Parafictions and Contemporary Media Art 2008-2018

This article traces the shift of parafictional artistic practices post 2008, demonstrating how these strategies have adapted and evolved in contemporary art to align themselves to the current experience of technology and anti-politics. For this article, Carrie Lambert-Beatty’s definition is used where a parafiction is a fiction experienced as fact. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, which led to ten years of austerity in Europe and the United States, the use of social media has become ubiquitous, with 2016 epitomising the rejection of mainstream politics and culminating in ‘post-truth’ named as the word of the year. These events have opened up polarising chasms of opinion, where users are separated into self-reflective silos by seemingly unseen forms of algorithmic governance. Works such as Ian Cheng’s Emissaries (2015-2017), Rachel Maclean’s Spite Your Face (2017) and Suzanne Treister’s HFT the Gardener (2014-2015) and Survivor (F) (2016-), demonstrate how parafictions have become less plausible and less real - a shift which is mirrored in politics - and ultimately unconcerned with replicating truth. This article examines why we often choose to accept a narrative over a truth by discussing how artists have created forgotten pasts, potential futures and alternate realities with digital media.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Rebecca Smith

Conference

Publication date: August 2019

Publication date (Print): August 2019

Pages: 31-35

Affiliations

[0001]Liverpool School of Art and Design

Liverpool John Moores University

Builiding Duckinfield Street, Liverpool,

Merseyside, United Kingdom, L3 5RD

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.5

SO-VID: a65053d4-cfd3-43ef-818b-17ca61409109

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: RE:SOUND 2019 – 8th International Conference on Media Art, Science, and Technology

Conference acronym: RE:SOUND 2019

Conference number: 8

Conference location: Aalborg, Denmark

Conference date: August 20-23, 2019

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Media Art, Science, and Technology

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/RESOUND19.5

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

D. BurrowsS. O’Sullivan 2019 Fictioning: The Myth-Functions of Contemporary Art and Philosophy Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press
I. Cheng 2019 Emissaries http://iancheng.com/emissaries 4 September 2019
E. Davis 2016 Forward/HFT The Gardener S. Treister 2016 HFT The Gardener London Black Dog Publishing 4 5
E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books
E. Evers 2015 In Conversation with Ian Cheng E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books 101115
D. Garcia 2017 Dark Jesters Hiding in Plain Sight J. K. ShawT. Reeves-Evison 2017 Fiction as Method Berlin Sternberg Press 73 102
W. Gibson 2016 1984 Neuromancer London Gollancz
K. Kahn-Harris 2018 Denial: The Unspeakable Truth London Notting Hill Editions
K. Kahn-Harris 2018 Denialism: What drives people to reject the truth The Guardian 3 August https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/03/denialism-what-drives-people-to-reject-the-truth 4 September 2019
C. Lambert-Beatty 2009 Make Believe:Parafiction and Plausibility OCTOBER 129 Summer 2009 51 84
R. Maclean 2017 Spite Your Face http://www.rachelmaclean.com/spite-your-face/ 17 June 2019
E. MattesF. 1998 vaticano.org http://0100101110101101.org/files/vaticano.org/ 17 June 2019
L. Parisi 2015 Simulations E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books 125 133
D. Quaranta 2011 In Your Computer Brescia Link Editions
M. RobertsL. A. Sames 2017 White Noise Propositions iMT GALLERY http://www.imagemusictext.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/08/IMT-Gallery-WHITENOISE-PROPOSITIONS-for-SURVIVOR-F.pdf 4 September 2019
C. Ruiz 2018 Rachel Maclean: Brexit wrapped up in cotton candy https://www.theartnewsarticle.com/interview/rachel-maclean-brexit-wrapped-up-in-cotton-candy 4 September 2019
V. Simoniti 2018 Dadaist Strategies in Digital Art and in Alt-Right Association for Art History’s Annual Conference 2018 Courtauld Institute of Art and Kings College London 5 7 April 2018
S. Treister 2016 HFT The Gardener London Black Dog Publishing
Suzanne Treister 2014 15 HFT The Gardener https://www.suzannetreister.net/HFT_TheGardener/HFT_menu.html 6 February 2019
Suzanne Treister 2016 Survivor (F) https://www.suzannetreister.net/SURVIVOR_F/menu.html 6 February 2019
UBERMORGEN.COM 2000 Vote-Auction http://www.vote-auction.net/ 4 September 2019
UBERMORGEN.COM 2000 Vote-Auction CNN Transcript http://ubermorgen.com/vote_auction_cnn_transcript.txt 4 September 2019

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] D. BurrowsS. O’Sullivan 2019 Fictioning: The Myth-Functions of Contemporary Art and Philosophy Edinburgh Edinburgh University Press

[2] I. Cheng 2019 Emissaries http://iancheng.com/emissaries 4 September 2019

[3] E. Davis 2016 Forward/HFT The Gardener S. Treister 2016 HFT The Gardener London Black Dog Publishing 4 5

[4] E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books

[5] E. Evers 2015 In Conversation with Ian Cheng E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books 101115

[6] D. Garcia 2017 Dark Jesters Hiding in Plain Sight J. K. ShawT. Reeves-Evison 2017 Fiction as Method Berlin Sternberg Press 73 102

[7] W. Gibson 2016 1984 Neuromancer London Gollancz

[8] K. Kahn-Harris 2018 Denial: The Unspeakable Truth London Notting Hill Editions

[9] K. Kahn-Harris 2018 Denialism: What drives people to reject the truth The Guardian 3 August https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/03/denialism-what-drives-people-to-reject-the-truth 4 September 2019

[10] C. Lambert-Beatty 2009 Make Believe:Parafiction and Plausibility OCTOBER 129 Summer 2009 51 84

[11] R. Maclean 2017 Spite Your Face http://www.rachelmaclean.com/spite-your-face/ 17 June 2019

[12] E. MattesF. 1998 vaticano.org http://0100101110101101.org/files/vaticano.org/ 17 June 2019

[13] L. Parisi 2015 Simulations E. EversI. RaskinG. Jansen 2015 Live Simulations Leipzig Spectator Books 125 133

[14] D. Quaranta 2011 In Your Computer Brescia Link Editions

[15] M. RobertsL. A. Sames 2017 White Noise Propositions iMT GALLERY http://www.imagemusictext.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/08/IMT-Gallery-WHITENOISE-PROPOSITIONS-for-SURVIVOR-F.pdf 4 September 2019

[16] C. Ruiz 2018 Rachel Maclean: Brexit wrapped up in cotton candy https://www.theartnewsarticle.com/interview/rachel-maclean-brexit-wrapped-up-in-cotton-candy 4 September 2019

[17] V. Simoniti 2018 Dadaist Strategies in Digital Art and in Alt-Right Association for Art History’s Annual Conference 2018 Courtauld Institute of Art and Kings College London 5 7 April 2018

[18] S. Treister 2016 HFT The Gardener London Black Dog Publishing

[19] Suzanne Treister 2014 15 HFT The Gardener https://www.suzannetreister.net/HFT_TheGardener/HFT_menu.html 6 February 2019

[20] Suzanne Treister 2016 Survivor (F) https://www.suzannetreister.net/SURVIVOR_F/menu.html 6 February 2019

[21] UBERMORGEN.COM 2000 Vote-Auction http://www.vote-auction.net/ 4 September 2019

[22] UBERMORGEN.COM 2000 Vote-Auction CNN Transcript http://ubermorgen.com/vote_auction_cnn_transcript.txt 4 September 2019

Studying business & IT? Drive your professional career forwards with BCS books - for a 20% discount click here: shop.bcs.org