Dear aeronauts of planet earth, itās about time I introduce myself to the extended aerofamily here in this forum!
Iām Roxanne (Roxy), and joined the Aerocene team here in Berlin at the beginning of June, having been in the extended ecosystem of this Aerohub for over a year, working with Studio TomĆ”s Saraceno in the Research and Communication department. Together with @aeroalice I will be supporting the growth of Aerocene research in Berlin, and look forward to supporting the development of this collective endeavour together with you all!
My personal position is informed majorly by growing up within the British military complex, moving constantly between places and spaces that were never intended nor allowed to become my home, but became so anyway even if I always had to leave, and a lot of the time was never allowed to return nor re-enter the space. This renders me as what has been coined as a āThird Culture Kidā, a being of a culture that is neither one (the āhomeā culture) nor the other (the āhostā culture), and often resulting in a sense of āhomelessnessā in relation to the national community one is believed to belong to. It is this experience that compells me to Aerocene most strongly, particularly the concept of airnomadism, and the aspect of re-thinking, and hopefully effecutating a paradigm shift in, our relationship with the concept of borders and nation (i.e Land), of belonging and becoming on this shared Planet Earth.
Further, I was lucky enough to be partially raised in Scotland, where the right to roam still carries meaning and practice, although improvement is absolutely still to be had. This paradox between a life enclosed in army camps, and the freedom to roam the vast landscapes of Scotland that followed once my father retired, made that freedom all the more powerful for me as a young being, and I treasure that privilege to this day, trying to keep it alive and thriving by trying to challenge the idea in whatever space I find myself in, that it is inherently ownable and something an individual or collective can ethically restrict from others, both human and non-human.
During my academic training, I moved between Aberdeen (SCT), Nanjing (CHN) and Graz (AUT) and weaved my practice between art, particularly contemporary, German studies and political science, with some experience in economic studies. For now, I will wrap up this post, with an extract from A Man in Assynt, a poem by Norman Mccaig, which graces the external walls of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh:
Who possesses this landscape? ā
The man who bought it or
I who am possessed by it?
False questions, for
this landscape is
masterless
and intractable in any terms
that are human.
I canāt wait to meet you all and grow further from the meaningful exchanges that take place within the Aerocene community, Iām always available for a chat!
