Conference Stream Work

What is better today? To be authentic or to go ‘normcore’? To stand out or to be 'one among the many'? Are correlations useful for what we might have in common or are they offering a possibility to dis-identify? Whatever stance we take, our gaze is captured and oriented by suggestions and recommendations, numbers and highlights, turning life itself into currency. Can the mediated self avoid being translated into a commercial profile?

The panel looks into how processes of self-commodification can be outplayed or disrupted. Performing tags, reading ads, forcing correlations or re-channeling and intensifying processes are some of the acts discussed that make visible how algorithms function and re-assign a central role to the user. The very elements used to capture, classify and commodify one's self are used anew by artists who outplay and expose the logic and mechanics of networks. What happens when users really become aware of these unseen processes and realise the possibility to repurpose their use?