The first part of this publication deals with the topic of medical devices, and how people make use of them to monitor their vitals or other aspects of their health, treat symptoms, administer medication or act in an emergency. Alongside information and resources related to medical devices, the publication also delves into privacy concerns related to the use of medical and personal data by corporations. It was accompanied by a workshop session with Pernilla Manjula Phillip.

The second part focused on (mostly Western) herbalism—the rootstock of what we now call conventional medicine. It containes contributions from the Garage School of Medicine, who organised a workshop to explore collective, social and situated approaches to health and healing. The second part also explores the conception of the (sick) body through Western Medicine: as dissected from (social, ecological, microbial, economic) context. How can we apply ‘radical’ (as in ‘from the root’) approaches to health and healing?

The third session of Self-medicated Practices looks at self-diagnosis. Not the wellness industry one, where you track your biometrics out of curiousity and with the aim of extending the health of your already fit body. The kind that you resort to because you had nine minutes with the doctor, they dismissed your symptoms and told you it is probably just stress. We had an open call for texts and have 4 gorgeous and very different takes on self-diagnosis.

You can get a physical copy in Varia, or download the PDF version here: https://varia.zone/documents/self-medicated-octomode_edition3.pdf

Self-medicated practices

Issue: 1
Date: 2025
Editors: Yoana Buzova and Alice Strete Designers: Yoana Buzova and Alice Strete Contributors: Yoana Buzova, Santiago Piñol, Pernilla Manjula Phillip, Kari Robertson, Alice Strete, Elle, Florian Cramer, Marina Lacroix, Charli Herrington Tools: Octomode https://git.vvvvvvaria.org/varia/octomode
Fonts: Sligoil by Ariel Martín Pérez
Support: Creative Industries Fund NL