The Research Forum provides access to recent research examining critical issues around contemporary drawing. It features presentations and a plenary discussion with artists examining diverse themes, and utilising and developing current discourse around contemporary drawing. The Forum provides a space for knowledge exchange between disciplines, encourages cross-fertilization of ideas and methodology, and fosters collaborations between artists and researchers.

‘Drawing Beyond Human’ will centre on ‘Man Stupid’, a body of work by Coutts that began in response to video recordings of Koko, a gorilla that was taught American Sign Language in captivity, and who addressed the COP26 Climate Conference in 2014. In this presentation, this example of practice-led research will propose drawing as a means for making ‘language’ and vocabulary within interspecies encounters. It questions what such an exploration, at the limits of what is commonly understood as ‘language’, can contribute to concerns of how to act and live in proximity to the current climate emergency.

Coutts presented alongside Sasha Bergstrom-Katz and Grace Schwindt.