The project Breaking the Code: Algorithmic Non-Normativity in Creative Digital Humanities examines the relationship between gender, identity, and algorithmic systems in the realm of creative digital humanities. It seeks to uncover how algorithms—often seen as neutral—actually encode and perpetuate societal norms, particularly regarding gender. Through cyberliterary-cyberartistic interventions, such as hacking, glitching, and livecoding performances, the project disrupts these algorithmic structures to expose their inherent biases. Drawing on frameworks like Judith Butler’s performativity, Kimberlé Crenshaw’s intersectionality, and Donna Haraway’s situated knowledges, the project will focus on how errors, glitches, and deviations can reveal the normative constraints embedded in digital systems. By combining artistic practices with scholarly research, it aims to challenge conventional algorithmic norms and offer new insights into gendered and intersectional identities in the digital age. Additionally, through the lens of Critical Code Studies (Marino, 2020; Montfort et al. 2013) and Creative Digital Humanities (Rettberg and Saum-Pascual 2020), the project will engage with the underlying code itself, critically analyzing the biases coded into digital platforms and how these can be creatively disrupted. In sum, Breaking the Code aims not only to interrogate the biases embedded in digital systems but also to reimagine how these systems can be used creatively to foster non-normativity and inclusivity, revealing possibilities beyond the algorithmic norm.

 

 

GOALS 
  

 

The primary goals of this project include:

 

1. 1. Analyze Algorithmic Bias: Investigate how algorithms encode biases related to gender, race, class, and identity, making these biases visible through artistic and scholarly interventions.

  

1. 1. Explore Non-Normative Algorithmic Behavior: Examine how digital systems can operate beyond normative constraints and explore the potential for algorithmic non-normativity.

  

1. 1. Intersectional Analysis: Apply an intersectional lens to analyze how various identity markers are represented and shaped by algorithmic systems.

  

1. 1. Artistic Creative Disruptions: Use artistic methods—such as glitching, hacking, and livecoding—to engage with and challenge algorithmic biases, using errors and mistakes to highlight creative potential.

  

1. 1. Critical Code Analysis: Draw from Critical Code Studies to examine biases at the programming level, producing practical, creative disruptive approaches.

  

1. Target Audiences and Engagement: Engage multiple audiences, including: a) researchers and scholars, by contributing to scholarly debates in digital humanities, algorithmic bias, and gender studies; b) artists / creative practitioners, by offering workshops, exhibition opportunities, and creative interventions that challenge traditional notions of technology and art; c) general public, by engaging audiences with the concepts of algorithmic bias and creative misuse through exhibitions, performances, and an accessible project website; d) students and emerging scholars, by offering opportunities for skill-building and hands-on experience through the summer school, mentoring, and workshops. All the activities, including workshops and exhibition will prioritize inclusivity, ensuring that students, marginalized communities, artists, and researchers are actively engaged and represented throughout the programming.