Notes for Haunting Property, by the Coven Intelligence Program (formerly APRIORI), 2019, for Queer Paranormal at the Usdan Gallery. Curated by the 2Chairs Collective and Anne Thompson.
For Queer Paranormal, curated by the Two Chairs collective and Anne Thompson, Professor Margaretha Haughwout’s Coven Intelligence Program collective (formerly known as APRIORI) shared spell-to-seed packets, a (BETA) SpellWeaver application, a large diagram of their speculative history, maps, mugwort harvested from nearby fields on summer full moons, and a film in which witches and herbalists are asked what plants they would choose to teach ethics to machines. A self-guided walk offered plant stakes marking “signs” important to the collective’s speculative history.
Queer Paranormal presents a range of artistic practices “haunted” by historical, political and sexual difference. Taking Jackson’s gothic horror classic and its 1963 film version as jumping-off points, the group exhibition identifies queerness in themes including the uncanny and the stranger, with a particular interest in the haunted house as undiscovered country and object of desire.