Personal Information
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Given name: Nadia









Surname: Armstrong









Email: nadiajarmstrong@gmail.com









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Your contribution
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Title: In Pursuit of the Quantum Imaginary









Format: Project presentation (2)









Main language: English









Abstract:
Artist and researcher Nadia J. Armstrong (NCAD/CONNECT) will present her Cyborg Feminist framework for her practice-based research which is an examination of knowledge production in the field of quantum-based research. Armstrong’s project is in pursuit of the imaginaries at play in the production of technoscientific research. Drawing on STS scholar Sheila Jasanoff’s analytical framework of the sociotechnical imaginary and Karen Barad’s philosophical framework of agential realism, this project presents the quantum imaginary as a fertile site of knowledge-production within technoscientific innovation.

Armstrong will break down some of the practice-based research methodologies she adopts in order to examine “quantum” as a sociotechnical imaginary. Her project is a capturing of imaginaries that circulate in the quantum-based research field. Her practice seeks to make visible the potential futures emerging from this field of research. Through inviting chance, immanence and uncertainty into the research, Armstrong’s practice is equipped to pursue the quantum imaginary.

Drawing on quantum phenomena and behaviour as the starting point to devise her methodological approach, Armstrong employs quantum research’s established principles as conceptual and performative practice-based modes with which to interrogate the constraints of technoscientific knowledge production. In this presentation Armstrong will describe her interpretations of the quantum principles as philosophical frameworks for “knowing” that may enable us to reinstate other forms of knowledge that typically exist outside the technoscientific paradigm; forms of knowledge that rely on instinct, intuition, belief and imagination. 










Link to the Exposition :  (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/shared/07322c1fdcb4d29822bd85f8ab06a48c)









Image: https://test.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/310/GIRLHERO%20%282025%29%20by%20Nadia%20J.%20Armstrong.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Armstrong is a visual artist & practice-based PhD fellow with NCAD & CONNECT. Her research harnesses the socio-technical imaginary to analyse systems of knowledge in quantum communications.
  
  She creates multimedia installations that act as interfaces to alternative realities - emancipatory parafictions that deconstruct the “natural order”. Her XR environments wield esoteric forms of knowledge as rituals for contemporary survival.
  
  Arts council- funded she has exhibited and collaborated with Luan Gallery(Athlone), IMMA, Beta (Dublin) transmediale, Re:publica Festival, UDK (Berlin) CCI ( Paris), VISUAL (Carlow), Solstice (Navan), &  Pôle PIXEL (Lyon).










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
1) "The Question Concerning (Quantum) Technology : A Transdisciplinary Symposium” Hamilton Building, TCD. 6th Oct 2025.
 Armstrong participated in panel presentations, delivering a presentation on developing her quantum-inspired research methodology. 
2) A version of this presentation, focusing on the creative practice elements of the project will be presented at the “4th MTU Creative and Performing Arts & Media Research Forum” 3-5th March.
3) GIRLHERO installation at the Luan Gallery, Nov 25.














Requirements
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Additional information:
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Spatial and technical requirements :
The presentation will require a projector or screen for slides in a pdf format.










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
None of the data from the ongoing interviews for Armstrong's PhD are part of this presentation. Content, unless referenced, is produced by the artist-researcher.










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