s quays. Their bold ideas transform the waterfront into dynamic, inclusive and vibrant spaces—proving that young minds and imagination is a powerful tool in shaping our urban futures. ✨ Just like in Beyond Blueprints, where we explore new ways of designing life between buildings, these young voices remind us that the city is a canvas for possibility.

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Collaborations Futures Okategoriserade

The Futures We Build Teams

Wild Ride AB and Karin Victorin, in the role of artist and AI expert, have been selected by Media Evolution for a major research project funded by Smart Built Environment and Formas. Vanessa Ware, is the brilliant mind behind the application and she will be leading the team and joining Wild Ride’s journey in the fall.

Dream team! This fall, this incredible interdisciplinary team (composed of innovative urban developers, socially driven advanced digitization strategists, an artist working with collective imagination and AI, and a systems-thinking process leader) will create a future vision, 🍃 Beyond Blueprints 🍃, about how residents can live in and influence their city in a safe, meaningful, and joyful way.

The vision will aim to enhance the understanding of how stakeholders—particularly those shaping the conditions for life between buildings—can achieve their sustainability goals, especially the social ones, with the help of advanced digitalization. These are critical paths of societal development today that we hope will become a natural combination in the future. But what will that look like?!

🌿 Can residents experience, engage with, and help develop their city in a safe and joyful way? 🌿 Can we make informed (and improvised) decisions about sustainable life choices in a daily life where circumstances can change rapidly? 🌿 How, through new ways of being connected (and disconnected), can we be part of a resilient city?

Smart Built Environment is a strategic innovation program focused on how the community building sector can contribute to Sweden’s journey towards becoming a global leader in realizing the new opportunities brought by digitalization.

The Beyond Blueprint team: Malin Lampa, advanced digital stategist at TechSeed/Karin Victorin, CEO Wild Ride/Katrin Behdjou Arshi, Director of Urban Development at Fastighetsägarna/Vanessa Ware, Process Leader with expertise in sustainable impact innovation/

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Okategoriserade

Hootchy Kootchy [The Resurrection] Chimeras & Cyborgs at Cirkus Venues 29/10 2022.

The Hootchy Kootchy Club has been a highlight in my career. I have been the artistic director (konstnärliga ledare) since it started in 2006. With a long break, I thought it was time for a resurrection. Ronny Larsson interviewed me for an article in QX magazine the week before the show. Below you can read it in Swedish.

”Burlesk, drag, musik, fashion-runway & konstperformance – och upplevs bäst på plats”

“Nu på lördag är det dags för Hootchy Kootchy att inta Hasselbacken på Djurgården i Stockholm. QX bad Karin Victorin, (grundare/konstnärlig ledare) berätta mer inför deras stora event.

Vi säger som i Grease, Tell me More, tell me more! Berätta vad händer!
– Hootchy Kootchy är en ”more is more”-blandad varieté av burlesk och dragshow, där gränsen mellan publik och artister upplöses. Vi bygger en värld för en kväll med ett tema för gästerna att kliva in i. Publiken uppmuntras att klä upp sig på temat, men det är absolut inget tvång. Det blir burlesk, drag, musik, fashion-runway och konstperformance i en salig blandning. Det är svårt att beskriva med ord, och kan bäst upplevas på plats (skrattar).

Ni har fått ihop en namnstark lista på performers, hur satte ni ihop detta härliga gäng?
– 
Vi har bjudit in gamla kära namn som är en del av Hootchys historia, som Scotty the Blue Bunny (Berlin), Karis Wilde (LA), Robert Fux, Fräulein Frauke med flera. Medverkar gör även andra intressanta artister som utvecklat burlesk och drag som scenkonst med unika individuella uttryck.

Finns det något namn du extra stolt att ge publiken?
Hungry (Johannes J. Jaruaak) från Berlin är en stor inspiratör för kvällens tema samt för mig och många andra artister vad det gäller make-up, drag och ”tricksteridentiteter”. Han har länge jobbat med en symbolisk intention att lura facial recognition kamerasystem genom surrealistiska sminkningar som transformerar ansiktsdragen. För mainstream är Hungry mest känd för sina signifikanta samarbeten med artisten Björk.

Världsbekanta stilikonen Fredrik Robertson står med på listan över deltagare, vad ska Fredrik bjuda på?
– Fredrik Robertson ska vara med i vår fabulösa jury tillsammans med Bea Szenfeld och Hungry (Berlin).  Framåt midnatt bjuder vi nämligen på en Chimera Cyborg Catwalk Competion, en tävling som är öppen att anmäla sig till. Temat är kopplat till ett mer långgående konstprojekt som jag initierat. Det går ut på att med hjälp av analog och digital slöjd skapa fantasimonster eller ”trickster identitites” som en kommentar till övervakningssamhället och facial recognition-system. Det är både modeskapare, konstnärer, drag- och burleskartister som kommer beträda catwalken och kan bli hur galet som helst.

