[Themaintainers] Introductions: Shannon from the Maintainers III Steering Committee

[Shannon Mattern]

Hello there! 

I’m Shannon Mattern. Until recently, I was a Professor of Media Studies at The New School, but I moved to the Department of Anthropology to launch a new concentration in anthropology, design, and technology. I’m a member of the Maintainers III Steering Committee, and I’m delighted to be working with Andy, Lee, and Mehdi to think about the macro-scale structure of our gathering in October. 

For the past 15 years my own work has focused on information infrastructures and media architectures, which encompass everything from libraries and archives, to the history of architectural epigraphy and acoustics, to smart cities. I often address the invisible logics and labor with which we organize our material environments, as well as the deep histories behind our “new” technologies. So, while my work hasn’t always explicitly mentioned “maintenance,” I'd say it’s been consistent with the "maintainers’ ethos." And last year I wrote a long-form essay, “Maintenance and Care” (https://placesjournal.org/article/maintenance-and-care/ <https://placesjournal.org/article/maintenance-and-care/>), that traces these themes across various scales and fields of practice.

Work obligations prevented me from attending the two previous Maintainers conferences (but I tuned in via Twitter!). I’m thrilled to be able to join everyone in Washington, D.C. this year. In the meantime, our Steering Committee will be thinking about keynotes, field trips, and other activities that bridge the various conference tracks. I’m eager to see similar cross-pollination within our panels and workshops, with maintenance practitioners, scholars, artists, designers, policymakers, and care-workers all recognizing the critical work they do in holding the world together. 

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to submit a proposal (http://themaintainers.org/miii-submit-proposal <http://themaintainers.org/miii-submit-proposal>)! And I look forward to meeting many of you in D.C. in October!  

All the best,
Shannon 

Shannon Mattern, PhD | Professor 
Department of Anthropology | The New School  
6 East 16th St., #929 | New York, NY 10003
Mailing Address: 79 5th Ave, 9th Floor 
matterns at newschool.edu | wordsinspace.net
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