Micha Cárdenas

Cárdenas has presented her work around the world, including performances at the 2015 Association of Internet ResearchersConference,{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-08-11 |title=#IR16 Website Updates! |url=https://aoir.org/ir16-website-updates/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Association of Internet Researchers |language=en-US}} 2014 Digital Gender workshop at Umeå University in Sweden,{{Cite journal |last1=Foka |first1=Anna |last2=Arvidsson |first2=Viktor |date=2014 |title=Digital Gender: A Manifesto - Report on the Research Workshop Digital Gender, Theory, Methodology, and Practice |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2437659 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2437659 |issn=1556-5068}} 2013 Dark Side of the Digital conference,{{Cite youtube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2iW6OJ9p90 |title=Micha Cárdenas: "Local Autonomy Networks" {{!}} May 04, 2013 |date=2013-05-14 |last= |type=Video |publisher=Center for 21st Century Studies |via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} 2012 Allied Media Conference,{{Cite web |last=Sands |first=David |date=2012-06-29 |title=Allied Media Conference Shares Skills To Develop 'A More Just And Creative World' |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/allied-media-conference-2012-detroit_n_1635794 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} 2012 ZERO1 Biennial Street Festival in San Jose,{{cite web |author=Beth |first=Sarah |date=2012-07-17 |title=(e)MERGE, The ZERO1 Street Festival |url=http://www.zero1.org/blog/emerge-zero1-street-festival |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925103432/http://www.zero1.org/blog/emerge-zero1-street-festival |archive-date=2012-09-25 |access-date= |website=www.zero1.org}} 2009 Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics Encuentro in Bogotá, Colombia,{{Cite web |title=Micha Cárdenas and Elle Mehrmand |url=https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/enc09-trasnocheo/item/330-09-micha-cardenas-and-elle-mehrmand.html |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Hemispheric Institute |language=en-gb}} 2010 Orange County Museum of Art California Biennial,{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |date=2011-02-15 |title=Not the Same Old Song and Dance: Recent Encounters with Karen Adelman and Flora Wiegmann |url=https://anotherrighteoustransfer.wordpress.com/2011/02/15/not-the-same-old-song-and-dance-recent-encounters-with-karen-adelman-and-flora-wiegmann/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Another Righteous Transfer! |language=en}} and 2009 Arte Nuevo InteractivA Mérida Biennial.{{Cite web |last=Barraza |first=Mayra |date=2009-05-17 |title=Bienal Arte Nuevo InteractivA/09 |url=https://mayrabarraza.blogspot.com/2009/05/bienal-arte-nuevo-interactiva09.html |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Mayra Barraza}} In 2008, cárdenas performed Becoming Dragon, a 365-hour mixed reality performance in Second Life.{{cite web |author=Lafee |first=Scott |date=2008-12-21 |title=Online-world immersion probes 'possibilities of transformation' |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2008/12/21/online-world-immersion-probes-possibilities-of-transformation/ |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |publisher=}} Other projects include "Unstoppable", a collaboration with Patrisse Cullors, Chris Head, and Edxie Betts to create no-cost bulletproofclothing;{{cite web |last1=Russian |first1=E.T. |last2=Carpenter |first2=Luzviminda Uzuri |date=2016-03-01 |title=A UW Professor's Mission to Build Affordable Bulletproof Gear for Trans Folk |url=http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/963214-129/a-uw-professors-mission-to-build |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425141720/http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/963214-129/a-uw-professors-mission-to-build |archive-date=2016-04-25 |access-date= |website=Seattle Weekly}} Local Autonomy Networks;{{Cite web |last=Cárdenas |first=micha |date=2014-03-27 |title=Local Autonomy Networks: Post-Digital Networks, Post-Corporate Communications |url=https://sfonline.barnard.edu/micha-cardenas-local-autonomy-networks-post-digital-networks-post-corporate-communications/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=The Scholar & Feminist Online |language=en-US}} and "Virus Circus" (a collaboration with Elle Mehrmand).{{Cite web |date=2010-06-10 |title=MCA presents 'Here Not There' |url=https://sdnews.com/es/mca-presents-here-not-there/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=SDNews.com |language=}} She has curated exhibits in Los Angeles, New York City, and Tijuana.{{Cite web |last=Haithman |first=Diane |date=2009-05-21 |title=Freephone Art Project - Tijuana, Mexico |url=https://post.thing.net/node/2724 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite web |title=The Coming Disturbance |url=https://zachblas.info/events/the-coming-disturbance/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Zach Blas |language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=Collective Alchemy: Performance Night at USC |url=http://map.usc.edu/collective-alchemy-performance-night-at-usc/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224093349/http://map.usc.edu/collective-alchemy-performance-night-at-usc/ |archive-date=2013-12-24 |website=MAP@USC}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Between Bodies |url=https://henryart.org/exhibitions/between-bodies |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Henry Art Gallery}}{{Cite web |date=2020-03-14 |title='Between Bodies' |url=https://www.artandpoliticsnow.com/2020/03/between-bodies/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=ART and POLITICS NOW |language=en-US}} It was reviewed in Art in America{{Cite journal |last=Nguyen |first=Minh |date=2019-03-11 |title=In This Mess Together: Interspecies Entanglements at Henry Art Gallery |url=https://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/in-this-mess-together-interspecies-entanglements-at-henry-art-gallery/ |journal=Art in America}} and The Seattle Times.{{Cite news |last=Clemans |first=Gayle |date=2019-01-01 |title='Between Bodies' at Henry Art Gallery asks us to consider the natural world through different lenses |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/between-bodies-at-henry-art-gallery-asks-us-to-consider-the-natural-world-through-different-lenses/ |access-date= |work=The Seattle Times}}

