Going South

YouTube shows the world as an endless collection of bubbles. The topics contained in these range from gun ownership and sex tourism to gender identity and bulimia. Little or no interaction takes place. Nor is there any umbrella narrative; there is no shared truth – everything is made equal and of equal worth. Highly personal, emotional unburdenings merge seamlessly with the craziest conspiracy theories and the most banal shopping lists.

As a visual anthropologist of the 21st century, artist Dominic Gagnon provides a commentary on contemporary America, where facts have been replaced by stories and fake news. Going South is the second part of a quadrilogy in which this ‘filmmaker without a camera’ explores the world through online image culture. In the first part, of the North, he showed the lives of the Inuit using videos posted by these polar dwellers themselves. In this follow-up, empowerment through self-representation is replaced by the rudderlessness of the post-factual era.

Trailer

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