Correcting the Code – Chapter Two: From Statement to Strategy: Manifestos in Digital Art
The early history of digital art is usually told through machines, technological breakthroughs and largely male institutional infrastructures. The second chapter of Correcting the Code explores how feminist artists have used the manifesto not just as a statement of ideas, but as a practical tool for change within digital art. At moments when women and non-binary artists were underrepresented in exhibitions, collections, and art history, the manifesto became a way to claim space, define values, and reshape the field from within. Rather than waiting for institutions or critics to frame their contributions, artists used manifestos to set agendas, question power structures, and imagine new relationships between technology, bodies, and identity.
The discussion looks at how these manifestos responded to shifts in digital culture, including the rise of networks, collective practice, and new understandings of gender that move beyond fixed or binary categories.By treating manifestos as artworks, tools, and historical records, the panel highlights their lasting value in shaping how digital art is created, interpreted, and supported, and why they remain vital resources for institutions navigating the future of digital culture.
Guests:
Winnie Soon is a Hong Kong-born artist coder and researcher interested in the cultural implications of digital infrastructure that addresses wider power asymmetries with a particular interest in computational publishing, queering code and software.
Dr. Sadie Plant studied philosophy in Manchester and later taught Cultural Studies in Birmingham, and in the Department of Philosophy at Warwick University. She has written three main books, The Most Radical Gesture, Zeros and Ones, and Writing on Drugs, as well as several shorter works, and currently teaches at the Hochschule der Künste Bern.
Dr. Cornelia Sollfrank is an artist, researcher and writer, living in Berlin. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and Fine Arts at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (1987–1994). She holds a PhD from the University of Dundee (United Kingdom) in which she investigated the conflicting relationship between copyright and art.
Dr. Marie-France Rafael (Moderation) is a professor for "Art in Context" at the Zurich University of the Arts. She studied Art History and Film Studies in Berlin and Paris. From 2011 to 2015 she was a research associate at the Free University of Berlin and until 2019 at the Muthesius University Kiel, Department of Spatial Strategies/Curatorial Spaces. In her research, writing, and teaching, she seeks to theorize the role played by contemporary art in human agency and social practices.
Costs: Free admission, Please RSVP here: https://luma.com/xyrlemd4
Event will be streamed online through Zoom link on this website.
About the programme:
Correcting the Code: Women, Gender, Technology and the Transformation of Digital Art is a public programme of exchange events, performative activations and workshops, organised by Marie-France Rafael, Jeni Fulton, Asya Yaghmurian and Sabine Himmelsbach. A co-production of HEK (Haus der Elektronischen Künste), Basel, and the Institute for Contemporary Art Research (IfCAR), Zurich University of the Arts. Supported by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council. Runtime 2026/2027.
