GLI.TC/H symposium--> working group --> glitchxxx cultures call

The GLI.TC/H symposium is rapidly approaching. GLI.TC/H 2112: DEC 6-9:CHICAGO // see: http://gli.tc/h/
We (Beth Capper, Adam Trowbridge, Jessica Westbrook) are organizing/facilitating one of the glitch traxx (translation: multi-day focused programming/activity) – and your voice, presence, help is needed to make this traxx inclusive and thoughtful.

Preliminary discourse forums:
http://working.gli.tc/forums/forum/glitchxxx-cultures/ –> we need you
Please create an account and share ideas/response/resources :)

theme 1: Community –> Inclusion, structures, and power / for who?
http://working.gli.tc/forums/topic/theme-1-community-inclusionstructurepower/

theme 2: Artifacts –> Luncheon on the Grass, inheritance / gender, sex, others
http://working.gli.tc/forums/topic/theme-2-representation-luncheon-on-the-grass-gender-sex-and-others/

theme 3: Artifacts –> Critical re-enactments and or your dad's porn / woman-made
http://working.gli.tc/forums/topic/theme-3-artifacts-critical-re-enactments-andor-your-dads-porn-woman-made/

theme 4: Alt Realities –> Perspectives on gender (nonconformity), queer, fantasy
http://working.gli.tc/forums/topic/theme-4-alt-realities-gender-nonconformity-queer-ambiguity-fantasy/

Description
The traxx we are organizing is called "glitchxxx cultures." Glitchxxx cultures is focused on the social complexity of community, participation/access, and representation in glitch culture. There are obvious patterns present in the glitch communities (and other tech-oriented cultures) we want to consider here –> and these patterns always seem to cycle back to gender and sex, inheritance (tradition), and power structures (language, priorities, and expectations). The xxx in the title specifically refers to the complexxxity of gender and sexxxuality currents in glitch and related new media practices, and takes notice of the presence of homogeny (lack of diversity/participants in activity, possible related social/language and economic conditions in place), strong presence of sexual objectification (the impact of hetero porn oriented presence on wider participation/demographic/broader thinking), and co-option (of female sexuality)…

Why?
While the glitch new media community/aesthetic/activity - is just one facet/niche of new media oriented practice (art+computers), it does have a strong presence currently (especially in Chicago). Within the glitch community there is a presence of women via sexualized imagery/language, but not a lot of women and/or other more diverse populations participating in the community dynamic beyond this scope. Why? Is this a microcosm of the barriers/challenges of community, structure, language, power? Is this a microcosm of the barriers/challenges of women in tech? Is this yet another art movement that co-ops female sexuality/spectacle – e.g. Luncheon on the Grass, Manet? Is there room for alt gender, sex, power dynamics?– e.g. woman made masterbation material? How is a broader context for alt reality, gender, sex, power dynamics present/articulated in the community?


Goals in all this
Investigate contemporary life, art, dynamics, community
/ Ask big questions
/ Collect a wide array of focused resources and discourse that haven't been collected before
/ Have fun collaborating with a range of artists, designers, scholars; inclusivity
/ Publish/share the info in a way that it will be useful to others as a resource/reference

Preliminaries irl get-together:
If you happen to be in Chicago on November 9 and are interested in getting together to talk through ideas (5PM start), please contact Jessica Westbrook, [email protected], for details.


Beth Capper is a PhD candidate at Brown University. She holds a dual Master's degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy. Her interests involve feminist and queer approaches to writing art history, online archives, and media art histories/hysteries, particularly in relation to the early video communities in NYC and Chicago. In addition to co-organizing SAIC's graduate student film series, The Eye & Ear Clinic, Capper programmed film screenings for the Maysles Cinema in Harlem, NYC, and the Roots and Culture Gallery and the Conversations at the Edge series at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago and co-organized two ladyfest feminist arts festivals in Brighton, England and Chicago.

Adam Trowbridge and Jessica Westbrook collaborate as Channel TWo (CH2). CH2 focuses on mixed reality, media, research, design, development, and distribution… authorized formats + unauthorized ideas… systems of control + radical togetherness. CH2 was awarded a Rhizome Commission in 2012, a Turbulence Commission in 2011, and a Terminal Commission in 2010. Trowbridge and Westbrook have been collaborating since 1990, and have contributed to a number of publications, platforms, and programs including: reviews for furtherfield.org (2012); the GLI.TC/H READER[ROR] (http://gli.tc/h/) (2011); Media-N, Journal of the New Media Caucus (2010); Plausible Artworlds, a project to collect and share knowledge about alternative models of creative practice (2010-2011); Art Work, A National Conversation About Art, Labor, and Economics, Ed. Temporary Services (2009). Both Trowbridge and Westbrook are Assistant Professors of Art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they teach studio courses in the Department of Contemporary Practices and The Department of Art and Technology Studies.