The Feminist Internet collective examined the impact of online abuse and harassment as a virus infecting the internet for the second event in the Defrag series. Watch the discussion in full below.
Memes, video games, social media, post-production techniques and generative algorithms: in 2017, new technologies and internet culture offer artists infinite possibilities and few technical limits. As consumers and remote critics, we click, scroll and like our way through these digital spaces, comforted and besieged by hyperactive content streams which present us with an increasingly fragmented and chaotic view of the world.
Defrag explores confusion, control, creativity, appropriation and resilience, delving into the practice of artists, designers and thinkers utilising and critiquing the latest tools and questioning the realities of our newly augmented human experience. Featuring the work and practices of Somerset House Studios residents and invited guests, the night is structured as a live navigation through artists’ digital footprints, alongside some collective internet browsing.
Feminist Internet is a movement concerned with building an equal and just internet for all. It started as part of UAL Futures, a University of the Arts London initiative bringing staff, students and industry partners together across disciplines to address the social issues they care about. Feminist Internet is generously supported by UAL's Widening Participation team.
Defrag is a new event series exploring the role technology plays in the development, production and consumption of art and culture, curated by Jake Charles Rees in association with Somerset House Studios.
