Undoing Gracia
queering the self in the algorithmic borderlands
Grace Leonora Turtle (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Elisa Giaccardi (Politecnico di Milano)
Roy Bendor (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
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Abstract
This paper introduces queering as a methodological intervention in human–AI entanglements, aimed at pluralizing the self and resisting normative algorithmic logics. Expanding the role of queerness in HCI beyond its traditional associations with gender and sexuality, we conceptualize queering as a relational, performative, and political disturbance that disrupts the interpellative forces of AI systems. Our exploration unfolds through Undoing Gracia, an autotheoretical experiment seeded with the first author’s autobiographical memories and values, in which Grace interacts with two digital twin agents, Lex and Tortugi, within the speculative world of Gracia. This multi-agent simulation probes the algorithmic borderlands of subjectivity, as the self is iteratively co-performed and transformed through interaction with the agents. Rather than focusing on technical intervention, the experiment explores co-performance, opening new directions for designing human–AI relations grounded in relationality, plurality, and speculative experimentation. The first author designed and performed the autotheoretical experiment, while the co-authors contributed to the theoretical articulation and critical analysis.
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