INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON OF VIRTUE SIGNALLING IN SOCIAL MEDIA USERS THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF INSTALLATION ART

• Main Author: Imtinantiarana, Arisfiya
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/79444
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

This artwork comes from my interest in living a double life on the internet. The freedom of identity and control the internet gives us and the attitude all users choose to show has become its own red flag. This combined with the average time someone spent browsing and surfing the net on a daily basis has shown many psychological sides effect, especially regarding perception on what’s real and what’s false. For most people in this day and age, being on the internet, be it for its functional or recreational purpose such as social media, has become an activity associated with daily chores, even needs. Every other person speaks over each other at the same time in the same moment so frequently that they would take every measure to fit with the acknowledged standard of virtual value so they can be heard and has influence on the internet. There are a lot of ways to achieve such influence, from faking identity to faking value (virtue signalling), but without anyone realizing every word spoken and written will just be a never-ending echo inside the echo chamber. Every individual under the umbrella of cyberspace called the internet has their own morality that they stand for. These little chambers have their own facts and symbols derived and born from a concrete reality based on the personal lives of those individuals, its very own simulacrum. But are these simulacra containing each person’s perception of reality means it’s the truth or are those truths they believe in are real is the question that needs to be repeatedly being asked. I want to bring up the issue on how the relation between human and internet has become some sort of cult, where algorithm is the God, social media is the prayer chamber and virtue signalling is their method of worship. I want to manifest this idea by creating a simulacrum that I build through an interactive installation based on a combination between bouncing lights from a projection, space exploration and a looping video and audio.