The world has changed since 1969. In the fifty years since the inception of Art and Technology Studies, networked technologies have become ubiquitous — mediating nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Always Already Alien explores the societal impact of these systems by analyzing the way we relate to one another in physical and virtual spaces. Are we closer to our loved ones around the globe than the strangers we push past in the metro? Can we avoid this seemingly inevitable sense of alienation? The selected works attempt to blur the boundaries between real and virtual, speculating new forms of cohabitation that insist on the physical presence of the bodies navigating these spaces.

Always Already Alien showcases work by recent graduates of the Art and Technology Studies department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), including Yuemin Huang, Amay Kataria, Rafael Rivas, Doug Rosman, and Leah Solomon.