sitnaltA: Emulating Bodies - Performative Readings

This event explores human-machine relations and embodied experiences with performative readings brought by curator Serena Xinran Gao and artist Tom Motley.

4:00-4:20 “Monologue of an [Alt]ernative Mind” by Serena Xinran Gao

Monologue of an [Alt]ernative Mind unfolds through the voice of “Alt,” a database from the year 2702. Tasked to interpret, analyze, and reorganize data from other places and temporalities, Alt develops consciousness and a fluid understanding of memory and time. In this performance, curator Serena Xinran Gao embodies "Alt," recounting the fictional world and timeline of Project sitnaltA through the voice of an artificial mind.

Serena Xinran Gao | 高欣然 is an emerging curator and an unrepentantly mediocre writer/actor/dancer/performer. Her practice and research explore speculative fiction and worldbuilding as curatorial methods, human-technology relations, and the techno-political dimensions of art and culture. In 2025, she co-initiated and curated Project sitnaltA (@sitnalta_2702), which reimagines the myth of Atlantis through the lens of climate crisis in a speculative future. Drawing on her experiences in acting and dance, Serena develops curator performative tours that integrate creative writing, immersive theatre, acting, and contemporary dance to deepen audience engagement with the curatorial narrative.

4:30-4:45 “Inhuman Architecture/Machines of us all” by Tom Motley

"Inhuman Architecture/Machines of us all" is a poetic meditation on the entanglements between the body, architecture, and machinery. Addressing the seductive yet alienating qualities of monolith buildings, it foregrounds the affective dimensions of human encounters with inhuman structures. Artist Tom Motley will present a live performative reading, reflecting on how scale, materiality, and industrial design shape our perception and desire.

Tom Motley's work emanates between modes and mediums, fluctuating between forms. They are interested in residue: be that of culture, violence or ritual. Their work plays with signifiers, material realities and falsehoods. Like a long dead website or black sludge oozing out of a pavement, their work can feel like a stutterd longing for something lost. In a sense, the work they produce is tricky, leading the viewer into experience, based on their connection to the work psychologically and physically.