Dr Owen Parry
Digital Scholarship Postdoctoral Fellow October 2018 - July 2019
Project: Luv 2 H8 U
I am a visual artist and researcher working across expanded performance cultures on subjects including trash, queer performance, fandom, fascism and Yoko Ono. Since completing my PhD at Goldsmiths University of London in 2014 I have initiated the Fan Riot project, exploring the increased relationship between art practice and participatory fandom since the internet, which includes a Fan Club series, publications, artworks and performances.
At IASH I have a 10-month digital scholarship to pursue the second phase of my practice-based research on art and fandom by turning to anti-fandom and haters. I'm basically interested in how a bunch of 'basement dwelling' anime fans became the producers of visual culture for Trump and the alt-right. Through this fellowship I aim to explore an aesthetics of hate contexualised by a history of avant-garde culture from Dada to Punk to its more recent proliferation in online memes. My research will explore new creative practices for negotiating, dismantling and undermining systems that fuel hate and the online culture wars.