Micha Cárdenas, stylized as micha cárdenas, is an American visual and performance artist who is an assistant professor of art and design, specializing in game studies and playable media, at the University of California Santa Cruz. Cárdenas is an artist and theorist who works with the algorithms and poetics of trans people of color in digital media. Artwork and performances Cárdenas has presented her work around the world, including keynote performances at the 2015 Association of Internet Researchers Conference, 2014 Digital Gender workshop at Umeå University in Sweden, 2013 Dark Side of the Digital Conference and 2012 Allied Media Conference, performances at the 2012 Zero1 Biennial in San Jose, and the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics 7th Encuentro in Bogotá, Colombia and collective exhibitions at the 2010 California Biennial, and the 2009 Mérida Biennial. In 2008, cardenas performed Becoming Dragon, a 365 hour mixed reality performance in Second Life. Recent projects include "Unstoppable" (a collaboration with Patrisse Cullors, Chris Head and Edxie Betts to create no-cost bulletproof clothing), Local Autonomy Networks, and virus.circus (a collaboration with Elle Mehrmand). She has curated exhibits in Los Angeles, New York, and Tijuana. cárdenas' work Sin Sol, Forest Memory (2018) created in collaboration with Abraham Avnisan, was included in the group exhibition, “Between Bodies,” curated by Nina Bozicnik, at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, October 27, 2018 — April 28, 2019 and reviewed in Art in America, March, 2019 and The Seattle Times, January, 2019. As a member of the Electronic Disturbance Theater/b.a.n.g. lab, cárdenas helped design the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a GPS device designed to guide immigrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border and to help them find water stations during their journey. cardenas argued the aim of this project was "about giving water to somebody who's dying in the desert of dehydration." Critics claimed the project was an irresponsible use of government funds, and a tool that would assist illegal activity, such as smuggling. Ultimately, all investigations of the project were dropped without finding any misuse of funds or illegal activity on the part of the artists. Books and writings Cárdenas's first book, co-authored with Barbara Fornssler in 2010, Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs, discusses an experimental conception of politics based in desire. In 2012, Cárdenas co-authored The Transreal: Political Aesthetics of Crossing Realities, co-edited by Zach Blas, was published by Atropos Press. The book discusses art, games and