Melanie Hoff

Cybernetics is the study of how we shape and are shaped by systems. What can it teach us about the ideological and sexual reproduction of gender and sexism? How does sex become gender and what are the politics surrounding who gets reproduced? This class is a hybrid coding, critical theory, and art production class. We will explore how social regulatory systems are encoded into technological platforms and disentangle how they produce social pressure and govern behavior through coding exercises, somatic exercises, discussion, and project making.

In this class, we will not shy away from difficult conversations and work closely together to cultivate a space of openness and mutual support. Discussion and project-making are core to this class. Together we will express ideas through code, computational consent, and read the work of scholars such as Donna Haraway, Ruha Benjamin, Paul Preciado, Silvia Federici, & Audre Lorde. Students will be encouraged to develop their own research interests and explore their personal histories. When projects are discussed, we will practice communicating ideas through presentation as a medium and will co-create a culture of constructive feedback.