Dr El Putnam

B.A., M.A., PhD

Contact Details

Lecturer Below The Bar
E: EL.PUTNAM@nuigalway.ie
 
researcher
 

Biography

Originally from the United States, Dr. EL Putnam is an internationally recognised digital artist. She works with performance and digital technologies, focusing on borders and entanglements of gesture, particularly the interplay of the corporeal with the machinic. Her writing and research focuses on philosophies of technology, digital culture, continental aesthetic philosophy, performance studies, and gender theory. She actively presents her research, artworks and performances in the United States and Europe, is a committee member of Bbeyond Belfast, and has been a member of the Boston-based Mobius Artists Group since 2009.



Research Interests

Digital studies; digital media; philosophy of technology; wearables and physical computing; performance; video; sound; aesthetics; feminist philosophy

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2021) 'Editorial Introduction: Affiliated issue with 2020 College Art Association Annual Conference, ‘flesh and circuit: rethinking performance and technology’ (Chicago, IL, USA)'
Putnam, E; McGarrigle, C (2021) 'Editorial Introduction: Affiliated issue with 2020 College Art Association Annual Conference, ‘flesh and circuit: rethinking performance and technology’ (Chicago, IL, USA)'. International Journal of Performance Art and Digital Media, 17 (2):189-195 [DOI] [Details]
(2021) 'Entangled Gestures and Technical Objects: Illuminating embodiment and digital e xperience through diffraction in performance'
Putnam, E (2021) 'Entangled Gestures and Technical Objects: Illuminating embodiment and digital e xperience through diffraction in performance'. Performance Research, 25 (5):49-55 [DOI] [Details]
(2018) 'Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War'
Putnam, E (2018) 'Duty Free Art: Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War'. Visual Resources, :178-180 [DOI] [Details]
(2017) 'Not Just 'A Life Within the Home' Maternal labour, art work and performance action in the Irish intimate public sphere'
Putnam, E (2017) 'Not Just 'A Life Within the Home' Maternal labour, art work and performance action in the Irish intimate public sphere'. Performance Research, 22 :61-70 [DOI] [Details]

Books

  Year Publication
(2022) The Maternal, Digital Subjectivity, and the Aesthetics of Interruption.
Putnam, E (2022) The Maternal, Digital Subjectivity, and the Aesthetics of Interruption. New York and London: Bloomsbury Academic. [Details]

Book Chapters

  Year Publication
(2021) 'Pregnant Pause: Technological Disruption and the Neganthropic Aesthetics of Landscape in Ireland's Borderland'
Putnam, E (2021) 'Pregnant Pause: Technological Disruption and the Neganthropic Aesthetics of Landscape in Ireland's Borderland' In: Aesthetics, Digital Studies and Bernard Stiegler. London and New York: Bloomsbury. [Details]
(2021) 'Locative Reverb: Artistic Practice, Sound Technology, and the Grammatization of the Listener in the City'
Putnam, E (2021) 'Locative Reverb: Artistic Practice, Sound Technology, and the Grammatization of the Listener in the City' In: Technology and the City Towards a Philosophy of Urban Technologies. :57-74 London and New York: Springer International Publishing. [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2021) 'Context Collapse'
Putnam, E (2021) 'Context Collapse' In: Mothers, Mothering, and COVID-19: Dispatches from a Pandemic. :421-427 Bradford, Ontario, Canada: Demeter Press. [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2021) 'Strange Mothers: The Maternal and Contemporary Media Art in Ireland'
Putnam. E (2021) 'Strange Mothers: The Maternal and Contemporary Media Art in Ireland' In: Digital Art in Ireland: New Media and Irish Artistic Practice. London and New York: Anthem Press. [Details]
(2020) 'Impossible Totalities: Political Performance as Palimpsest'
Putnam, E (2020) 'Impossible Totalities: Political Performance as Palimpsest' In: Responding to Site: The Performance Work of Marilyn Arsem. London: Intellect. [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2019) 'Discipline, Resistance, Resilence'
Putnam, E (2019) 'Discipline, Resistance, Resilence' In: The Live Art Almanac Volume 5. London, UK: Live Art Development Agency. [Details]
(2015) 'Polyphonic Resonance: Sound Art in Ireland'
Putnam, E (2015) 'Polyphonic Resonance: Sound Art in Ireland' In: Performance Art in Ireland: A History. London: Live Art Development Agency and Intellect Books. [Details]
(2017) 'Performances of Situated Knowledge in the Ageing Female Body'
Putnam, E (2017) 'Performances of Situated Knowledge in the Ageing Female Body' In: Ageing Women in Literature and Visual Culture. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2018) 'Performing Pregnant: An Aesthetic Investigation of Pregnancy'
Putnam, E (2018) 'Performing Pregnant: An Aesthetic Investigation of Pregnancy' In: New Feminist Perspectives on Embodiment. London: Palgrave Macmillan. [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]

