Cosmic Caesious, Cosmic Zinnober, Cosmic Celadon, Cosmic Virescent

Published by Strange Attractor Press, this 88-page essay collection examines Turner Prize-winning artist Tai Shani’s multimedia practice through connections to postmodern architect Charles Jencks’s theory of Ad-Hocism. Catalysed by Shani’s 2024 exhibition at The Cosmic House, the book draws on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to explore surrealist methodology, anthropomorphism, and Promethean impulses. Commissioned essays by Anne Boyer, Annabel Frearson, Emily LaBarge, Baseman Saad, and Taylor Le Melle investigate how unintended object use yields surreal results. Shani’s practice combines performance, film, photography, and installation, recovering feminised aesthetic modes—floral, gothic, trippy—as utopian militancy. Her work traces mournful histories of reproductive labour, illness, and marginalised non-sovereignty through historical narratives including Christine de Pizan and psychedelic ergot poisoning, materialising desire against patriarchal racial capitalism.

Published by Strange Attractor Press — AI-generated summary. Visit the publisher to learn more.