roberta buiani
MA Art History (York)
PhD communication and culture (York)"viral" thoughts
To assume that viruses and transposable elements are first and foremost causes of disease is like assuming that automobiles are first and foremost made to kill people. (Greg Bear, Darwin's Children 2003: 24)
"What is the Margin ? I asked a friend.. you know what a margin is..Itís outside the body of the text. Itís what holds the page together. Itís where you write your notes" (Jody Berland, TOPIA 1. 1997)
All philosophy..is based on two things only: curiosity and poor eyesight; if you had better eyesight you could see perfectly well whether or not these stars are solar systems, and if you were less curious you wouldn't care about knowing, which amounts to the same thing. the trouble is, we want to know more than what we can see... (Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, Conversations on the Plurality of the Worlds, 1686)
research interests
I'm working at the crossroad between art, science and technology. for years, I've been asking myself the question: why should we take the technologies we encounter on a daily basis as a given?
where does technological transformation come from?
In 2009, I completed my PhD dissertation on the cultural significance of computer viruses. With the constant association with their biological counterpart, their ubiquitous presence in the social and technological contexts, their notorious reputation and their media popularity, computer viruses are not simple visitors.
I argue that Western culture deals with them by engaging in selections and assimilations, appropriations and transmissions, adoptions and adaptations to some of their features. How and to what extent may the configuration or structure of viruses be shaped by or, in turn, may be fostering changes within the contexts they affect?Other topics of interest include:The nexus science/technology/arts; the creative appropriation of technology in popular culture, the sciences and the arts; scientific and information visualization; network cultures.
recent projects
I have just completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the department of Sociology at Lakehead University under the supervision of prof. Gary Genosko (July-December 2011). My project focuses on microscopy (especially electron microscopy) and the processes that lead to scientific visualization. In particular, I explore how a number of creative individuals and artists have applied a critical lens to the use of this instrument. By acquiring familiarity with its functioning, and by using tactics of displacement and détournement, these individuals have attempted to reveal and break the stereotypes and the assumptions promoted through visualization and microscopy.
From September to December2010 I was based in Cambridge, UK, as a British Academy Visiting Fellow at the CoDE Institute,led by Jussi Parikka at Anglia Ruskin University. My project Marginalized: images of viruses and the culture of contagion continued and further explored my fascination for viral substances and their visual representation.
Specificllay, this research reflected on the stereotypical representations and scientific visualization of viruses and how they are often utilized as a marginalized and mere spectacular background supporting negative discourses of fear and anxiety. I argued that a sustained analysis of visuals can not only expose the marginalization of visual expressions of viruses, but also challenge and contrast unquestioned assumptions and hidden agendas in the “fight against viruses.”
news
August 2012 The Sandbox Project travels to the Hemisphere Institute of Performance and Politics!
April 2012 (date TBA) The Sandbox Project travels to Montreal atArtivistic 2012!
February 2, 2012 second installment of Activism beyond the interface at Transmediale 2012 and launch of our Website: The Sandbox Project
October 1, 2011 Launch of: Activism beyond the Interface: notes on an itinerant production lab, a project created for Digital Event ‘11- Subversive Technologies , Catalogue of the Event, Curated by Arlan Londoño, with Gabriel Roldos and Federica Matelli, Sept.15-Oct.2, Toronto Free Gallery.
September 14-21 presentation at ISEA 2011