Personal Information
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Given name: Kathy









Surname: D'Arcy









Email: kathy@hi.is









I understand that by submitting this form, I consent to the use of my data for the purposes of the 2026 Forum on Artistic Research'.: Tá









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Your contribution
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Title: Silence as Failure, Failure as Toolkit: an articulation of the Anfinn creative research project









Format: Project presentation (2)









Main language: English









Abstract:
I will present the experimental methodologies and philosophies behind this project in the way in which my autistic brain structures knowledge, without interpretation, as a creative performance of nonperformative authenticity. 

There are so many barriers between neurodivergent (ND) artists and collaborative spaces. 

The in-between or ‘third’ spaces where collaborative connections are most often made are often impossible to navigate, as are project formats relying mainly on ‘face-to-face' verbal interaction. The contributions and innovations of ND people are often lost to creative and research discourses.  

My project involves creating an experimental website where ND artists play together to develop creative spaces to exist in: this presentation is about how I’m doing this, starting a neurodivergent creative myco-ecology underneath the neurotypical capitalist academy. It will not be necessary to use neurotypical words or story-systems or semiologies, or words at all. It will not be silence and it will not be separation.

This presentation is also about how I’m doing the project While Being Autistic (academi(mi)cking). 

Because of course I am failing. 

I am failing to create the rich, full silence I want from out of the poor silence I’m confined within. I am failing to speak in the languages I am trying to escape and I can’t escape them without them. I am failing to write this abstract. 

I am sentenced to silence.

So what is the methodology of failure?

This presentation is actually about when I walked an ancient path from the south coast of Ireland to the monastic site called the Rock of Cashel. I divined the parts that had been built over and erased by a kind of unfurling around the omissions to wherever the path should come out, and there it would eventually be. There was and is no way to measure this. When I arrived at the Rock gift shop with my shoes full of blood, absolutely nothing happened. I got the bus home.












Link to the Exposition :  (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/editor?research=4219155&weave=4219156#)









Image: https://test.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/321/SAR%20Research%20Forum%202026%20Image.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- I am an autistic researcher, performance poet and feminist activist originally from Ireland. 
  My project, 'AnFinn’, is funded by an Icelandic Research Fund postdoctoral fellowship and hosted by the University of Iceland School of Humanities with support from the Creative Writing programme, the Árni Magnússon Institute and the Centre for Disability Studies. 
  Before this I completed an Irish Research Council funded Creative Writing PhD at University College Cork, Ireland. 
  I have performed my poetry and experimental work at festivals, conferences and activist events around Ireland and Europe.
  I work on remaking silence and I always have though I did not know it.  
  www.kathydarcy.com
  www.anfinn.hi.is










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
19.4.24: Academi(mi)cking Neurodivergence: biennial conference of Hugdok, Assoc of Doctoral Candidates and ECRs at School of Humanities, University of Iceland
31.10.24: Neurodivergent Academi(mi)cking, Neurodivergent Creativity: Þjóðarspegilinn ('The National Mirror') Conference, University of Iceland
Planned 2025 presentations at the NNDR conference 2025 (Helsinki) and the Umede Festival (Vilnius) could not go ahead due to autistic burnout and lack of accessibility.














Requirements
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Additional information:
The presentation will involve live performative speaking and prerecorded audiovisual components. 










Spatial and technical requirements :
I will need to be able to project images and video onto a screen from my laptop
I am autistic so will need:
- a small quiet room nearby where I can go in case of sensory overwhelm
- a seat very close to the presentation area 
- visual rather than/as well as verbal cues due to sensory processing difficulties
- someone to meet me outside the venue and walk with me to the conference space, if possible.











Potential risks or ethical concerns:
As a privileged white cis woman I try to be as mindful as possible of unconscious bias, ignorance and casual prejudice of any kind, but I am always aware of these possibilities. I want to be authentic and mindful about addressing any offense or triggering my work may cause at any point. To my knowledge my presentation does not contain any triggering, offensive or inappropriate content. 










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