Apocalyptic Weimar Era meets Future Fashions of chimeras and cyborgs är dresscode, HUR ska man tolka det? Har du nån fingervisning?
– Haha! Ja, jag tänkte att det kunde vara bra med en bred dresscode nu när det var länge sedan vi körde ”Hootchy” och publikkulturen också behöver återuppstå och bli varm i kläderna. Weimar Eran är för publiken som älskar det klassiska looken som ju också klär Hasselbackens lokaler väldigt bra. Kan råda läsaren att googla den dekadenta ”Weimar-eran” i Berlin så kommer det upp massor med inspirerande bilder. Marlene Dietrich, för att bara nämna en ikon. För framtida look i kombo med retroestetik kan jag fingervisa till barscenen i sci-fi kultfilmen Blade Runner från 80-talet. Den filmen inspirerade även Donna Haraway när hon

skrev ”A Cyborg Manisfesto” (1985). Annars kan man följa insta kontot @chimeracyborg för massor av inspiration, särskilt om man är sugen på catwalken.

Så, varför är Hasselbacken en bra lokal för detta event?
– Hasselbacken har en gedigen historia och var länge navet i Stockholms nöjes- och kulturliv och inte minst för gaykulturen. Surprise Sisters (Hans Marklund, Babsan med flera) brukade husera med sina showkvällar här och när vi hade ett teknikmöte uppe i festvåningen fick jag veta att det var så populärt att folk försökte ta sig in genom att klättra på husfasaden. De fick tom fick smörja in stuprännorna för folk inte skulle lyckas smita in.

Hur kommer man som gäst känna 02.01 på söndagmorgon när festen avslutats?
– Upplyft och pånyttfödd! Jag hoppas att kunna bidra med, i alla fall lite, hopp om en ljusare framtid efter år av mörker, med mycket politiskt tumult, pandemi och krigsföring som kryper allt närmare Europas gränser. Artisterna är i sina fantastiska skapelser som levande konstverk som föder inspiration till en färgstarkare och friare värld.

Link to the QX article: https://www.qx.se/noje/238344/burlesk-drag-musik-fashion-runway-konstperformance-och-upplevs-bast-pa-plats/

Transformed into a chimera cyborg creature, captured by photographer Malou Bergman. Metal handcraft by the amazing Viveka Gren, especially for med and the Hootchy Kootchy Resurrection party. The crown is made by goldsmith Kajsa Åman, as a gift for my 50th birthday, celebrated this evening.
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Okategoriserade

Working with Drama Students is Something Teaches Me a lot about Body, and Performativity in Everyday Life

I am a teacher in physical theatre, burlesque, drag, and performance art at the 1-year drama program in Sigtuna Folkhögskola. My focus, in line with my academic studies in techno feminist technoscience and post-humanism, relates to bodily expressions and face (mask) as artistic instruments in how to communicate on stage. Additionally, how we perform in everyday life bears a resemblance to theatrical acting, as I draw on aspects of “performativity” from sociologist Erving Goffman and Judith Butler. My intention is always to bring awareness to how we continuously perform in intra-action with other human or non-human agencies that surround us. Even in our dreams, the performance continues in the form of the rich inner myriad of personas that enter the dreamscape stage to communicate with us, and through us to the outer world. 

This year’s class at Sigtuna presented a beautiful variety of numbers that were seamlessly woven together into the Kinky Winky Cabaret. The students felt happily high afterward, surprised by what they had created together as a group and individually to try out their very own expression on stage without following either script or the instructions of a director. This was true play, giving bliss to both performers and spectators. How we had missed collectively indulging in physical presents and bodily expressions throughout these years of the corona famine.

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AI Okategoriserade

AI as Gatekeepers to the Job Market

2021, so far, has been a freakin Wild Ride where I feel motivated and challenged to dare new adventures in my work and art. In this first blog post on the website of my new company, I am happy to announce that I have just completed and published a second master’s thesis on the topic of social robots and society. In spite of corona, I finally managed to push through – to continue writing – no matter what the obstacle and present a critical reading of the current phenomenon of using AI and chatbots in hiring processes. Many thanks to my supervisor professor Ericka Johnson at Linköping University for the dynamic feedback and support in the process.

https://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1572100&dswid=-4966

Abstract

The topic of this thesis is AI recruitment chatbots, digital discrimination, and data feminism (D´Ignazio and F.Klein 2020), where I aim to critically analyze issues of bias in these types of human-machine interaction technologies. Coming from a professional background of theatre, performance art, and drama,I am curious to analyze how using AI and social robots as hiring tools entails a new type of “stage” (actor’s space), with a special emphasis on social acting. Humans are now required to adjust their performance and facial expressions in the search for, and approval of, a new job. I will use my “theatrical glasses” with an intersectional lens, and through a methodology of cultural analysis, reflect on various examples of conversational AI used in recruitment processes. The silver bullet syndrome is a term that points to a tendency to believe in a miraculous new technological tool that will “magically” solve human-related problems in a company or an organization. The captivating marketing message of the Swedish recruitment conversational AI tool – Tengai Unbiased – is the promise of a scientifically proven objective hiring tool, to solve the diversity problem for company management. But is it really free from bias? According to Karen Barad, agency is not an attribute, but the ongoing reconfiguration of the world influenced by what she terms intra-actions, a mutual constitution of entanglement between human and non-human agencies (2003:818). However, tech developers often disregard their entanglement of human-to-machine interferences which unfortunately generates unconscious bias. The thesis raises ethical questions of how algorithmic measurement of social competence risks holding unconscious biases, benefiting those already privileged or those acting within a normative spectrum.