THEME

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The upcoming conference calls for the examination of suppressed voices, indigenous and feminist thinking and queer theory. All of which bring a new dimension to utopianism, capitalism and consumerism. Within this call we ask scholars to embrace uncertainty through digital and manual forms of making, engagement with virtual and physical spaces and artistic and scientific endeavors that span multiple disciplines and weave together old and new knowledge.

Practitioners will be asked to offer disruptive making practices, experimental computation, ways of growing and emotionally connecting with the non-human, be it biological or artificial as well as theoretical thinking surrounding the challenges created by the human species. Critically examining these ideas is an essential component of imagining a future beyond the status quo.

As we face new global challenges, we ask contributors to explore local and place specific making that carries its own unique signature through the systems, species, constraints and folklore that inform their practice. This is a direct attempt to think globally whilst acting locally, sensitively and with a sense of responsibility not only for our own species’ survival, but towards planetary interests.

The call asks thinkers and makers to consider what new local ecologies shall emerge through environmental displacement of people, gradual migration of species and unprecedented environmental changes. What forensic landscapes shall emerge from the byproducts of our contemporary society and how can we scavenge and repurpose the leftovers of civilization? How does our mind and body interface with the bio-digital and how do we approach bioengineered chimeras?

CATEGORIES

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Digital Materiality

Feminist Thinking

Craft and the Digital

Damaged Ground

Indigenous Voices

New Ecology

Virtual Scapes

Bio-Digital Hybrids

Chimeras and Cyborgs