Performative installation in Vienna based on Mirko Schäfer's book 'Bastard Culture'

The performative installation bastardCROWD[mobile] of choreographer and performer Daniel Aschwanden and media artist Conny Zenk, uses the book Bastard Culture! How User Participation Transforms Cultural Production by media theorist Dr Mirko Tobias Schäfer as a starting point for investigating and questioning the everyday use of smartphones. The installation is on display from 7 to 9 May at the Angewandte Innovation Lab (AIL) in Vienna.

The 'Selfie' culture is only one phenomenon in the context of virally spreading digital communication devices. Aschwanden/Zenk, having performed artistic interventions in Beijing, Accra, Addis Ababa and Vienna, emphasise the global phenomenon of superposition of traditional forms of communication through new interface cultures.

Accompanying the installation a symposium titled 'The datafication of the public sphere' and various workshops are being held at the AIL, which is an initiative of the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Mirko Schäfer's research interest revolves around the socio-political impact of media technology. His publications cover user participation in cultural production, hacking communities, politics of software design and communication in social media. Schäfer is Assistant Professor in New Media and Digital Culture and a senior fellow of the Centre for the Humanities.