Cat Bluemke

Cat Bluemke works through video games, performance, and expanded reality to explore the control and conflicts of labour and its relationship with technology. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, Kunsternes Hus (Norway), and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago). Virtual and extended realities open up new possibilities for their users; but who is this user? The “user” is an idea inherited from the political subject of Western ideology, and with it has come the same baggage. Unpacking the military industrial entertainment complex which fuels the possibilities of VR, Bluemke will dissect the foundations of Western philosophy and American individualism that has created today’s User. Referencing the subversive tactics of art, the talk will explore opportunities to further the field of VR through accessing queer, feminist, and disability histories.