♦ A guide to disruptive UGC (User-Generated Content) - a Workshop by S()fia Braga ♦
Thu, 26th October 10:00 – 18:00
Fri, 27th October 10:00 – 15:00
Wohnzimmer Time-based Media, Domgasse 1 4020, Linz
♦ A short summary:
The workshop "A guide to disruptive UGC" will be held by transmedia artist S()fia Braga and is part of the AMRO Research Lab 2023 organised by servus.at. Together with the artist, participants will explore the use of UGC (User Generated Content) on social media platforms such as TikTok as a new marketing strategy to effectively promote and sell products. The first part of the workshop will focus on the challenges posed by UGC culture and the new forms of free labour that are emerging. In addition, participants will be given examples of guerrilla tactics aimed at undermining this dynamic. In the second part of the workshop, participants will be invited to create short videos exploring alternative and/or creative ways of using online transmedia storytelling. The videos will subvert and question the conventional narrative used by social media platforms.
*Participants outside of the Kunstuniversität Linz are welcome!
♦ Detailed Workshop Description:
In today's social media landscape, we've adapted to the constant bombardment of advertisement. Brands and companies, recognizing this shift in consumer behavior, have sought new ways to capture our attention. Gone are the days when polished advertisements held our interest; we now yearn for authenticity. This realization has given birth to UGC creators—users who craft content similar to traditional UGC (User-Generated Content) while aiding brands in promoting their products.
During the initial phase of the workshop, we'll delve into the intricacies of social media control dynamics placing a special emphasis on the challenges posed by UGC marketing strategies and the emergence of novel forms of free labor, with a focus on platforms like TikTok. We will look into various artistic practices that aim to subvert social media platforms dynamics and disrupt the user experience through online guerrilla tactics, and we will delve into some of the most relevant internet trends and subcultures to prepare ourselves to create our own subversive UGC.
Throughout the workshop, participants are invited to create short videos in which they will subvert the conventional narrative we've grown accustomed to on centralized social media platforms, while exploring alternative and creative ways of using online transmedia storytelling.
♦ Context:
The workshop is developed in the context of the AMRO Research Lab 2023 organised by the net culture association servus.at with the transmedia artist S()fia Braga. S()fia’s research “You’re all caught up: camouflage and exposure in the age of platform capitalism”explores the intricate control dynamics facilitated by the operational structures of centralised social media platforms, as well as their sociological implications. Specifically, she focuses on topics such as participatory control –exploring the concept of Interveillance,– emerging forms of free labor, and strategies to carefully balance oneself into visibility and deception while traversing the "Dark Forest of the Internet."
♦ Artist’s Bio:
S()fia Braga is an Italian transmedia artist who lives and works between Vienna and Linz, conducting artistic research that combines digital and post-digital practices. Her work is focused on exploring new technologies to create speculative fabulations that delve into themes such as transhumanism, human and non-human collaboration and non-human agency. Moreover, S()fia’s work investigates the concept of “Interveillance,” shedding light on the hidden power dynamics enabled by centralised social media platforms’ operational structures and their sociological implications. S()fia’s identity constantly changes and goes hand in hand with the narratives she creates: over the last years she has been an artist, a transhumanist entrepreneur, an AI auteur, a cyberstalker, a TikToker and has mutated several times into a monstrous creature. She graduated in Visual Arts (BA, MA) at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna (IT) and in Interface Cultures (MA) at the University of Art and Design of Linz. Currently she’s a lecturer and co-coordinator for the Human Rights in the Digital Age curriculum at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2022 she won the Bank Austria Studios Grant and the Kunstförderpreise der Stadt Linz for the New Media, Design and Communication category. Her works have been exhibited at Ars Electronica Festival (AT), Xie Zilong Photography Museum (CN), XII Video Vortex Conference (MT), WRO Media Art Biennale (PL), Deutsche Bank (IT), Schlossmuseum Linz (AT), Pinacoteca Albertina di Torino (IT) and more.