Yishu Journal's 2025 Issue Focuses on Women and Non-Binary Artists in New Media

The March 2025 edition of Yishu journal, designated as issue number 104, has been released with a thematic concentration on women and non-binary creators engaged with new media art. This annual publication, which now dedicates each volume to a specific artist or subject, explores the diverse practices within new media, ranging from smartphone-based works to artificial intelligence. The editors, Diana Freundl, Keith Wallace, and Zheng Shengtian, clarify that the issue does not aim to present a conclusive argument but instead highlights the variety of approaches and the gendered contexts in which these technologies are encountered. The publication raises questions about the current attraction of women and non-binary artists to new media and the speculative futures it enables, free from historical constraints. The issue includes eleven essays that reveal recurring themes such as collaboration between humans and non-human entities, critiques of Asian stereotypes and the gender gaze, the development of avatars and posthuman concepts, references to traditional Chinese culture, and responses to the anxiety surrounding technological integration into daily life. The editors note that new media art has historically broken down barriers between traditional art forms, with its early acceleration in the 1950s through the 1970s involving performance, video, electronics, audio, robotics, and kinetics. By the 1960s, museums were already exhibiting and acquiring such innovative works. A recent exhibition, 'Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991,' was held at The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg in 2024/25, focusing on women's contributions to early computer technology. Contemporary new media now encompasses digital formats, animation, AI, projections, 3-D printing, NFTs, augmented reality, and virtual reality, with social media platforms providing artists tools to reach audiences beyond conventional art circles. The editors express appreciation for the global contributors and hope the issue fosters reflection on gender diversity in new media art and related fields. An image caption references Sougwen Chung's 2015 work 'MIMICRY,' created with a robotic arm and programming.