DESCRIPTION:
This experimental video is inspired by my current scholarly research on digital tastemakers, where I focus on the forces that contribute to shaping collective aesthetic tastes in music. While my scholarly work is theoretically and empirically driven, this experimental video art is symbolic and imaginative; it describes the potential scenarios whereby the subjectivities of aesthetic tastes are shaped and controlled due to digital capitalism and the logic of the market. The eye symbolizes the constant surveillance on the web while the "like" button epitomizes the paradox where our "liking" activities as a democratic expression subsumed under digital capitalism. "Like" is essentially a tool that embodies both choice and control. The movement of ropes and its disintegration infer that we are both chained and unchained in this digital era where control exists in a subtle, paradoxical way. It
is also a symbol of the decentralized and connected nature of the web. The pyramid is the symbol of hierarchy, which is being re-created as a control mechanism. The Greek sculpture and building epitomizes the classical era where the beauty of control displayed in classical art serves as an ironic juxtaposition to this era's meaning of control. Finally, the video ends by implying how dangerous it is to have our
subjectivities controlled in the digital era.