File:Tranta Lydia Cyberfeminist Art as a Medium of Political Expression Producing and Communicating a Post-cyberfeminist Artwork for Social Change 2020.pdf

Summary[edit]

Oriented towards a reinvention of the collective self, the thesis explores the appropriate interconnections between digital art and politics that promote the redefinition process of the collective demands and desires. To that direction, an effort has been made so as the contemporary collective experience of oppression to be critically examined. An interdisciplinary approach that creates ruptures in the dominant “situated knowledges” of sciences is adopted, as it appears to be quite consistent with the complex and multi-fragmented character of postmodernity. Intersectional feminism, cyberfeminism and xenofeminism have offered the tools for a critical examination of digital culture and its intersection with the contemporary sociopolitical milieu. Inspired by the political and cultural cyberfeminist content of Francesca da Ramini’s (aka dollyoko’s) artwork ‘dollspace’, as well as by the critiques of Xenofeminists in relation to the current universal digital infrastructure, an initiative was taken to produce and communicate a post-cyberfeminist internet artwork. The use of the prefix ‘post’ is connoting the adoption of cyberfeminism's theoretical and artistic context in a revised edition, which is aligned to the current sociopolitical and technomaterial conditions. The techniques and digital tools that have the potentials to promote the post-cyberfeminist content of the artwork are explored, as well as the proper communication form so as to be in accordance with its critical character.

I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the cyberfeminist artist Francesca da Rimini (dollyoko) for her sincere generosity to share with me her experiences and knowledge on cyberfeminism, as well as for the warm conversation we had on Skype. Her feministic energy empowered me to conduct with passion the writing process of the thesis.

Lydia Tranta, January 2020