Thresholds 42: "Human" prompts us to consider the past and present
changing notion of ‘the human’ with regards to its physical, virtual,
and psychological habitat.

In the last decade innovations within cognitive imaging, computer
interfaces, communication technologies, surrogate natures, sensory
mediators, and global tracking have reshaped our understanding of the
Self. This shift can be seen, on one hand, as a revolution of
sensibilities while, on the other hand, still pushing towards an
enlightenment-based, rationalist perspective of the human as a
neurobiological mechanism. No matter which way this ‘human’ is being
reshaped, does it not also reshape ‘the humanities’ as well as our
understanding of ‘humanity’? Have we indeed formed new gateways of
artistic and architectural possibility or have we forced ourselves
into a deterministic and mechanistic view of both occupants and
design? Humans are different than machines, after all, but how has
the human/machine duality been rethought in our current age? How does
art, architecture and film envision, critique, or challenge this ‘new
human’?

We are looking for scholarly papers that address this topic through a
historical, sociological, or an anthropological lens. We are also
interested in art and architectural projects that explore these
issues.

Thresholds is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal that aims to publish
only original material. Text should be in American English, limited
to 3,000 words, and formatted in accordance with The Chicago Manual of
Style. Images should be included separately at 72 dpi—print quality
images will be requested upon acceptance into thresholds. Author must
have permission for all images. Submissions should include a cover
letter with author’s name, affiliation, telephone number and email
address, and a brief bio. All submissions should be sent in digital
format, with text as MS Word or RTF files and images as uncompressed
TIFF files.

Please email submissions by April 30, 2013
thresholdsmit.edu
For correspondence and inquiries:

Tyler Stevermer, Editor
thresholds, MIT Architecture
77 Massachusetts Ave, Room 7-337
Cambridge, MA 02139
thresholdsmit.edu

http://thresholds.mit.edu/