[-empyre-] some questions for the week

[Zach Blas]

hi all--

here are some questions to get us going this week:

what are your general thoughts on the importances of thinking
queerness through the nonhuman? theoretical frameworks like
object-oriented philosophy and new media theory have recently stressed
the political importance of de-centering the human in critical
thought. what are you thoughts and opinions on these theories?

digital media and computation have a fascinating and compelling queer
history. for those of you that have explored these issues in your
work, what do you find pressing about doing this work today? what is
at stake here? perhaps alan turing is a figure some of you might feel
comfortable starting with.

recently, there have been calls that queer theory is dead, but there
have also been new/renewed approaches to queer theory, from david
ruffolo’s “post-queer politics” and jack halberstam’s queer failure to
michael o’rourke queer speculative realism. where do you feel queer
theory and the futures of queer theory stand in relation to digital
networks and nonhuman materials and objects?

lastly, many queer media artists attempt to bring the technical to
bear on the human, through embodied performances and objects. what are
your thoughts on such queer media art? can you point out examples that
compellingly bring the human and nonhuman together, through
computation or digital media for example?

happy discussing!
zach

-- 
zach blas
artist & phd candidate
literature, information science + information studies, visual studies
duke university
www.zachblas.info