C. F. Fariello

Research Component:

Contemporary digital visual propaganda is a hyperobject of slow violence.

Propaganda is nothing new but manipulated content such as propagandistic memes and new incomers such as deepfakes are now more ubiquitous than ever. People are socially segmented and targeted by Big Data and other actors on the internet and social media more than ever before. The technology to produce this visual propaganda becomes constantly easier to access and use. Living in a time where the definition of truth is questioned by many, misinformation and disinformation are everywhere, and human cognitive dissonance, avoidance, and confirmation bias are at a high. Individual lives are ruined by deepfake porn as national agendas and elections are swayed via visually manipulated content. The scope and scale of harm from visual propaganda and misinformation is so far-reaching, robust, and powerful that strong legal and regulatory frameworks enforced at the level of international treaties are called for.

Advisors 
Murali Balaji (COMM)
Chris Lawrence (FNAR)

Visual Component:

-This exhibition has been modified to be adapted to the virtual environment.  You can find the proposal of the whole exhibition as it would be if it where to be done IRL (In Real Life) in the appendix in my thesis.-

We are all Users and Creators.

As a User,  we all believe we have control over what we access and consume. We enter searches and data that are seamlessly taken from algorithms to create a digital imprint of us so we can experience the maximum tailored life. But in these digital hyperobjects, do we have control? Do we understand how complex these interconnections are? Are we really aware of how many bubbles and life experiences exist? What is an Hyperobject? Can we see the slow violence? How comfortable are we in our own little world, cradled by the illusion to belong to a wider one?

As we enter these visual digital spaces our identities are based on demographics. We are willing and unwilling participants.

In this visual component you will see the simulation of what would happen.

Once we enter in the space all the data is fed to an algorithm which will decide what images and memes are presented to the user in the Bubble(GHuM).

The bubble is the station which is an immersive sphere one can stand in with wraparound screens (GHuM) –Graphic Human Manipulation– where the guest is served the images and memes the algorithm has “determined” are appropriate for the guest. In the IRL you would have the ‘option’ to choose to see your reality tailored by the algorithm, someone else’s, or you could choose to experience both. Here you will see someone’s else’s bubble.

Please, once you have gone through the whole process submit your response and share your experience on instagram @seeseaeff @minus10_2030 #hyperobjects #upenn #slowviolence