Cite as: Cristina Voto, ‘Disembodying Data: Shifting Identities in Algorithmic Society’, talk presented at the section ‘Artificial Intelligence’, part of the symposium Shifting Natures, ICI Berlin, 14–15 March 2024, video recording, mp4, 36:18 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e240314_07>
Talk
14 – 15 Mar 2024

Disembodying Data

Shifting Identities in Algorithmic Society
By Cristina Voto

Video in English

Format: mp4
Length: 00:36:18
First published on: https://www.ici-berlin.org/events/shifting-natures/
Rights: © ICI Berlin

Part of the Section

Artificial Intelligence

Part of the Symposium

Shifting Natures

The very concept of nature has been the subject of thorough critique for quite a while. From a Western deconstructive perspective, nature is a signifier standing for naive immediacy or reactionary normativity. Poststructuralist and queer paradigms have shifted from an idea of nature as a being and of the natural as a given to a conception of them as the effects of discursive, performative practices. These critiques marked a turning point in the centuries-long debate on the concept of nature, pluralizing and de-essentializing it — hence, shifting natures.

While these advancements are paramount, such a deconstructive frame has also meant overemphasizing the discursive element at the expense of the materiality of power relations and embodied experiences. As Stacy Alaimo argues, ‘one of the most unfortunate legacies of poststructuralist and postmodern feminism has been the accelerated “flight from nature” fueled by rigid commitments to social constructionism.’ Within the semantic constellation of nature, which terms and concepts facilitate a connection with the material dimension, without replicating essentialist, normative, ultimately reactionary positions? What can be the epistemological, political, and affective investment in retrieving references to nature, after its deconstruction? The symposium Shifting Natures addresses these questions in three interlocked areas: Environment; Artificial Intelligence; and Gender.

Venue

ICI Berlin
(Click for further documentation)

With

David Bastidas-Bolaños
Frank Carber
Carlotta Cossutta
Jessie Hock
Özgün Eylül İşcen
Nathaniel LaCelle-Peterson
Maria Rosaria Marella
Gabriel Menotti
Chiara Montalti
Pietro Omodeo
Alice Parrinello
Kyriaki (Korina) Pavlidou
Luca Lou Pinelli
Charlotte Ross
Samuele Sartori
Myriam Sauer
Alison Sperling
Constantinos Taliotis
Cristina Voto
Ben Woodard
Silvano Zipoli Caiani

Organized by

Federica Buongiorno
Alberica Bazzoni
Xenia Chiaramonte