ARTH 4153 - Topics in Feminist Media Arts

(crosslisted) FGSS 4153 , VISST 4153  
(CA-AS)      

Topic for fall 2015: Feminist Posthumanisms in the Visual Arts

Feminist media arts continuously proliferate. These rich and varied practices include video, net art, networked performance, video games, remix, installation, biotech art, artificial life and robotics. While some of these works address traditional feminist concerns such as the female body, identity, representation, feminist history and consumerism, others directly engage with recent theoretical currents on the Anthropocene, posthumanism and new materialisms that view humans and non-humans as co-dependent. Non-humans include environmental factors, animals, plants, bacteria, and machines. This seminar will examine work by contemporary artists engaged with posthumanist perspectives in relation to a body of relevant theoretical texts and previous feminist media arts. Is feminism compatible with posthumanism? What do feminist art and theory add to current understandings of the posthuman?