Conference Publications

  Year Publication
(2022) Digital Art in Ireland
Putnam, E (2022) Pixelated Presence: the Virtual as Performance Space Digital Art in Ireland [Details]
(2022) CAA Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2022) Interlooping: Livestreaming as Aesthetic Encounter CAA Annual Conference [Details]
(2021) Techne logos and the (Neg) Anthropocene
Putnam, E (2021) Emergent: A Critical Approach to Performance and Biometric Data Techne logos and the (Neg) Anthropocene [Details]
(2021) CAA Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2021) Context Collapse: Livestreaming as a Feminist Art Medium CAA Annual Conference [Details]
(2020) Philosophy of Human-Technology Relations Conference
Putnam, E (2020) Locative Reverb: Artistic Practice, Sound Technology, and the Grammatization of the Listener in the City Philosophy of Human-Technology Relations Conference [Details]
(2019) Futures Thinking
Putnam, E (2019) My Body is Awesome:” Social Media, Transgender Pregnancy, and Spilling Over Quantification Futures Thinking [Details]
(2019) EUGEO Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2019) Networks of Debt and Consumption: the Maternal in the Capitalocene EUGEO Annual Conference [Details]
(2019) Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2019) Milk Drunk: From Mother as Metaphor to a Feminist Aesthetics of the Maternal Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference [Details]
(2019) CAA Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2019) Strange Mothers: Towards a Digital Aesthetics of Interruption CAA Annual Conference New York, New York, , 12-FEB-19 - 16-FEB-19 [Details]
(2018) Thinking Gender Justice, First Annual Conference of the Centre for Gender, Feminisms and Sexualities
Putnam, E (2018) Strange Mothers: Towards a Digital Aesthetics of Interruption Thinking Gender Justice, First Annual Conference of the Centre for Gender, Feminisms and Sexualities University College Dublin, Ireland, , 22-MAY-18 - 24-MAY-18 [Details]
(2018) Bodies of Data: Intersecting Medical and Digital Humanities
Putnam, E (2018) Leaking Milk and Beating Hearts: Technological Immanence and the Maternal Body Bodies of Data: Intersecting Medical and Digital Humanities University College Dublin, , 22-NOV-18 - 23-NOV-18 [Details]
(2018) Transient Topographies: Space and Interface in Digital Literature and Art, Second Galway Digital Cultures Initiative Conference
Putnam, E (2018) Quickening Transient Topographies: Space and Interface in Digital Literature and Art, Second Galway Digital Cultures Initiative Conference Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, , 20-APR-18 - 21-APR-18 [Details]
(2017) Perforum Graduate Conference
Putnam, E (2017) The Aesthetics of Interruption: Navigating the Maternal through Performance Practice Perforum Graduate Conference University College Cork, Ireland, , 19-JUN-17 - 20-JUN-17 [Details]
(2017) Porous Boundaries, Prague Quadrennial Symposium
Putnam, E (2017) Between the Troubles and Brexit: The Minor Gestures of Bbeyond as Aesthetic Ruptures Porous Boundaries, Prague Quadrennial Symposium National Museum, Prague, Czech Republic, , 12-OCT-17 - 14-OCT-17 [Details]
(2017) Society for Philosophy and Technology Biennial Conference
Putnam, E (2017) Locative Reverb: Artistic Practice, Digital Technology, and the Grammatization of the City Society for Philosophy and Technology Biennial Conference Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, , 14-JUN-17 - 17-JUN-17 [Details]
(2016) Conference of Irish Geographers
Putnam, E (2016) Silent Echoes: Multisensory Tracings of Grangegorman’s Institutional Spectres Conference of Irish Geographers Dublin City University, Ireland, , 05-MAY-16 - 07-MAY-16 [Details]
(2016) Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2016) “Neglect of Their Duties:” Feminist Maternal Ethics and the Irish Intimate Public Sphere Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference National University of Ireland Galway, , 02-DEC-16 - 04-DEC-16 [Details]
(2015) Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2015) Vertical Rolls: Performing a Gendered Reading of Bernard Stiegler Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference University College Dublin, Ireland, , 27-NOV-15 - 28-NOV-15 [Details]
(2015) European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2015) ’Bring a Camera with You’: The Posthumous Collaboration of Ahmed Basiony and Shady El Noshokaty . In: Dorsch, F; Ratiu, D eds. European Society for Aesthetics Annual Conference [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2014) Performing Identities: Embodying Knowledge Conference
Putnam, E (2014) Dismantling No Place: the Neoliberal Performative in Tomás Saraceno’s Utopian Impulse Performing Identities: Embodying Knowledge Conference Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, Ireland, , 19-JUN-14 - 20-JUN-14 [Details]
(2014) Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2014) Reflective Trans-subjectivity: An Aesthetic Investigation of Pregnancy Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland Annual Conference University College Dublin, Ireland, , 21-NOV-14 - 22-NOV-14 [Details]
(2012) American Society for Aesthetics, Rocky Mountain Division Annual Conference
Putnam, E (2012) The Ugly Americans: Gestures and Social Practice in the Work of Allora & Calzadilla American Society for Aesthetics, Rocky Mountain Division Annual Conference Santa Fe, NM, USA, , 12-JUL-12 - 16-JUL-12 [Details]
(2006) Women’s Caucus for Art Conference
Putnam, E; Bachman, S; Buszak, M; Reilly, M (2006) Third Wave Feminists in Conversation Women’s Caucus for Art Conference Boston, MA, USA, , 16-FEB-06 - 18-FEB-06 [Details]

