III. ABOUT
Studio
Family Affairs Studio is a cultural production and experience design studio navigating the spaces between spectacle and structure, intimacy and systems, collapse and transformation. Through performances, publications, touring works, and collaborative ventures, we examine how people relate to purpose, care, power, technology, themselves, and each other.
We treat both the stage and the studio as laboratories: places to test ideas, build new architectures for gathering, and design experiences that open us to vulnerability, complexity, and change.
Michael R. Speciàle (Founder + Director) is an artist, performer, writer, and systems architect whose practice navigates embodied performance, cultural infrastructure, and operational design. His current works include Bottoming for Jesus, a touring solo performance examining queer spirituality and the myths we cling to; Love Letters from AI, a publication and lecture-performance exploring authorship and equity in the age of machine learning; and Artificial Ecologies, an ongoing research practice investigating how human bodies, digital systems, and belief structures interact.
Previously, Michael co-founded and was Executive Director of NAVEL in Los Angeles for seven years, supporting over 200 programs, residencies, and collaborative projects. His work spans solo performance, conceptual essays, cultural strategy, and the design of supportive infrastructures for artists and organizations. Through Family Affairs Studio and its sister practice Work◆Flow for Humans, he bridges artistic expression with the operational architectures that sustain it.