Cait McKinney: A Queer History of Blackouts

Cait McKinney: A Queer History of Blackouts

March 11, 2025 at 3:02 pm  Education, Kamloops, News

Join the TRU Faculty of Arts for the Dean of Arts Distinguished Lecture series on human rights and social justice, with an engaging lecture by Dr. Cait McKinney.

Reserve your tickets

Everyone is welcome and this is a free event.

Details:

This talk offers a media history of the online blackout as a digital tactic grounded in 1990’s AIDS activism.

Blackout protests evoke power grid failures, temporarily shutting down online systems by removing content, blocking access or replacing content with black imagery.

This lasting tactic began with New York-based Visual AIDS’s Day Without Art online blackout (1995 – 2000) which drew attention to the AIDS crisis as a systemic failure to care for minoritized people.

The protest asked participating sites to adopt a small banner graphic and redact their websites for the day.

Dr. McKinney argues that an AIDS-informed perspective on infrastructure collapse and systemic exclusion shaped blackouts.

This history helps us understand how and why blackouts trade in feelings of frustration with broken systems.

They situate this historical analysis of the online blackout in a wider queer media theory of blackouts as impasses in which emotions and relations abruptly shift in generative ways.

View Link to Original Source

No conversations yet

Activity Stream

Wed, Mar 4, 2026 at 10:53 am - Transition Kamloops posted on their blog: Nature-Friendly Yards: 2026 will be pilot season!
Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 4:58 pm - Kamloops Film Society posted on their blog: The Magic Flute | Met Opera Special – The Kamloops Film Society
Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 8:00 am - David Suzuki posted on their blog: Trade without accountability, pollution without borders
Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 12:36 pm - Kamloops Film Society posted on their blog: Industry Training and Networking Opportunities Return to Kamloops Film Festival with Learn About Film and KISS Fest – The Kamloops Film Society
Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 8:00 am - David Suzuki posted on their blog: Where joy grows: Bringing butterflies home
Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 3:09 pm - Transition Kamloops posted on their blog: Growing pains: How is Kamloops responding to urban sprawl?
Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 2:21 pm - Transition Kamloops posted on their blog: AI Data Centres are Coming to Kamloops!
Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 5:39 pm - Transition Kamloops posted on their blog: Come get inspired at our Virtual Open House!
Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 8:00 am - David Suzuki posted on their blog: As the planet heats up, water worries worsen
Wed, Feb 11, 2026 at 2:10 pm - Kamloops Film Society posted on their blog: Kamloops Film Festival Marks 30 Years of Celebrating Film, Community, and Culture – The Kamloops Film Society
Full Stream

Upcoming Events

Ivan Decker: Million Dollar Comedy Tour
Saturday Jun 13
All Events