Fóram Idirnáisiúnta ar Thaighde Ealaíonta 2026
An 17ú Comhdháil de chuid Chumann na Taighde Ealaíonta (SAR)
Submission Number: 381
Submission ID: 453
Submission UUID: 2b56ae2d-0773-4e1f-a3c0-94857cf85841

Cruthaithe: Mon, 2 Mar 2026 - 12:33
Déanta: Mon, 2 Mar 2026 - 18:48
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:47

Remote IP address: 46.9.149.166
Submitted by: Anonymous
Teanga: English

Is draft: Níl
Current page: webform_confirmation

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Given name Katherine
Surname Butcher
Email katherine.a.butcher@ntnu.no
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Title PATIPOLITICS, PEAK FACE and THE ENCLOSURE OF THE HUMAN
Format Poster presentation
Main language English
Abstract We are living in the age of Peak Face: a historical threshold at which the human face becomes the primary site of extraction under algorithmic capitalism. Drawing on Isabel Millar’s concept of patipolitics, Lacanian drive theory, and the evolutionary logic of cephalisation, this contribution examines how the face shifts from relational organ to optimised infrastructure. From Instagram aesthetics to deepfake legislation, faciality becomes a regime of legibility governed by circulation, enclosure, and personalisation. Through the artistic projects END-TO-END and EPIS(T)EMIC EROTIC with the Nansen Fredssenter, I propose friction, opacity, and preserved ambiguity as ethical other counter-practices against the pornographic drive for total knowledge and machinic intimacy.
Image Screenshot 2026-03-02 at 18.35.15.png
Short biographies of the presenter(s)
  • Katherine Butcher (she/her) is an Australian visual artist living and working in Norway. She is a PhD candidate in Artistic Research at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, with joint supervision at the University of Technology Sydney. Her practice-based research explores how human datafication, likeness, AI/ML deepfakes, and synthetic representations intersect with questions of personhood, responsibility, and public trust. She is a member of COST Action CA23158 ARTinRARE (Artistic Intelligence: Responsiveness, Accessibility, Responsibility, Equity). Working across performance, relational aesthetics, and moving image, her projects examine the administration and governance of the face under algorithmic capitalism.
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Fóram Idirnáisiúnta ar Thaighde Ealaíonta 2026
An 17ú Comhdháil de chuid Chumann na Taighde Ealaíonta (SAR)

Welcome to SAR 2026

Endangered Conceptual Worlds

The 2026 International Forum on Artistic Research takes place from 23 to 26 June 2026. Hosted by the University of Galway on the Atlantic coast of Ireland, the Forum addresses the challenges of Endangered Conceptual Worlds. As the 17th annual conference of the Society for Artistic Research it is the largest conference on practice-based research within and through the arts, bringing together more than 300 international participants: leading practitioners, scholars and policymakers from the entire range of arts-based disciplines.

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Slightly extended deadline for submissions

The 2026 Forum on Artistic Research website has been inaccessible for several hours on Friday night and Saturday morning. Unfortunately, an update to the web server was scheduled to take place, which automatically activated maintenance mode and prevented any work on the submissions during the night and the next morning. We have therefore decided to slightly extend the deadline for submissions to Monday 2 March 2026 at 23:59 GMT. Feel free to work on your proposals until then.