Micha Cárdenas, stylized as micha cárdenas, is an American

visual The visual system is the physiological basis of visual perception (the ability to detect and process light). The system detects, transduces and interprets information concerning light within the visible range to construct an image and buil ...

and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist who is an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

of Critical Race &

Ethnic Studies Ethnic studies, in the United States, is the interdisciplinary study of difference—chiefly race, ethnicity, and nation, but also sexuality, gender, and other such markings—and power, as expressed by the state, by civil society, and by indivi ...

and

Performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

, Play &

Design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. Cárdenas' artistic and theoretical focus is on the algorithms and

poetics Poetics is the study or theory of poetry, specifically the study or theory of device, structure, form, type, and effect with regards to poetry, though usage of the term can also refer to literature broadly. Poetics is distinguished from hermeneu ...

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

people of color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

Artwork and performances

Cárdenas has presented her work around the world, including performances at the 2015

Association of Internet Researchers Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

Conference, 2014 Digital Gender workshop at Umeå University in Sweden, 2013 Dark Side of the Digital conference, 2012 Allied Media Conference, 2012 ZERO1 Biennial Street Festival in San Jose, 2009 Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics Encuentro in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Colombia, 2010 Orange County Museum of Art California Biennial, and 2009 Arte Nuevo InteractivA Mérida Biennial. In 2008, cárdenas performed ''Becoming Dragon'', a 365-hour

mixed reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

performance in

Second Life ''Second Life'' is a multiplayer virtual world that allows people to create an Avatar (computing), avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user-created content within a multi-user online environment. Developed for person ...

. Other projects include "Unstoppable", a collaboration with Patrisse Cullors, Chris Head, and Edxie Betts to create no-cost bulletproofclothing; ''Local Autonomy Networks''; and "Virus Circus" (a collaboration with Elle Mehrmand). She has curated exhibits in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

. Cárdenas' work ''Sin Sol, Forest Memory'' (2018) created in collaboration with Abraham Avnisan, was included in the group exhibition “Between Bodies,” curated by Nina Bozicnik, at the Henry Art Gallery from October 27, 2018 to April 28, 2019. It was reviewed in ''Art in America'' and ''The Seattle Times''. As a member of the

Electronic Disturbance Theater The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), established in 1997 by performance artist and writer Ricardo Dominguez, is an electronic company of cyber activists, critical theorists, and performance artists. History The Electronic Disturbance Theat ...

and b.a.n.g. lab, cárdenas helped design the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a

GPS device A satellite navigation (satnav) device or GPS device is a device that uses satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). A satnav device can determine the user's geographic coordinates ...

designed to guide immigrants crossing the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

and to help them find water stations during their journey. Critics claimed that the project was an irresponsible use of government funds and would assist illegal activity. Cárdenas stated that the aim of this project was "about giving water to somebody who's dying in the desert of dehydration." Ultimately, all investigations of the project were dropped without finding any misuse of funds or illegal activity on the part of the artists.

Writings

Books

Cárdenas's first book, co-authored with Barbara Fornssler in 2010, ''Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs,'' discusses an experimental conception of politics based in desire. In 2012, Cárdenas co-authored ''The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities'', co-edited by

Zach Blas Zach Blas is an artist and writer based in London. Blas was a lecturer in Visual culture, visual cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is now an assistant professor of visual studies at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Lan ...

and Wolfgang Schirmacher, which was published by Atropos Press. The book discusses art, games, and activism that use multiple realities, including

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

, and alternate reality approaches. Cárdenas'

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

''Poetic Operations: Trans of Color Art in Digital Media'' was published by

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...

in 2022.

Essays and articles

In 2013, cárdenas's poetry and a statement on poetics was published in the anthology ''Troubling the Line'' by Nightboat Books. The editors describe the book as the first anthology of transgender and

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

poetry. In 2014, cárdenas contributed an essay titled "Movements of Safety" to the book ''Plants, Androids and Operators: A Post-Media Handbook'' by Mute Publishing. The book includes essays from theorists and artists working in the Post-Media Lab at Leuphana University. In December, 2017,

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

published ''Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility'', which contains cárdenas's chapter "Dark Shimmers: The Rhythm of Necropolitical Affect in Digital Media". In this work, she discusses "a few moments of time in the months of June and July 2016, during which extreme violence against trans, black, and Latinx people occurred repeatedly, rhythmically." Cárdenas has published several works related to the theoretical issues raised in her performances, including "Becoming Dragon, A Transversal Technology Study" in the 2013 book ''Critical Digital Studies'' from

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

, and "I Am Transreal" in the 2010 book ''Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation'', edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman. In 2015, her article "Shifting Futures: Digital Trans of Color Praxis" was published in '' Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology.'' Her works "Redshift and Portalmetal", "Pregnancy: Reproductive Futures in Trans of Color Feminism", "QueerOS: A User’s Manual", and "Trans of Color Poetics: Stitching Bodies, Concepts, and Algorithms" were published in 2016. Additional published works include the 2010 essay "Technesexual Interface: Erotic Mixed Reality Performance", co-authored with Elle Mehrmand. "Monstrous Children of Pregnant Androids: Latinx Futures after Orlando" was published in ''GLQ'' in January 2018.

Awards

In 2020, cárdenas's augmented reality artwork ''Sin Sol / No Sun'' won the Impact Award at the IndieCade independent game festival. In 2022, cárdenas's book ''Poetic Operations: Trans of Color Art in Digital Media'' was the co-winner of the Gloria E. Anzaldúa Book Prize from the National Women's Studies Association.

Teaching and research

Previously, cárdenas was

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

interactive media Interactive media refers to digital experiences that dynamically respond to user input, delivering content such as Text (literary theory), text, images, animations, video, Sound, audio, and even Artificial intelligence, AI-driven interactions. O ...

design and

interdisciplinary arts ''Interdisciplinary Arts'' was an academic department in the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Overview As one of the earliest interdisciplinary arts programs in the United States, it was an inc ...

& sciences at the

University of Washington Bothell The University of Washington Bothell (UW Bothell) is a campus of the University of Washington, located in Bothell, Washington. It was founded in 1989 and is one of the three campuses of the University of Washington, alongside the Seattle and Tac ...

. Cárdenas was also a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

in the visual arts department and

gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

program at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

. She was previously the Interim Associate Director of Art and Technology at UCSD and a researcher at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts,

California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and

UC San Diego School of Medicine The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine is the graduate medical school of the University of California, San Diego, a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in La Jolla, California. It wa ...

. Cárdenas worked on the Scalable City project in the Experimental Game Lab at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts.

Education

Cárdenas earned her

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in the Media Arts and Practice division, where she was a Provost's

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

. She received her MFA at the

in the summer of 2009. She also holds a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

from the European Graduate School and a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

References

External links

Official website
an exhibit curated by cárdenas at the ARTifact gallery of UCSD {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardenas, Micha 1977 births Living people American new media artists American women performance artists University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Transgender women artists American transgender artists University of California, San Diego alumni Transgender academics Transgender studies academics Transgender women writers American transgender writers American transgender women