As a member of the Electronic Disturbance Theater and b.a.n.g. lab,{{cite news |last=Rhett |first=Joshua |date=2010-04-07 |title=Critics Blast Transborder Immigrant Tool As 'Irresponsible' Use Of Technology |url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/10/critics-blast-transborder-immigrant-tool-irresponsible-use-technology/ |access-date=2012-01-13 |publisher=Fox News}} cárdenas helped design the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS device designed to guide immigrants crossing the Mexico–United States border and to help them find water stations during their journey.{{Cite web |date=2010-09-21 |title=New tool tracks Israeli settlements |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2010/9/21/new-tool-tracks-israeli-settlements |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}} 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."{{cite web |last=Spagat |first=Elliot |date=2009-12-30 |title=Activists want to give GPS to immigrants |url=http://www.kansas.com/2009/12/30/1116673/activists-want-to-give-gps-to.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402144146/http://www.kansas.com/2009/12/30/1116673/activists-want-to-give-gps-to.html |archive-date=2012-04-02 |access-date= |website=Wichita Eagle |publisher=}} Ultimately, all investigations of the project were dropped without finding any misuse of funds or illegal activity on the part of the artists.{{cite web |last=Blas |first=Zach |date=2012-01-17 |title=Interview with Ricardo Dominguez |url=http://www.reclamationsjournal.org/blog/?ha_exhibit=interview-with-ricardo-dominguez |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424173351/http://www.reclamationsjournal.org/blog/?ha_exhibit=interview-with-ricardo-dominguez |archive-date=2012-04-24 |access-date= |website=Reclamations Blog |publisher=Reclamationsjournal.org}}

Cárdenas's first book, co-authored with Barbara Fornssler in 2010, Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs, discusses an experimental conception of politics based in desire.{{Cite journal |last=Blas |first=Zach |title=Trans Desire by Micha Cárdenas |url=https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-72/7-2-book-reviews/trans-desire-by-micha-cardenas.html |journal=Emisférica |volume=7 |issue=2}}

In 2012, Cárdenas co-authored The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities, co-edited by Zach Blas and Wolfgang Schirmacher, which was published by Atropos Press. The book discusses art, games, and activism that use multiple realities, including augmented reality, mixed reality, and alternate reality approaches.{{Cite book |last1= |first1= |title=The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |year=2011 |publisher= Atropos Press|isbn=9780983915249 |editor-last=Blas |editor-first=Zach |location= |oclc=780190383 |editor-last2=Schirmacher |editor-first2=Wolfgang}}

Cárdenas' monograph Poetic Operations: Trans of Color Art in Digital Media was published by Duke University Press in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Poetic Operations |url=https://dukeupress.edu/poetic-operations |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Duke University Press |language=en}}

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 poetry.{{Cite web |title=Troubling the Line |url=https://nightboat.org/book/troubling-the-line/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Nightboat Books |language=en}} 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.{{Cite book |last1= |first1= |title=Plants, Androids and Operators |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |last4= |first4= |date=2013-03-21 |publisher=Mute |isbn=978-1906496968 |editor-last=Apprich |editor-first=Clemens |location= |oclc=883615146 |editor-last2=Slater |editor-first2=Josephine Berry |editor-last3=Iles |editor-first3=Anthony |editor-last4=Schultz |editor-first4=Oliver Lerone}} In December, 2017, MIT Press published Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility,{{Cite web |title=Trap Door |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262544894/trap-door/ |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=MIT Press |language=en}} 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."{{Cite web |date=2017-12-29 |title=micha cárdenas publishes 'Dark Shimmers' and exhibits 'Becoming Dragon' in Germany |url=https://www.uwb.edu/ias-news/december-2017/micha-cardenas |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180513081745/https://www.uwb.edu/ias-news/december-2017/micha-cardenas |archive-date=2018-05-13 |access-date= |website=The University of Washington Bothell |language=en-US}}

