Digital Art and Queer Temporalities
Analysis of the Works by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Morehshin Allahyari, and Heesoo Kwon
Abstract
Digital artworks allow us to visualize complex and abstract ideas. This article focuses on alternative epistemologies of time expressed through contemporary digital art. Its objective is to analyze how the work of Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Morehshin Allahyari, and Heesoo Kwon showcases queer temporalities opposed to cis-heterosexual and colonial chrono-normativity. To achieve this, it begins by theoretically describing Western temporal worldviews. It then explores critical approaches to these worldviews from queer theories and concepts such as “archive” and “utopia.” The theoretical review serves as a foundation for the analysis of the pieces in the exhibition, consisting of seven works by the mentioned artists. The analysis of each piece is presented individually, organized by each artist. The conclusions discuss the pieces collectively. The results reveal a tension between the concepts of “archive” and “utopia,” simultaneously present in the analyzed pieces. Consequently, the article proposes new conceptual frameworks that allow understanding them beyond the dichotomous division of these terms: “blutopias” (following Keeling) and interventionist “hauntologies” (following Fisher).
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