Invitation to the Defense of Sophie Lingg
The Institute for Education in the Arts kindly invites you to the defense of Sophie Linggs dissertation project "Shitstorms, Self-Exploitation, Shadowbans: Social Media as a Workplace for Queer-Feminist Artists".
The Examination Panel is made up of: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Carolin Bohlmann (chair), Univ.-Prof. Mag. PhD. Elke Krasny (supervisor), Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jan G. Grünwald (external appraiser).
The defense will take place in German online via zoom. Zoom link: https://akbild-ac-at.zoom.us/j/3837117023
Abstract
The dissertation project "Shitstorms, Selbstausbeutung, Shadowbans. Social Media als Arbeitsplatz queer-feministischer Künstler*innen" [Shitstorms, Self-Exploitation, Shadowbans. Social Media as a Workplace for Queer-Feminist Artists] investigates the working conditions of queer-feminist artists on social media platforms. Drawing on interviews with artists Anahita Neghabat, Julischka Stengele, Natalie Assmann, Sophia Süßmilch, Stefanie Sargnagel, and Alina Lupu regarding their artistic practices on social media, the dissertation documents everyday instances of discrimination and gender-based violence by classifying them not merely as individual experiences but also as structural and consequently epistemic phenomena within contemporary art theory, curatorial practice, and art education discourses.
This dissertation project, comprising four articles written in both English and German, examines gender-based violence and harassment by analyzing not only interpersonal and group-based acts of perpetration but also systemic forms of automated discrimination embedded within digital platforms and their algorithms. It explores various manifestations of such violence, including phenomena such as shitstorms and shadowbanning. The project aims to critically examine and contextualize the discrimination and violence experienced by queer-feminist artists through the frameworks of social media theory, media theory, and feminist theories on publicity, violence, and care – while striving to minimize the reproduction of violence during the process of integrating interview insights into academic research and communication – as well as to highlight social media as a problematic artistic workplace that demands critical acknowledgment and scrutiny.
Short biography
Sophie Lingg's (she/her) research focuses on digitality and social media as spaces for artistic practice and art education. Since 2019 she has been working at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna's Art and Education Program. She is co-editor of the book "Radicalizing Care: Feminist and Queer Activism in Curating" (London: Sternberg Press, 2021) as well as "Feminist Infrastructural Critique. Life-Affirming Practices Against Capital"’ (FKW Zeitschrift für Geschlechterforschung und visuelle Kultur No.74, 2024). Sophie was part of the Erasmus+ research project "Digital Didactics in Art Education" (didae.eu).