Spinning Frames of Mediatized Protest: Body, Language, Culture, Space, and Religion

• In Event: ICA Interactive Paper/Poster Session I
  In Interactive Poster Session: Activism, Communication and Social Justice Interactive Poster Session

Abstract

Amid a constant influx of visuals on our digital screens, the space of activism has become a dynamic web of ruptures, connections, and transformations. My analysis of Femen assemblage offers an initial charting of the mediatized activist network. By examining Femen’s protest event of cutting down a crucifix in downtown Kiev, I study the processes of a mediatized activist body linking across media outlets and geographic borders, breaking off of territorial and cultural contexts, and producing new material and digital interpretations swarming around it. The emergence of visually affective activist groups such as Femen disrupts hegemonic power structures and unveils potentials to see and act anew.

Author

• Mariam Betlemidze, California State San Bernadino