Other Journals

  Year Publication
(2021) 'Development of a Video-based Evidence Synthesis Knowledge Translation Resource: Applying a User-Centred Approach'
Deliv, C; Putnam, E; Devane, D; Healy, P; Hall, A; Rosenbaum, S; Toomey, E (2021) 'Development of a Video-based Evidence Synthesis Knowledge Translation Resource: Applying a User-Centred Approach' MedRxiv, . [Details]

Conference Contributions

  Year Publication
(2020) CAA Annual Conference,
Putnam, E; McGarrigle, C (2020) Flesh and Circuit: Rethinking Performance and Technology. [Co-chaired Session], CAA Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, USA , 15-FEB-20. [Details]
(2018) Art Action: 1998 to 2018, Rencontre Internationale d’Art Performance de Quebec,
Putnam, E (2018) Performance Art in Northern Ireland: 1998 to 2018. [Invited Oral Presentation], Art Action: 1998 to 2018, Rencontre Internationale d’Art Performance de Quebec, Le Lieu, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada , 14-NOV-18 - 18-NOV-18. [Details]
(2016) Bodies Politic Symposium,
Putnam, E (2016) Flesh from the Bone. [Invited Oral Presentation], Bodies Politic Symposium, Maynooth University, Ireland , 25-FEB-16 - 25-FEB-16. [Details]
(2015) Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland, Aesthetics and the Feminine Conference,
Putnam, E (2015) Art at the Threshold of Life and Theory. [Keynote Address], Society for Women in Philosophy Ireland, Aesthetics and the Feminine Conference, University College Cork, Ireland , 17-JUL-15 - 18-JUL-15. [Details]

