Media Art Sciences & Feminist Theories: New Alliances?

Abstract

The old and odd discussion concerning High Art versus Low Culture might be still alive in mainstream art history as well as in an advanced media art history and/or media art sciences. I do not want to force this issue because media art or so called new media art has been classified as art in a broad sense - this is no question. Instead of this I would favor new alliances between feminist theories and media art sciences. The recent discourse of cyberfeminism for example shows that the category of gender is not obsolete nor representations of the (virtual) body as a playground of gendered structures (cf. feminist art practices: historical and actual netart and interactive installations). It is more than required to intensify feminist positions in media art sciences specially partial perspectives (Donna Haraway), transversal politics (Nira Yuval-Davis), situated practices as a multicultural feminist attitude (Ella Shohat). Do we need new institutionalization? The virulent discussion offers arguments to promote and to ghettosize feminist media sciences.