About this Episode

In this video, we explore the classification of character types through the lens of performative research, culminating in a new distinction: tethered versus tangential characters. How do different characters within us get assigned power, expression time, or even social legitimacy? From early taxonomies like “fictional vs real” to “dominant vs subordinate,” this episode investigates how we unconsciously manage our inner diversity—and what happens when one character dares to speak back.

Through an experimental letter written by a rarely-expressed character to her more dominant counterpart, we witness a confrontation with the very politics of selfhood. What does it mean for a character to be tethered to social expectations, while others are allowed to emerge freely, if briefly, in artistic space?

This episode is a continuation of Chapter 5: Classes of Character and a Politics of Inner Self from the Scripting for Agency series.

About this Series

Scripting for Agency: An Artistic Enquiry into Selfhood, Character and Agency in the Age of AI is a video lecture series based on Dr Katarina Ranković’s practice-based PhD in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. Combining philosophy, performance, creative writing, and AI theory, the series explores how our understanding of the self shapes our personal lives, our politics, and our relationship to intelligent technologies.

Links

Series Playlist: https://bit.ly/sfa-series

PhD thesis (PDF format): https://bit.ly/sfa-pdf

Thesis artworks: https://bit.ly/sfa-art

References

- Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, ed. J. W. Burrow (London: Penguin, 1985).

- Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race (London: Bloomsbury, 2018).

- Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (London: Vintage, 2011).

- David L. Stern, “The Genetic Causes of Convergent Evolution,” Nature Reviews Genetics 14 (2013): 751–64. doi:10.1038/nrg3483.

- Ros Gray and Shela Sheikh, “The Coloniality of Planting: Legacies of Racism and Slavery in the Practice of Botany,” _The Architectural Review_, 27 January 2021. https://www.architectural-review.com/....

- Chief Seattle, “Chief Seattle’s Speech,” Suquamish Tribe website. https://suquamish.nsn.us/home/about-u....