Rice, Tivon CCoupe, JamesGlogovac-Smith, Chariell S2025-01-232025-01-232025-01-232024GlogovacSmith_washington_0250E_27582.pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/1773/52680Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2024MUTATE is a speculative archive presented as an immersive theater performance that unfolded over two days in May 2024 at the Georgetown Steam Plant in Seattle, WA. Drawing on Saidiya Hartman’s "critical fabulation" theory, MUTATE reimagines an archive that centers black subjects and black cultural practices. It explores the intersections of black embodiment and new media art, informed by Tina Campt’s concept of Black Gaze, Kim Gallon’s "technology of recovery," and Stephanie Dinkins’ "Afro-now-ism." MUTATE integrates sound, video art, video projection, still images, animation, installation, and live performance to evoke themes and narratives. This dissertation critically examines the fraught history and current tensions between technology and embodied experiences, highlighting issues of racism, bias, erasure, and oppressive systems pervasive in the design, algorithms, and applications of new media art. It contends that the normative gaze, a foundational element perpetuating these issues, is closely intertwined with institutional archival practices. Through this analysis, an argument is made for approaching digital art outside of normative theoretical contexts to create the work with digital tools but guided by black scholarship. MUTATE is the practical summation of this approach.application/pdfen-USCC BY-NCarchivesblack art practicesdigital artnew media artperformancetechnologyFine artsBlack studiesPerforming artsDigital arts and experimental mediaThesis