Movement is constant. It signifies change. It signifies development. It signifies being. From crowds in an organized march to bodies in performance, movement is embedded in how we engage with the world. We move through spaces, ideas, and identities as we navigate our proximal surroundings. In these physical spaces, we feel movement, and movement feels us.

In our digital infrastructures, movement becomes obscured. Platforms and screens engender stillness. Online and on screens, there is a false sense of movement when machines stimulate dopamine receptors, tricking users into feedback loops of clicking and sharing, but the true cost of immobility is made invisible. In contrast, we can use digital tools to illuminate the importance of movement, from direct action to the body in motion to immigrant mobility, through storytelling and shared experiences, asking us to make assumptions about how we move, in support and opposition, and what these online movements reveal about our lived environments. 

How we navigate movement in proximal vs. mediated environments dictates the impact these movements have on our world.

The 2024 Social Justice + Media Symposium, taking place at Queens College explored the concept of movement, from people to platforms, and how movement can support more just and equitable futures. Queens is the most diverse county in the US, a region that celebrates movement: two international airports, a sprawling metro system, an immigrant diaspora with over 800 languages, art centers and theaters, and social movements and passionate activism. 

The Symposium examined diversity, visibility, agency, performance, art, civics, and safety in the microcosm of Queens that represents the ever-changing world. 

For more information about the Social Justice + Media Symposium, about Moses Shumow, or if you are interested in joining this network, please contact Dr. Paul Mihailidis at [email protected]