Dr Erinma Ochu (Black and queer neuroscientist, filmmaker and curator) and Caroline Ward (deaf and queer artist, designer and researcher), collectively Squirrel Nation, proposed a project for the JUST AI Fellowship that was a re-enactment of the 1956 Dartmouth AI study. This creative project comprised of a decolonising AI reading group and gatherings in which key texts and concepts were read aloud collectively, discussed, recorded and creatively edited into a ceremonial, multimedia piece.

Squirrel Nation Studio creates memorable experiences and concepts that consider co-existence as an ethic. Their work spans installation and live events in a range of public settings, from an urban mushroom farm reimagining the future of food in a climate emergency, to moving image; Nature’s Switch, which was also exhibited in a forest clearing and explores human-plant relationships to red light.

Leading through intersectional practices, Squirrel Nation is co-founded and directed by Caroline Ward and Erinma Ochu. Squirrel Nation were artists in residence in The Stuart Hall Library/INIVA (2018) and Jerwood Fellows at Manchester International Festival in 2017 and 2019. We’ve been commissioned by Sheffield Doc/Fest, Brighton Digital, Shuffle Festival, Arts Council England, European City of Science, Wellcome Collection and Manchester Science Partnerships.