Choose Your Avatar – Girlblogging as posthumanist practice

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In this workshop, participants will explore the fluid identity of the Girl Online through the lens of autotheory, using digital tools inspired by girlblogging practices such as journaling, speculative storytelling, fan fiction, browser tab histories, and moodboard archaeology. By reimagining life paths as narratives shaped by mood, energy, and traits—similar to creating a game character in The Sims—you’ll be able to consider how we construct and perform our identities online and irl. Projecting the contradictions embodied by the Girl Online onto personal avatar creation offers the possibility to perform a critique of gender stereotypes in connection to platform capitalism, while acknowledging the Girl Online’s identity as one rooted in late capitalism. Playing with the cultural artifacts of girlblogging allows participants to unearth the entanglements between their digital and meatspace selves and experiment with renarrating their existence through the perspective of the Girl Online. Takeaways: A deeper understanding of the construction of fluid identities in the context of digital cultures, late stage capitalism, and posthumanism. Practical tools for storytelling and autotheory to craft new narratives. Media-specific techniques to engage with and reinterpret online artifacts, like browser tab histories and Tumblr archaeology. Updated insights into the interweaving between personal identity and digital cultures through the lens of the Girl Online. Duration: 2 hours Materials and knowledge required: No prior knowledge is required—just an open mind and willingness to explore! Participants should bring a laptop or tablet for online exploration and writing. A notebook or journal is recommended for offline sketching of ideas and reflections. This workshop is additionally supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum.

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