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You Are Not the User: How Feminist Media Art Exposes the Algorithm's Physical Control Over Your Body

Diffraction Events of the Present: Feminist Media Art Meets New Materialism

Alisa Kronberger

In this video, we dive into Alisa Kronberger's groundbreaking book *Diffraction Events of the Present: Feminist Media Art Meets New Materialism* to shatter the illusion that you are a separate, autonomous operator in control of your digital devices. Drawing on the work of thinkers like Karen Barad and Donna Haraway, Kronberger argues that the boundary between your physical body and technology is a hallucination. Through the lens of 'diffraction'—a concept borrowed from quantum physics—we explore how avant-garde feminist artists like Hito Steyerl, Sandra Perry, and Mika Rottenberg use installations to reveal that algorithms, code, and hardware are active, material forces that shape your biology, desires, and reality. From the 'viscous porosity' of your private home to the violent biases encoded in software, this video exposes the hidden political and physical entanglement you're in—and shows how you can fight back by reclaiming the physical world. Watch to understand why the screen in your hand is not a window, but a weapon.