Dictionary of Dark Matters

This is the Dictionary of Dark Matters.

During the Summer of 2020, Dark Matters was taught by American Artist and Zainab Aliyu (TA) at the School for Poetic Computation.  For ten weeks, thirty students convened over and through national borders to study alongside us and with one another. We engaged in intimate practices of unlearning, deep listening and reflection. 

The self-published book you are reading is the culmination of all of that thought. It is a 500+ page (and growing) collaborative people's dictionary written over the course of ten weeks. It is an abundance of poetry, prose, creative writing, personal history and illustration filled with terms we have come across during our time together. 

For transparency, every voice within the dictionary is uniquely represented with the contributor's preference in typography. By archiving our histories and inserting our human experiences into the critical theories we are learning, we are looking inwardly and actively engaging with the way we move through the world. It feels increasingly necessary, helping us to ask not only about the technologies, processes and policies that govern civil liberties, but also about whose bodies and freedoms remain captive.

— contributed by American Aritst and Zainab Aliyu