Propaganda – Flooding the Zone with Shit – It’s About Money, Stupid!

Featuring the artists: Joshua Citarella, Ben Grosser, Ganslmeier & Zibelnik, Playfool and Oguz Sen In collaboration with the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society (IDZ) Jena and the Research Training Group Aesthetics of Democracy at Goethe University Frankfurt and TU Darmstadt. Propaganda in the ‘post-truth’ era is loud, fast and emotional. On the streets and online, a battle for hearts and minds is raging. It is a culture war over opposing worldviews: over who belongs and who is excluded, who we believe ourselves to be and who we want to become and, ultimately, who holds power over whom. Flooding the zone with shit and seeing what sticks is the strategy of authoritarian populism. Public space is flooded with claims, provocations, contradictory narratives and acerbic memes. Such content spreads particularly easily on digital platforms: whatever attracts attention gets clicked and shared. How and where do we encounter propaganda today? What strategies, aesthetics and technologies are used to shape people’s beliefs and opinions? Who decides which narratives prevail? Who benefits, politically and financially? We have invited seven internationally recognised artists who have spent years researching propaganda and online subcultures. They have translated the aesthetics, mechanisms and technologies of contemporary propaganda into works that can be experienced through the senses. With this exhibition, the Frankfurter Kunstverein aims to offer a space that counters social atomisation.