A non-representational autoethnography of protoacademic desire in the 3rd-century Industrial Society
An installation by Alessandro Graciotti and Alessia Derudas
Nomader Happier? is an installation exhibited at the 14th International Critical Management Studies (ICMS) conference - hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University, 18-20 June 2025.
The authors Alessandro Graciotti and Alessia Derudas invite you to enter the норка, a nomadic refuge both conceptual and real - in actuality, it's real because it's conceptual (potentia).
The installation is built with a lightweight, portable structure. Inside, visitors can take shelter in a semi-transparent, enveloping environment - one that offers a sense of seclusion without completely cutting off the outside world.
They will find a CD player and headphones, which they can use to listen to an original piece composed by the musician Aspect Ratio. Inside the норка, they will also find a simulacrum of this autoethnographic 'music-story' installation-assemblage: a print of an original photograph by the artist eladris.
These elements within the structure speak the personal events as narrated and conceptualised by the authors.
Visitors are invited to contribute by sharing a piece of music that represents their own (protoacademic) shelter, using the QR code provided on the exhibition leaflet. The multiplicities of song-'shelters' shared by visitors will come together to form a collective норка, which will take shape as a public playlist available on the project’s YouTube channel (@n0maderhappi3r) after the event.