Cárdenas has published several works related to the theoretical issues raised in her performances, including "Becoming Dragon, A Transversal Technology Study"{{Cite journal |last=Cárdenas |first=Micha |date=2010-04-29 |title=Becoming Dragon: A Transversal Technology Study |url=https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/ctheory/article/view/14680/5550 |journal=CTheory |language=en |pages= 4/29/2010|issn=1190-9153}} in the 2013 book Critical Digital Studies from University of Toronto Press,{{Cite book |last=Cárdenas |first=micha |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781442614666/page/372/mode/2up?q=micha |title=Critical digital studies: a reader |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2013 |isbn=9781442614666 |editor1-last=Kroker |editor1-first=Arthur |edition= |location= |chapter=Becoming dragon: A transversal technology study |oclc= |editor2-last=Kroker |editor2-first=Marilouise}} and "I Am Transreal" in the 2010 book Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, edited by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman.{{Cite book |last=Cárdenas |first=Micha |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/genderoutlawsnex00born_0/page/116/mode/2up?q=cardenas |title=Gender outlaws: The next generation |date=2010-08-31 |isbn=9781580053082 |editor1-last=Bornstein |editor1-first=Kate |location=Berkeley, California |chapter=I am Transreal: a reflection on/of Becoming Dragon |oclc=526069032 |editor2-last=Bergman |editor2-first=S. Bear |chapter-url-access=registration}}

In 2015, her article "Shifting Futures: Digital Trans of Color Praxis" was published in Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology.{{Cite journal |last=Cárdenas |first=micha |date=2015 |title=Shifting Futures: Digital Trans of Color Praxis |url= |journal=Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology |language=en-US |issue=6 |doi=10.7264/N3WH2N8D |doi-broken-date=2024-11-19 |issn=2325-0496}} Her works "Redshift and Portalmetal",{{Cite web |last=Cárdenas |first=micha |date=2016 |title=Redshift and Portalmetal |url=http://collection.eliterature.org/3/work.html?work=redshift-and-portalmetal |archive-date= |access-date= |website=Electronic Literature Collection - Volume 3 |language=en-GB}} "Pregnancy: Reproductive Futures in Trans of Color Feminism",{{Cite journal |last=Cárdenas |first=micha |date=2016-05-01 |title=Pregnancy: Reproductive Futures in Trans of Color Feminism |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article/3/1-2/48/91814/PregnancyReproductive-Futures-in-Trans-of-Color |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=48–57 |doi=10.1215/23289252-3334187 |issn=2328-9252|url-access=subscription }} "QueerOS: A User’s Manual",{{Cite web |last1=Barnett |first1=Fiona |last2=Blas |first2=Zach |last3=Cárdenas |first3=Micha |last4=Gaboury |first4=Jacob |last5=Johnson |first5=Jessica Marie |last6=Rhee |first6=Margaret |date=2016 |title=QueerOS: A User's Manual |url=http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/56 |access-date=2018-05-12 |website=Debates in the Digital Humanities |publisher=CUNY}} and "Trans of Color Poetics: Stitching Bodies, Concepts, and Algorithms"{{Cite journal |last=Cárdenas |first=Micha |date=2016 |title=Trans of Color Poetics: Stitching Bodies, Concepts, and Algorithms |url=https://sfonline.barnard.edu/micha-cardenas-trans-of-color-poetics-stitching-bodies-concepts-and-algorithms/ |journal=The Scholar & Feminist Online |issue=13.3–14.1}} were published in 2016. Additional published works include the 2010 essay "Technesexual Interface: Erotic Mixed Reality Performance", co-authored with Elle Mehrmand.{{Cite magazine |last=Cardenas |first=micha |date=2010-07-02 |title=Technesexual Interface. Erotic Mixed Reality Performance |url=https://digicult.it/digimag/issue-056/technesexual-interface-erotic-mixed-reality-performance/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |magazine=Digicult |issue=56}} "Monstrous Children of Pregnant Androids: Latinx Futures after Orlando" was published in GLQ in January 2018.{{Cite journal |last=Cárdenas |first=Micha |date=2018-01-01 |title=Monstrous Children of Pregnant Androids |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/glq/article/24/1/26/133365/Monstrous-Children-of-Pregnant-AndroidsLatinx |journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies |language=en |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=26–31 |doi=10.1215/10642684-4254423 |issn=1064-2684|url-access=subscription }}

