Description
With COVID-19, narrative structures proved to be fundamental sense-making devices. On one hand political actors used it to interpret and give meaning to the pandemic’s experience, on the other citizens contributed to the creation of narratives that could relieve fears and anxieties.
Realised in the form of a video-essay, PEPP¥ analyses two trends in the Italian communication scenario: “argutainment” and user-generated content. The project particularly analyses the political rise of Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, whose growth in popularity was supported through the creation of memes, songs, video-games and more by the Italian web community.
Compared to the communication of political actors who shaped the debate around COVID-19, the project shows how the production of digital artefacts reflects the crucial role new media play in the creation of today’s political culture, questioning the ever-growing authorship of online users as contemporary political sense-makers.
Sound Design: Matteo Vianello
The early computer scientists had the utopian dream that the Internet would revolutionise our way of living in every way, breaking barriers and democratising the world in an unprecedented way. As much as the utopia of the interconnected free Internet is losing relevance and neo-liberalism is, instead, catalysing the atomisation of networks and deterioration of labour conditions. An increasing need for digitisation and accessibility of the Internet during the pandemic of COVID-19 opens up potential for unprecedented participatory models and re-imagining labour rights.
Next →The past months of pandemic have not only changed current political narratives, they also exposed the vulnerability of a wide range of crises. COVID-19 has put a spotlight on the urgency to reconfigure global supply chains. Ongoing discussions challenge multi-national and global as opposed to local and national business models.
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