GEMMA SHUSTERMAN
“Hacking Domestication: Embedded and Surveillant Technology in Animals” is a preliminary inquiry into human hegemony and the use of animals (including humans), in conjunction with technology, as tools for social control. Animals have continuously been an integrated part of human warfare, espionage, and research endeavors. The role of domesticated “helper” has been played by various species — from the use of pigeons as messengers dating back to 1150, to the use of dolphins for surveillance and mine detection, to current DARPA research into implanting microchips in insects. Technology provides a framework for animals’ unwitting collusion with decidedly human agendas. Actions toward animals reflect both human attitudes of entitlement as a species and the substructure that supports stratification of our own human social systems.
november 6th 2007 / 11 am to 4 pm / vor sankt martin 1 / cologne
Gemma has worked as a floral designer, actor, dancer, software engineer, dishwasher, webmistress, acupressure technician, PBX technician, cocktail waitress, pilates and Gyrotonic® instructor, dance teacher, choreographer, baker’s assistant and designer. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Art from Mills College in Oakland, California and a MS in Media Arts and Sciences from the Media Lab at MIT, in Cambridge Massachusetts where she worked with the Computing Culture Group.