THE CONCEPT

Spectactular Data : Fascism and the Coded Present is an interdisciplinary research / creation project that invites artists, academics, researchers, activists and all interested communities in exploring the emerging forms and registers of fascism and authoritarian rule that are threatening to or have already established themselves in societies across the globe.

We are particularly interested in the intersection between fascist movements and the deployment of technologies that are transforming the civic, political and economic framework of societies everywhere; technologies of physical, spatial and social surveillance, weaponized social media, digital currencies, and new forms of augmented and AI–mediated presence.
Spectacular Data is an invitation to think through the dimensions of the social and physical reality in which fascist forces operate, and to gather ideas that converge toward an understanding of the transformation of the terminology and experience of fascism, focused on domains where new forms of technology and new registers of fascism intersect; in particular in our experiences of Space, Identity, and Value.

Similar in spirit to its preceding event, ‘The Spectacular State; Fascism and the Modern Imagination’ that took place across Vancouver in 1995, we envision it being part research project, part academic conference and part performance art event, to take place over a month in many different physical and online locations over the coming year. 

One starting point of the Spectacular Data project is the transformational aesthetics of online fascist and fascist-adjacent iconography, in the broadest possible sense of aesthetics; a fascination with cultural production of all sorts. We invite you to take part in the creation of a series of maps, as a virtual and physical framework of the experiences and ideas that shape your engagement with fascism and its current manifestations.