About

The intersections between the performativities of bodies, sexualities and technology have sparked countless debates and discussions with ethical, social and cultural implications. It is argued that technology has enabled new forms of sexual expression and experimentation, such as virtual reality pornography or online dating apps. It is also claimed that technology has created new forms of surveillance and body control, such as facial recognition software or algorithmic monitoring of online behaviour. At the same time, there are concerns about how technology can perpetuate or reinforce existing prejudices and stereotypes relating to body image, gender, mental health and sexuality. For instance, some social networks and apps have been criticised for promoting unrealistic beauty standards and perpetuating gender-based violence and harassment.

In this session, we start with the ideas of performativity, bodies, technologies and sexualities, with Valeria Radrigán and Liz Vahia. Following on from her researches into human-machine relations through the original concepts of "digital performativity" and "technosexuality", Valeria Radrigán proposes that we think critically and sensitively about how today's technological apparatuses are reconfiguring our desire/pleasure in device-mediated experiences. In turn, Liz Vahia hypothesises how to think about these issues through the work of contemporary artists, where performativity, sexualities and technology meet and allow us to think about a circularity between body, image and medium.

Based on an idea of the organic as containing in itself the biological and the technological, the proposal is to look, through these works, at a promiscuous relationship between bodies and technology and to rethink, for example, concepts such as body and screen, surface and interior or desire and machine.

Bio notes

Valeria Radrigán | PhD in Philosophy with a specialization in Aesthetics and Art Theory (University of Chile), and Master in Contemporary Art Theory (Complutense University of Madrid). Researcher of the relations between body and technology, specialist in contemporary sexology, cyborg theory, performance studies and media culture. Her works are characterized by transdisciplinary approaches, addressing the phenomenon of corporality and its representations from the theory and experience of physical training. She has worked for 15 years as a university professor in Chile in her research areas, maintaining international working networks with various institutions. Her most relevant books are: "Siento mariposas en el celular. Cuerpo, afecto y sexualidad en dating apps" (Oximoron, Santiago de Chile, 2021), "Yto: del pigmento al electrón" (Ocho Libros, Santiago de Chile, 2018), and "Extremos del volumen" (Cuarto Propio, Santiago de Chile, 2016). She is currently a post-doctoral researcher in digital sexology and transhumanism funded by ANID-Fondecyt Chile and works as a certified kettlebells personal trainer (IKFF, 2021).

Liz Vahia | Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Coimbra, with a post-graduate degree in Theory and Criticism of Contemporary Art from Eina - School of Disseny i Art, Barcelona. She has attended training courses in the areas of visual arts, cinema, dance and performance. She was a FCT grant holder at Museu Nacional de Ciência e da Técnica, in Coimbra, and an INOVART grant holder at NCCA - National Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow. From 2016 to 2019 she was part of the project "BlackBox - The collaborative platform to document performance composition", at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH). Since 2014 she is editor-in-chief of Artecapital,, an online magazine specialised in contemporary visual arts. She attends the PhD programme in Philosophy of Science, Technology, Art and Society, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

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This activity will be provided through Zoom platform and does not require registration. Participation is limited to the number of places available >> https://zoom.us/j/81727712733 | ID: 817 2771 2733 | Password: 278502

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