When: June 6, 7.00pm
Where: ACUD MACHT NEU, Veteranenstraße 21, 10119 Berlin
Admission: 5 € Get Tickets

To kickstart our 30th conference, ARTIVISM: The Art of Subverting Power, scheduled to be held at Bethanien from June 23rd to 25th, we warmly invite you to join us on June 6th at 7:00 pm for the meetup workshop HYPECOMPASS - Between Deep Fake Simulation and CoreCore Propaganda by the Clusterduck Collective and hosted by ACUD MACHT NEU.

Drawing inspiration from debates surrounding deep-fake realities, AI-driven propaganda, and the increasing fragmentation of political subcultures, in this workshop Clusterduck aims to utilize the "political compass" meme. This widely popular internet meme, typically employed for humorous or satirical purposes, visually depicts economic and social ideologies on a two-dimensional graph. Originally rooted in a questionnaire format where individuals respond to a series of questions to ascertain their political inclinations, this workshop hosted by Clusterduck will guide participants in employing the meme as a tool to generate collective visions of the future for artivism and politics amid the profound uncertainties of our era. 

Through a collective deep-dive session, participants will be guided to create their own iteration of the "Hyperstitional Compass" meme— a version of the political compass modified by Clusterduck. Its axes reflect hopes, fears, and doubts about upcoming futures. This concept aligns with the notion of hyperstition, originally developed by the renowned CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) during their active years at Warwick University in the 1990s. At its core, hyperstition can be understood as "self-fulfilling prophecies," but it also encompasses a broader examination of how our representations of future scenarios impact our ability to effectuate change in the present. It serves as a crucial reminder of the multiplicity of speculative futures and the significance of nurturing utopian thinking.

This event serves as a prelude to our conference and offers a unique opportunity for participants to delve into intriguing discussions on the intersection of deep fake, propaganda and artivism. We look forward to the presence at this stimulating event of anyone interested in the future of activism and artivism as political practices. The workshop will be led (in English) by Tommaso Cappelletti, Silvia Dal Dosso, Francesca Del Bono, Arianna Magrini and Noel Nicolaus (Co-founders of Clusterduck Collective IT/DE).
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To learn more: Materializing Alternative Futures through Urban Hyperstitions: The Case of Haus der Statistik in Berlin

Workshop Outcome

On June 6, in the workshop HYPECOMPASS - Between Deep Fake Simulation and CoreCore Propaganda, lead by the Clusterduck Collective, we created a Hypecompass meme, a version of the political compass meme modified by Clusterduck, which axes reflect hopes, fears, and doubts about upcoming future. Together we envisioned the future of Artivism, art and politics.

This Hypecompass meme was created in the workshop through hyperstitional meditation exercises and group discussions, the collaborative interface design tool Figma and generative text-to-image AI Midjourney.

Clusterduck (Collective, IT/DE)

Clusterduck is an interdisciplinary collective working in the fields of new media studies, design and transmedia, investigating processes and actors behind the creation of Internet-based content. A bunch of badass peeps who like to waste time on the Internet. Clusterduck’s art practice focuses on investigations and initiatives related to Internet meme culture, such as #MEMEPROPAGANDA (2018), examining the impact of meme on contemporary aesthetics and politics and developing new memetic narratives; #MEMERSFORFUTURE (2020), investigating the role of memetics in the global climate justice movement; and #MEMEMANIFESTO (2020), a collective exploration of the occult meanings and communicative potentials of memetic symbology. Many of their participative projects are still ongoing and have been presented in many locations around the world such as: Aksioma (SL), Ars Electronica (AU), Werkleitz Festival (DE), The Influencers Festival (SP), Tentacular Festival (SP), IFFR (NL), Radical Networks (DE), re:publica (DE), Impakt Festival (NL), and have been part of the 2020 EMAP/EMARE program.
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