In this issue of Junctures the editors invited article submissions on matters relating to the concept of ‘network,’ which speaks to connections between phenomena variously proximate and distant, human and non-human, and across disciplines. The network might be considered in such terms as ‘assemblage,’ ‘constellation,’ and ‘ecology,’ and as a space of ontology, or a ceaseless production rather than representation of knowledge. It invokes ‘actor-network theory,’ post-humanism and the turn away from anthropocentric thinking, highlighting the extent to which human beings are not autonomous or alone in possessing agency, but immersed in fields of agentic forces. Recognition of such entanglement inevitably entails questioning judgements based on Western rationalist binaries, and this comes to the fore in responses to the rapid normalisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across many social domains, raising questions of agency, authenticity and authorship.

Cover image: Scarlet MacDonald, Conscious Field, 2024. Oil on canvas, 1270x1600 mm.