Week 9: Chicanafuturism

Catherine S. Ramírez's "Deus ex Machina: Tradition, Technology, and the Chicanafuturist Art of Marion C. Martinez," discusses how the evolution of technology and identities continues to transform traditional art forms. Ramírez defines "Chicanafuturism" as "Chicanx cultural production that attends to cultural transformations resulting from new and everyday technologies; that excavates, creates, and altars narratives of identity, technology, and the future; that interrogates the promises of science and technology; and that redefines humanism and the human." I have not heard of this term before, so it was interesting to read about its development. Ramírez is able to first touch on the history of New Mexico's developments, addressing how the tourism industry has romanticized the state. New Mexico's Department of Tourism engages in selective ethnophilia and exploitative tactics rather than bringing awareness towards the state's demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental realities. Martinez's Cyber Arte series is able to emphasize how technology and science have affected New Mexico's people and environment. Her work is also able to bring awareness towards how New Mexico has been a dumping ground for high-tech trash. Martinez has always been fascinated with the construction of machines and is able to merge organic and inorganic qualities through using computer parts, wood, and other materials in her work. Her fascination with technology has ultimately influenced her unconventional materials as an artist. 

Western definitions have often associated the Chicanx community with a more primitive and racialized past rather than with the technologically enhanced future. These generalizations are inaccurate and Martinez as well as many other Chicanx artists have been able to reflect on how new technologies have allowed the Chicanx community to link past, present, and future identities. Martinez states how technology can force people to alter their ways; however, technology can also help to hold onto culture. She has been able to demonstrate this quality through her work in preserving the santo tradition. Ultimately, as Ramírez states, there is still an unclear line as to where the boundaries of culture and tradition lie in accordance with the advancements of technology. However, hybrid cultural products and practices have been able to reflect the resilience and malleability of culture.