[artinfo] Call for Projects: Gender(ed) Cultures on the Internet

[Sophie Le-Phat Ho]

Call for Submissions .dpi issue 28 (fall 2013) Deadline: 13 September 
2013 http://dpi.studioxx.org/ Themed Section: Gender(ed) Cultures on 
the Internet Guest Editor: Jennifer Chan In the Themed Section of its 
28th issue, .dpi is looking at the internet as a heterogenous space 
that allows for the deliberation and challenging of gender ideals. On 
the internet, like-minded users find communities of interest based on 
mobilizing conversations around feminism and masculinism alike. Donna 
Haraway and Coco Fusco suggest that the early internet may have 
precipitated emancipatory potentials for the performance of gender, 
as receding boundaries between bodies and machines would allow for 
historically invisibilized and marginal gender subjectivities to be 
heard. Conversely, the imbalanced history of representational 
structures upheld by museum and academic art institutions run up 
against these optimistic intentions on the internet. In light of a 
vast majority of Wikipedia editors identifying as male and recurring 
uproars over representation disparity in video games and net art, the 
gaps in representation of women and queer people in technology and 
new media art remain unexplained and unresolved. On one hand, the 
complex, intertwined relationship between social discourse and 
representations of gender
  online could be examined, since rigid ideals of masculinity and 
femininity are still dominant in online communities like OKCupid et 
AskMen and MPUA (pickup artists) forums. On the other, artistic 
practice that co-opts and/or questions these definitions may open 
doors for new ways of understanding the social construction of 
gender. While Cyberfeminist collectives of the 90s sought to 
specifically infiltrate the male-dominated arena of net.art, feminist 
networked practices are pluralist today. Early artistic users such as 
Netochka Nezvanova and the late LaTurbo Avedon exploit the apparent 
anonymity of networks to project unstable personas and interests. 
Nowadays, online feminist critique reflects gendered realities and 
aspirations of users, ranging from subversive pop cultural remix to 
latent commentary in image aggregation on tumblrs. Elsewhere on the 
internet, honest writing by bloggers and writers such as Karley 
Sciortino (Slutever) et Marie Calloway have invoked blogosphere 
uproar over the "correct" artistic self-representation of female 
sexuality. Ultimately, binary notions of gender (masculinity and 
femininity) as an acculturated performance of imitating socialized 
ideals manifests in technology, and is also a product of technology. 
Yet these conventions are rendered
  unstable by user deliberation of such representations within the 
informal space of the web (1). What kinds of practices and 
representations are currently important to women and queer people? 
What conversations reflect the realities of gender distribution in 
art on the internet? What would a truly postgender online environment 
look like? What kinds of uses of the network breach existing ideas of 
bodily performativity? Submission of completed articles may include 
(and are not limited to): - analyses of queer, transgender, and/or 
heterosexual culture online; - networked art practices and 
conversations on feminism and queerness; - descriptions of 
non-academic, artistic and social feminist conversations and 
practices facilitated by the internet; - the gendered structure of 
the internet; - feminist analyses on internet subculture; - 
interviews with creatives who work within related themes; - 
statements and manifestos; - alternative histories of online feminist 
art practice. Completed texts and/or projects by interested 
participants of all sexualities and orientations are welcomed. (1) 
Jack Judith Halberstam. "Automating Gender : Postmodern Feminism in 
the Age of the Intelligent Machine", Feminist Studies, Vol. 17, No. 
3. (Automne 1991), 440. ///// To Submit .dpi is looking for 
submissions relevant to (or stemming from) "the Web", including text, 
image, sound, video, animation, interactive works, or others, and any 
combination of these, produced collaboratively or individually. Types 
of submissions include (but are not limited to) short essays, 
criticism, interviews, case studies, reviews, reports, creative works 
(or extracts), and other imaginative responses. The editorial 
committee encourages the submission of non-academic contributions (or 
that go beyond the academic style). Text length can vary between 500 
and 1500 words (maximum), depending on the form and the media used. 
Please send your submission (along with relevant images, videos, 
hyperlinks, etc.), a short biography (100 words) per person involved, 
an abstract (100 words), as well as 2 to 5 keywords, by Friday, 13 
September 2013 to: revuedpi(at)gmail.com An honorarium is offered 
depending on the length and complexity of the contribution. The 
authors and artists are responsible for all copyright related to the 
submitted content. Submissions that fall outside of the Themed 
Section are also welcomed and will be considered for publication in 
the Field Studies Section ("hors dossier"). ///// Based in Montreal 
and published online, .dpi opens a unique and bilingual space for 
dialogue and interdisciplinary critical reflection, research, 
experimentation, documentation, and positions and propositions, 
situated at the intersection of art, technology and feminisms. The 
journal is a platform where the bold, critical, engaged and curious 
contributor may question issues related to feminism (in all its 
varieties), art and digital culture. dpi.studioxx.org 
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