... magari a qualcuno puo' interessare.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: <hackademia-owner@???>
Reply-To: biella <biella@???>
Subject: [hackademia] Fear and Loathing of the Online Self--A Savage
Journey into the Heart of Digital Cultures
Call for participation, conference, Rome, May 22-23, 2017
Fear and Loathing of the Online Self--A Savage Journey into the Heart of
Digital Cultures
Confirmed speakers: Wendy Chun, Ana Peraica, Jodi Dean, Marco Deseriis,
Gabriella Coleman, Daniel de Zeeuw, Rebecca Stein, Vito Campanelli,
Franco Berardi.
Editorial Team: Donatella Della Ratta (John Cabot University), Geert
Lovink (Institute of Network Cultures/HvA), Teresa Numerico (Universite
degli Studi RomaTre), Peter Sarram (John Cabot University).
Please send your proposal (max 500 words in word/pdf format), a short
bio and any other material that could support your idea visually
(artwork, film links, etc) to selfieconference@???
Deadline: March 1, 2017.
The conference aims at exploring the state of the online self by raising
questions about its status as a focal point of contemporary
power/networks. Is the online self merely a product of software
predictability and viral marketing? Is there any space left for
self-determination? Or should we search elsewhere for new forms
resistance by changing our political categories and perspectives? Which
contradictions are at play? How and where can we locate the spaces of
performativity of the online self?
Abstracts and proposals are welcome to contribute to the following
sections:
1. ONLINE SUBJECTIVITY THEORY
How much free room do we have to design new identities? What aesthetic
and philosophic paths and patterns does meme distribution hint at? What
is the role of theory and criticism, if any, in the ever changing yet
endless production of the latest user affordances, from dating
sites,Tinder swipes and Snapchat lenses, to Pokemon-Go? Can we still
attempt to design new modes of subjectivity, or has our role withdrawn
to a mere Cassandra-like gloom and doom prediction of digital
catastrophes, while start-ups (read: future monopolies) have all taken
over the cool business of designing and shaping the online self?
2. BEHIND AND BEYOND SELFIES
It is easy to diagnose the selfie as a symptom of a growing narcissism
of our daily digital obsessions. But how do we get beyond the
predictable split between the politically correct assessment of
empowerment (of young girls) against the nihilist reading of
self-promotion and despair? Does criticism of today's photography of
the everyday life always have to end up giving medical prescriptions
and recipes of well-being? What could a materialist reading of large
databases and facial recognition techniques (including protection) that
goes beyond media archaeology (the historical approach) and the
ever-changing pop gestures involve and say? Can we still talk about the
liberation of the self in the age of digital self-generation of the images?
3. ARTISTIC PRACTICES OF THE ONLINE SELF
Artists play an important role in the anticipation, and critique, of
new modes of the self. What role does the artistic imagination play
beyond the creative industries paradigm? How can artistic and creative
avant garde practices help disrupt the trite quantitative approach and
the dogma of the algorithm in defining modes and moods of the online
self? What separates a (properly) artistic imagination and the aesthetic
imagination of the online curators of selfie-constructed personas and
are contemporary critical paradigms merely reproducing an understanding
of online practices that are aligned with the requirements of corporation?
4. POLITICS AND AESTHETICS OF MASK DESIGN
Masks and selfies should not be seen as opposites as they both
represent different modes (and moods) of being of the self. Masks
create spaces of performance; they are playful and seductive (or scary)
forms of self-representation that ultimately do not protect us against
the computational repression of the security apparatus. What are the
lessons learned from the Anonymous movement? We should come to a new
social contract between the individuals, groups and the cybernetic
machine. In the meanwhile, how can we make sure to protect us, and what
premises are hidden in the numerous crypto-design projects that circulate?
