Do Mice Think in Italian?

‘Do mice think in Italian?’ is a group of films, drawings, drawn wallpaper and performances exploring language, uncertainty and humour. They were made at the British School, Rome. The visual sources for this work were found in a wide range of artefacts; frescoes, archaeological objects, sculptures and monuments in and close to Rome. Specifically, the project attempted to reconcile and transform a soft brand of analytical philosophy which asks what is the nature of consciousness, can it be described objectively, how is meaning formed, how does language work exemplified by W.V.O. Quine in ‘Word and Object’ 1960 and T Nagel in ‘What’s it like to be a bat?’ 1974. On another level it reflected upon the language and conventions of academic learning and research. For the performances a quasi-academic lecturer gave a digressive talk on moth behaviour, assisted by caterpillars. In the films and drawings, characters, usually animals, often in clothes and speaking or behaving like human beings used simple language to reveal inadvertent psychological states (expectations, hopes and ideas.) and so implicate the viewer in fantastical scenarios. Absurdity and skewed anthropomorphism are used to reveal the manifold ways language is used and how intentions rarely match reality. The locations; parks, gardens and museums (mostly in Rome), the British School and unrecognisable interiors were chosen to build up a context which generated a further raft of abstract qualities: inappropriateness, unplannedness, transience and incompleteness. The work was profiled by Sarah Kent in Time Out

Video Works

Five films: 'Fly', 'Beautiful Pot', 'Beetle', 'Caterpillar' and 'Boxer' (2001-2003) were compiled for cinematic screening with seven others: 'Billy Bear', 'Barbary Goats', 'Cynthia', 'Earthquake', 'Hello', 'Sheep' (1996-2001). The latter films were re-edited, remastered and digitally restored from VHS tapes. All were made for display on individual monitors, and explore the use of a fixed frame, highlighting the curious ‘performative’ nature of everyday speech and encounters. The protagonists are obviously fantastical – puppets or humans dressed as animals. However, they are made, to draw the viewer into their world. In this pared-down situation, outside a human, social or historical context, they can explore language, philosophy and behaviour on a fantastical but nonetheless simple level. Made as individual vignettes or portraits, they look at how we use and are framed by language, objects and other people. In these films I aimed to portray the melancholy and humour in human interaction: how expectation exceeds actuality; how things don’t quite work and how people compensate for this. ‘Edwina Ashton Video works’ were film projections on cinematic screen. In this 45 minute compilation different speeds, activities, types of sound and emotional states were ordered and rearranged to build up a complex pattern of character and situation. These films explicitly looked to, explored and experimented with models of anthropomorphism used by Beatrix Potter, Fischli and Weiss and William Wegman

Salon for a speculative future

The Salon for a Speculative Future was inaugurated in March 2019 in celebration of Women’s History Month, as a platform for cross-generational and cross-disciplinary exchange. Reflecting on the current political and economic global situation, in particular the exponential acceleration of a technology-driven platform capitalism, many women advocate positive change for an ecologically sustainable and humane future. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin argues that science fiction does not simply extrapolate from the present to predict the future—instead, the fiction writer engages in thought-experiments where ideas and intuition move within the confines set by the experiment. This book hosts imaginative thinking by seventy-five women artists, sharing their influences, inspired by women’s contributions to diverse fields, from art, education, and science to political activism. Salon for a Speculative Future honours and shares insights and experimental thinking towards a positive future