Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto

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In 2019, The Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation awarded Russell the Arts Writing Award in Digital Arts, which offers awardees a spot in the Rauschenberg Residency fellowship. [8] If we think about the approach to the internet of a book like Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together, the idea that we are isolated on the internet and that it’s difficult to connect and build authentic communities there—that actually only presents one part of the story. Then we have another critical narrative, from someone like Lisa Nakamura, of “identity tourism”—that the internet is a place where we exploit different identities. And there’s still another critical narrative, which focuses on how the internet holds no one accountable. We saw this play out with Gamergate, where digital space allows certain forms of gendered violence to mask themselves. Legacy Russell named Executive Director of the Kitchen". Artforum. 8 June 2021 . Retrieved 22 August 2021. Gugliotta, Bobette (1971). Nolle Smith: Cowboy, Engineer, Statesman. Dodd, Mead. ISBN 9780396063902. Mitter, Siddhartha (2019-07-10). "Studio Museum in Harlem Names Artists in Residence". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-06-17.

When someone says to you “body,” what comes to mind? I’ve lectured at different institutions, and it’s always interesting to see how they are or are not defining what a body is. When I’m at the London School of Economics there is one definition, but then you go over to an art space and it’s a whole different kettle of fish. No one comes up with the same idea. So many people bring very real and devastating bias into shaping this “body” and shaping how it should work, who it should serve.As a conceptual framework, glitch reconfigures the typically pejorative way we view failure, brokenness, and the refusal to function. Instead, as Russell convincingly invites us to do, glitch should be welcomed — “the error a passageway” to constructing better worlds. [2] This is because, and here Russell situates glitch feminism in queer-of-colour theory by quoting José Esteban Muñoz: “…this world is not enough, that indeed something is missing.” [3] Russell draws on Shaadi Devereaux’s analysis of social media as a tool for marginalized women to reach each other, build collective support, and engage in conversation where they might usually be excluded in AFK domains. [4] To break, to dismantle, to fail fantastically in the face of a machine that expects us to keep carrying on as if it isn’t stifling and isn’t programmed to reward some and marginalize others. It is to carve fissures in existing, oppressive systems and its limitations on who we might be and what realms we might inhabit. This is where I think it’s useful to talk about the personal again. In the early days of grad school, when I was getting my MRes at Goldsmiths or even during my undergraduate study, I’d present papers and research and end up on stage with folks who were absolutely brilliant but really narrow in terms of their understanding of Cyberfeminist history. Glitch Feminism continues the legacies of cyberfeminism and cyborg feminism by evoking questions of how the complexities of embodiment, so entwined with experiences of gender, queerness, and racialization, extend into digital realms. How can glitch, which at its core is refusal, be reworked as something wonderful in our feminist, queer, and anti-racist utopic envisioning and collective mobilizations? What does it mean to embody glitch, to embody malfunction? Glitch Feminism is a monumental publication in its (re)framing of glitch as feminist and as the power of “no.” It’s a timely release with well-chosen artists spotlighted (Russell is a curator after all!), with Russell’s art criticism angle bringing a fresh focus to thinking about the space of potential between intersectionality, data capitalism, and digital technology. Many of the themes Russell brings up greatly overlap with trans literature, such as the dilemma of visibility, (il)legibility, ethics of the archive and (mis)labelling, and the body; there is room here to further bring trans perspectives into Glitch Feminism. These essays hold great relevance to women and gender studies, queer and trans studies, anti-racism, critical encounters with archives, digital humanities, contemporary art, new media and visual/screen cultures, community-engaged arts, and so forth. If you’re interested in any of these areas or looking to read an intersectional take on embodiment, what it means to have a body in a digital age, and what it means to be connected, Glitch Feminism is highly recommended. Embodiment is time and time again positioned as parallel to glitch — both are ongoing, both hold potential for expansion and reconceptualization in tandem with each other: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a body. And one is not born, but rather becomes, a glitch”. [8]

I came across Mark Aguhar’s work in my own late-night surfing of the net, and it’s been a great joy to see it emerge into different places and spaces: some of the work was included in “ Trap Door” at the New Museum and then again in the Brooklyn Museum’s “ Nobody Promised You Tomorrow.” Mark has an enduring presence across conversations about the digital and queering the body in many different spheres. Absolutely. Glitches are a frustration of the machine, a failure. If you are the user of the machine, they actually will agitate you and cause some discomfort—but that in and of itself is an important place to occupy.a b Lavender, Pandora (15 April 2019). "7 Questions: Legacy Russell". Frieze . Retrieved 2020-06-18. And quite frankly, that made me angry. It made me question, as an art historian, why this story was being told in that way. I think of my peers, the people I have come up with creatively, who are doing incredible work, whom I felt very strongly should be positioned with a greater sense of purpose and clarity across an art historical canon. Why weren’t these conversations being reflected inside of gallery and exhibition spaces and the broader academic discourse?