What makes someone — you in this case — consider themselves a transdisciplinary artist?

I consider myself a transmedia artist because I work with different types of media. I also identify as transdisciplinary because I do not limit myself to the contemporary art world or to any one specific medium. For example, this project began as an online transmedia storytelling experience, which then evolved into a performance and eventually into an installation that incorporates augmented reality video and the performativity of the body. In this project, I am not just the artist and performer; the audience is also a crucial part of the performance. The audience becomes an active participant, transforming the performance into a collaborative experience.

Can you tell us about the steps that have led you to where you are today and to your work in new arts media.

I started studying in Italy and when I started there was no program in new media art, maybe in other countries they already had something going on. So I had very basic visual art courses, but during my first master’s, because I did a second one in Austria, I realized that I was interested in how the dynamics of social media were working.

The idea of working with social media came from the anger I felt about the biases and data collection practices of these platforms. I believed that they violated human rights, so I started to work with these platforms to find ways to subvert them. Initially, I focused on projects related to appropriation and online-based projects, and I started using speculative narratives as a way to tell my story.

I was interested in these topics of new technology and to somehow show the hidden power structures that normally we don’t see, but also the potential that these technologies could have if they would be used by somebody else. If there wouldn’t be a power structure within it, for instance if this technology were open source, then it would be just used in a different way.

This is also a point of using augmented reality in this way. There is face tracking in order to make the project possible, but this data is not collected. This technology has to be used to better yourself and not take away something from you.

It’s clear that the prominent feminist scholar Donna Haraway and her work on the cyborg and the intersection of technology, identity and gender have had a significant impact on your work. However, your biography suggests that you do not necessarily identify as a feminist. What is your perspective on identifying yourself as a feminist artist?

Donna Haraway has had a big influence on my work, particularly her ideas on storytelling. There is this documentary film based on her book, “Story Telling for Earthly Survival,” and it influenced me in this project. I find that storytelling is such a powerful tool to talk about issues that normally aren’t talked about, and it really can help you see the world differently and create shifts in perspective.

I believe that feminists have used this tool, storytelling, as a means to showcase a different world, especially in the past when feminist writers in the 1960s and 1970s were not given the same level of attention as they are today. It was necessary to find ways to [convey their message] beyond simply stating the facts. How can we reimagine something differently? I think it is also easier for people to understand what is wrong when you tell them through a story, and you show them something that can somehow be both utopian and dystopian.

S()fia Braga: I want to bring attention to the vulva

Artist, cyberstalker and AI auteur talks about identities and technology.

Dafina Halili

S()fia Braga: I want to bring attention to the vulva

Artist, cyberstalker and AI auteur talks about identities and technology.

Dafina Halili