Book Review

  Year Publication
(2018) Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination.
Putnam, E (2018) Demand the Impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination. Book Review [Details]
(2013) Reviewed Work: Horror After 9/11: World of Fear, Cinema of Terror by Aviva Briefel, Sam J. Miller.
Putnam, E (2013) Reviewed Work: Horror After 9/11: World of Fear, Cinema of Terror by Aviva Briefel, Sam J. Miller. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts Book Review [Details]

Electronic Article

  Year Publication
(2021) In Conversation with Digital Artist, Dr. EL Putnam.
Putnam, E (2021) In Conversation with Digital Artist, Dr. EL Putnam. NUI Galway: Cois Coiribe Electronic Article [Details]

Magazine Article

  Year Publication
(2022) Indeterminate System: A Sketch of the Pandemic.
Putnam, E (2022) Indeterminate System: A Sketch of the Pandemic. Ireland: Circa Art Magazine Magazine Article [Details]

Presentation

  Year Publication
(2021) Climate Change and the Arts: A Post-Cop26 Roundtable Discussion.
O'Mahony, D; McDonald, S; O'Mahony, N; Kinsella, A; Ní Néill, R; O'Donoghue, H; Putnam, E; Joly, C; Gladwin, D; Kearney, R; Newman, C; Carey, D; Cronin, N; Torney, D; Lonergan, P (2021) Climate Change and the Arts: A Post-Cop26 Roundtable Discussion. Presentation [Details]
(2021) Art, Community and Resistance, W.J.T. Mitchell in Galway.
Mitchell, W; Putnam, E; Stott, T (2021) Art, Community and Resistance, W.J.T. Mitchell in Galway. Presentation [Details]
(2019) Packet Switching Grief.
Putnam, E (2019) Packet Switching Grief. Presentation [Details]
(2019) Haptic Gaze: Inviting Touch.
Putnam, E (2019) Haptic Gaze: Inviting Touch. Presentation [Details]
(2021) Digital Art in Ireland: Panel Discussion.
Putnam, E; McGarrigle, C; Nolan, K; Clarke, C (2021) Digital Art in Ireland: Panel Discussion. Presentation [Details]
(2020) Art and Digital Technology in a Time of Crisis.
Putnam, E; Bradbury, L; Fitzpatrick, N; McGarrigle, C; Ni Chroinin, M (2020) Art and Digital Technology in a Time of Crisis. Presentation [Details]

Current Postgraduate Students (Taught)

  Name Degree Primary Supervisor
Kerry Kelly PhD in Film Studies

Modules Taught

  Term/Year Module Title Module Code Subject / Desc
2021 Semester 3 Digital Media: Final Project DM6105
2021 Semester 3 Dissertation DT6100
2021 Semester 2 Digital Play and Practice FM6102
2021 Semester 2 Creative Media Design and Production FM2103
2021 Semester 1 Digital Design FMSK1100
2021 Semester 1 Online Media Production FM3104
2021 Semester 1 Creative Practice for Digital Makers DM6104
2021 Semester 1 Publishing: Perspectives and Professionalisation EN6128
1920 Semester 3 Digital Media: Dissertation DM112
1920 Semester 2 Digital Storytelling FS304
1920 Semester 2 Media, Culture, Society EN2133
1920 Semester 2 Digital Play and Practice FM6102
1920 Semester 2 Research Methods DM111
1920 Semester 1 Digital Design FMSK1100
1920 Semester 1 Creative Practice: Digital Media Perspectives FM6111
1920 Semester 1 Creative Media Design and Development FM2103
1819 Semester 3 Digital Media: Dissertation DM112
1819 Semester 3 Film and Theatre Dissertation DT6118
1819 Semester 3 Video Essay FM562
1819 Semester 2 Digital Play and Practice FM6102
1819 Semester 2 Digital Film and Culture FM6105
1819 Semester 2 Research Methods DM111