Performative identity in networked spaces: Resisting the logic of late capitalism in the digital age

摘要

The technological developments of the twenty-first century, most significantly the commercialization and widespread use of the Internet and its interactive technologies, reinforce the logic of late capitalism and consumerism; yet, it is also because of these developments that the logic of consumer capitalism is being challenged and resisted. Inherent in network culture is the capacity for one to fracture identity into a multitude of roles, forming a conception of the self that I argue is “schizophrenic.” In most instances, the schizophrenic self is merely a result of the digital age and perpetuates the logic of late capitalism; however, artists, myself included, embody the schizophrenic self, performing and broadcasting conceptual personae on various media platforms as a method of critique, of the world we live in and of which we are products.