Editors’ Note:
As Yishu transitions into publishing annual issues focused on a singular artist or theme, Number 104 is devoted to women and non-binary artists and writers working in and addressing new media art. Within this issue we are not endeavouring to make a definitive statement but rather attempting to demonstrate both the diversity of new media, from smartphones to Artificial Intelligence, and their encounters within a gendered space. Why are so many women and non-binary artists turning to new media now? What speculative futures does it offer that are unburdened by historical precedents?
Historically, new media is recognized as expanding the barriers that represented traditional art disciplines. Early new media accelerated in the 1950s—although it was not called such then—and into the 70s and beyond through the introduction into the mainstream art world of performance, video, electronics, audio, robotics, and kinetics. As early as the 1960s, many museums were presenting and collecting this innovative new artwork. More recently, a 2024/25 exhibition on women and early computer technology, Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991, was presented at The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg.
The contemporary world of new media now encompasses platforms that have arisen in parallel with the development of new technologies including digital formats, animation, AI, projections, 3-D printing, NFTs, augmented reality, virtual reality, and so on. The proliferation of social media platforms has given art and artists the tools to reach new audiences, particularly those outside of the so-called art world.
While working on this issue, several overlapping concepts and perceptions began to emerge throughout the eleven essays. These shared topics include collaboration between the human and nonhuman, critiques of Asian stereotypes and the gender gaze, creation of avatars and the posthuman turn, references to traditional Chinese culture, and confronting the trepidation of new technological forms infiltrating our lives.
As we move forward into a technologically enriched future, women and non-binary artists continue to create some of the most compelling and innovate work. We hope this issue encourages you to reflect on the evolving conversations around gender diversity in the world of new media art and beyond.
As always, we thank the artists and authors who are based in different parts of the world for their contributions to Yishu 104. Their generosity, enthusiasm, and provocative ideas are much appreciated.
Diana Freundl, Keith Wallace, Zheng Shengtian, Editors
Image Caption: Sougwen Chung, MIMICRY, 2015, (with Drawing Operations Unit: Generation_1), 4 axis robotic arm, camera, jitter and programming language max MSP. Courtesy of the artist.
