A Ritucol Workshop Station / Forking Hagay Dreaming
Workshop Station: Maindeck / Continouous
Workshop: Sat + Sun, 15:00-17:00, Maindeck

Modern hormonal gender transformation takes place using purified pharmaceutical formulations, with such formulations derived ultimately from plant- or fungi-based materials. We've become detached from these processes through both industrialization and legal means, as the formulations themselves are highly protected by pharmaceutical companies and considered trade secrets. This situation is untenable for many reasons, including the cost and gatekeeping surrounding access to hormones, as well as the likelihood that pharmaceuticals may not be readily available in a future modified by climate change.
Thus it's important to explore different forms of hormonal gender transition, such as those derived more intimately from plants or fungi like vitex or cordyceps, respectively. The practice of cultivation, extraction, and use deserves careful study, especially as it pertains to their more sacred aspects. This project would develop what I am calling “ritucols” surrounding the living beings that help us experience hormonal gender transition. A “ritucol” is a combination of a ritual and protocol, making reference to the sacred and scientific at the same time. Such ritucols could involve the particular means of collecting the beings, the processes for extracting the necessary elements, the practices of administration, etc. Such ritucols would be developed through conversations with others involved in Hagay Dreaming, as well as local transgender people, to further expand the possibilities.

Workshop with Adriana Knouf and taro: Sat + Sun, 15:00-17:00
Join us as we begin to research these possibilities using the fungus Cordyceps and participate in our attempts to grow it and extract a compound, “cordycepin”, that could possibly cause testicular cells to produce estrogen rather than testosterone. We are developing “ritucols”–combinations of a ritual and a protocol–that not only are connected to the practical matter of working with Cordyceps but also to the more expansive matters of transforming ourselves for new possibilities of thriving within this cosmos.

Ritucols for Gender Transformation is a fork of HAGAY DREAMING.

Adriana Knouf, PhD (NL/US) works as an artist, writer, and xenologist, focusing on topics such as wet media, space art, and queer and trans futurities. Adriana regularly presents her artistic research around the world and beyond. Her work has been recognized by an Award of Distinction at Prix Ars Electronica (2021), an Honorary Mention from the Science Fiction Research Association's Innovative Research Award, and as a prize winner in The Lake’s Works for Radio #4 (2020).

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