In 2020, cárdenas's augmented reality artwork Sin Sol / No Sun won the Impact Award at the IndieCade independent game festival.{{cite web |date=2020-11-08 |title=IndieCade 2020 #AnywhereAndEverywhere – The Official Award Winners |url=https://indiegamereviewer.com/indiecade-2020-anywhereandeverywhere-the-official-award-winners/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Indie Game Reviewer}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Past Book Award Recipients |url=https://www.nwsa.org/awards-scholarships/book-awards/past-book-award-recipients |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=National Women's Studies Association}}

Previously, cárdenas was assistant professor of interactive media design and interdisciplinary arts & sciences at the University of Washington Bothell. Cárdenas was also a lecturer in the visual arts department and gender studies program at University of California, San Diego.{{Cite web |title=Speculative |url=https://welcometolace.org/lace/speculative/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions}}{{cite web |title=critical.gender.studies: fall 2010 courses |url=http://muir.ucsd.edu/cgs/courses/documents/CGSFall2010.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304094158/http://muir.ucsd.edu/cgs/courses/documents/CGSFall2010.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-04 |access-date= |website=John Muir College}} She was previously the Interim Associate Director of Art and Technology at UCSD{{Cite web |title=Micha Cárdenas |url=http://cat.ucsd.edu/cardenas.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110417075139/http://cat.ucsd.edu/cardenas.html |archive-date=2011-04-17 |website=Culture, Art, and Technology |publisher=UC San Diego}} and a researcher at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts,{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Tiffany |date=2008-11-26 |title=UC San Diego Researcher Explores Gender, Humanity and (Virtual) Reality |url=https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb37948548 |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=UC San Diego |language=English}} California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and UC San Diego School of Medicine.{{Cite book |last1=Cárdenas |first1=Micha |last2=Greci |first2=Laura S. |last3=Hurst |first3=Samantha |last4=Garman |first4=Karen |last5=Hoffman |first5=Helene |last6=Huang |first6=Ricky |last7=Gates |first7=Michael |last8=Kho |first8=Kristen |last9=Mehrmand |first9=Elle |last10=Porteous |first10=Todd |last11=Calvitti |first11=Alan |last12=Higginbotham |first12=Erin |last13=Agha |first13=Zia |editor-first1=J. Angelo |editor-first2=Geraldine S. |editor-first3=Michael B. |editor-first4=Ulrich |editor-first5=Atilla M. |editor-first6=Ian E. |editor-first7=Margaret |editor-last1=Beraldin |editor-last2=Cheok |editor-last3=McCarthy |editor-last4=Neuschaefer-Rube |editor-last5=Baskurt |editor-last6=McDowall |editor-last7=Dolinsky |chapter=Productive confusions: Learning from simulations of pandemic virus outbreaks in Second Life |date=2011-01-27 |title=Three-Dimensional Imaging, Interaction, and Measurement |chapter-url=https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/7864/1/Productive-confusions--learning-from-simulations-of-pandemic-virus-outbreaks/10.1117/12.878420.full |journal=SPIE Proceedings |volume=7864 |pages= 78641C|doi=10.1117/12.878420|chapter-url-access=subscription }} Cárdenas worked on the Scalable City project in the Experimental Game Lab at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts.{{cite web |title=Experimental Game Lab |url=http://www.experimentalgamelab.net/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111095732/http://www.experimentalgamelab.net/ |archive-date=2012-01-11 |access-date= |website=Experimental Game Lab |publisher=}}

Cárdenas earned her PhD at the University of Southern California in the Media Arts and Practice division, where she was a Provost's Fellow.{{Cite web |title=Micha Cardenas |url=https://sitac.org/en/people/micha-cardenas |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=SITAC}} She received her MFA at the University of California, San Diego in the summer of 2009.{{Cite web |last=Fox |first=Tiffany |date=2009-06-12 |title=Calit2 Visual Artists Display Work in MFA 2009 Exhibition |url=https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb5467088w |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=UC San Diego |language=English}} She also holds a master's degree in communications from the European Graduate School and a bachelor's degree in computer science from Florida International University.{{Cite web |title=Micha Cárdenas |url=https://pact.egs.edu/student/micha-cardenas/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=EGS – Division of Philosophy, Art, and Critical Thought |language=en-US}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://michacardenas.sites.ucsc.edu/ Official website]
• [https://sixth.ucsd.edu/cat/artifact/many-worlds-many-times.html Many Worlds, Many Times], an exhibit curated by cárdenas at the ARTifact gallery of UCSD

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardenas, Micha}}

Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:American new media artists

Category:American women performance artists

Category:University of California, Santa Cruz faculty

Category:Transgender women artists

Category:American transgender artists

Category:University of California, San Diego alumni

Category:Transgender academics

Category:Transgender studies academics

Category:Transgender women writers

Category:American transgender writers

Category:American transgender women