Blog 9: Deus ex Machina

 In the essay, Deus ex Machina: Tradition, Technology, and the Chicanafuturist by Catherine S. Ramirez discusses how technologies from our present can be used to “recover” traditional forms of the past. In The Museum of International Folk Art, the use of computer technology was fused with folk art. In the reading, folk art was defined as a reflection of its surroundings, more specifically, surroundings outside “modern” urban living. New Mexico is considered to be an example of being stuck in the past and separate from the digitized and technological world. This gives into the notion and image of Hispanos being incapable of understanding science and technology. I thought this was an interesting point to make and I was able to connect to the examples Ramirez used. For example, in the tourist literature and brochures of New Mexico there is emphasis on the traditions, rural life, and even the use of “Spanish” as opposed to “Mexican.” There is no mention of modern or urban life, or any mention of their scientific accomplishments. 

Marion Martinez is used as an example of an artist who engages in cyber arte. As a child she had a strong interest in machines, like television sets to radio sets, and was fascinated with the inside of computers. From her experience in New Mexico, Martinez would use the discarded computer parts that she got from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and use these parts to completely transform traditional art forms. Martinez was also raised Catholic and she uses her art to express her love for God and life. With Marion Martinez’s love for life and God and her interest in technologies, she created and transformed the image of La Virgen de Guadalupe by using circuit boards. In conclusion, the term chicanafuturism was defined as a, “chicano cultural production that attends to cultural transformations resulting from new and everyday technologies (including their detritus); that excavates, creates, and alters narratives of identity, technology, and the future; that interrogates the promises of science and technology and that redefines humanism and the human” (13).  By linking traditional forms of art like santo production, and technologies, Martinez rejects stereotypical images and misconceived notions.