A venture to build feminist hardware art made from unconventional materials according to ecofeminist principles of care and consent.

It is an open secret that the hardware in our smart devices contains plastics and raw materials mined from conflict regions. Can we move beyond this oppressive system of extraction to find ethical alternatives? Feminist hackers Patrícia Reis and Stefanie Wuschitz discuss developing technology through eco-feminist artistic tools, rooted in care economies, local knowledges and collective survival. Through an intensive knowledge-sharing process and collaboration with peers, they unpack eco-feminist theory and practices to propose resistance strategies grounded in ethical hardware and de-growth economies contributing significantly to the new field of arts-based research.

Autorentext
Stefanie Wuschitz (Ph.D.), born in 1981, is an artist, activist and researcher investigating strategies to demystify and decolonise technology. She applies critical media practices like feminist hacking, open-source technology and peer production to create interactive installations and animations. She founded the feminist hacklab and art collective »Mz* Baltazar's Laboratory«, which she co-organised until 2023, and conducted several arts-based research projects as PI at Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and Technische Universität Berlin.