dc.description.abstract
This thesis is split in two parts.In the first part, I am looking into the reflexive workings of physical and virtual public and private space, and how those qualities might relate to blockchain technology.These are investigations within the grounds of the space of the urban fabric of cities, homes, public squares, the internet 1.0 and Web3. I am seeking compare qualities of physical and private space from a feminist perspective and the attributes of what public and private spaces constitute in either.Part 1This thesis approaches space, physical and virtual, from an evaluative, critical perspective with a feminist point of view. Starting at an experímental exploration of how space(s) and how one is able, allowed, to inhabit and move within it, spaces have been governed by gendered norms and rules, this thesis will make its way through various takes on territorialities and differently predisposed rights within them over time.From differing conditions women and other marginalized groups were bound to adhere to in physical space, inhabiting space with their bodies, and the agency over their own physicalities, the space surrounding their bodies in layers — clothing, rooms of their homes, freedom within their own four walls, and stepping outside those, this thesis will discuss rules and exceptions to private and public realm.From these physical and fictional territories this thesis will move to an extension of aforementioned that is as much our modern day homes as our living rooms — ‘the internet’. Considered a newish public space, containing private ones, in which it still needs to be considered what’s publicly accessible, and what is not, a new possibility arises to move the public realm with anonymity. In a space of such anonymity — what is read as female, and what are the criteria for such a reading?This thesis will discuss how far this anonymity might affect gendered biases, or use them to skew perceptions through willing curation of information.This thesis concludes with a piece of artistic research, and said artwork that poses the question of inhabiting digital space in a feminist way that is artificial with manufactured combinations that distort temporal phenomena in a derivative reflexive approach.Part 2In the second part of the thesis, I delve into the realm of digital art by creating a series of images generated through artificial intelligence (AI) and minted into a collection of images that can live as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the blockchain. Accompanying these images is a crypto feminist manifesto that articulates the themes explored in the artwork. The digital objects depicted in the images portray female figures, forming a council of vestal-like non-virgins. These figures, as homage on vestal virgins, symbolize guardianship over the domestic space of capitalist digital culture, engaging in discussions about the social construction of beauty in the 21st century. In an antithesis to traditional vestal virgins, these emblematic statues offer non-spiritual, non-physical, and non-emotional forms of nurturance.Through the project I want to raise critical questions about the intersection of feminism, technology, and capitalism. It interrogates the inherent biases and inequalities present in AI learning processes and databases, particularly in relation to gender. By using AI-generated images to explore issues of anonymity and identity in public and private space, the project highlights the ways in which technology can perpetuate or challenge societal norms and power structures. Additionally, it critiques the transactional nature of capitalism, which is antithetical to the concept of unconditional love and care. Instead, the project proposes a vision of digital decadence that thrives on humble hedonism and ‘on-chain’ democracy, challenging conventional notions of value and exchange in the digital realm. feminst.xyz
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