Dark Euphoria
DARK EUPHORIA
The Neo-Gothic Narrative of Millennial Technoculture
Mitch Goodwin (2014) Dark Euphoria, thesis cover. Photograph by the author.
PhD Thesis | School of Humanities | Griffith University | Gold Coast | 2014
Abstract
This is a project in two parts. The text presented here is the major component. This exegetical document provides the theoretical context for a series of media art works that were produced between 2011 and 2012 in response as much as in parallel to this analysis. The creative work, the online media assemblage Dark Euphoria: Unclassified Media (archived at darkeuphoria.info), should be seen in a non-traditional sense – a research-led practice component – contextualised by the broader theoretical narrative. Together, these two components produce a visual communication analysis of historical events, cultural artefacts and media art and the artists who produce them to reveal the nature, attraction and power of the dark euphoric temperament inherent in millennial technoculture.
It is important to note however that this is a particular type of exegetical response not a reflective exegesis. This is not an analysis of my practice – the history or technique – rather this is an analysis of the context that informs that practice. Yet this text does include a discussion of several of my key works in relation to specific issues unpacked by the broader thesis and also in relation to the work by other media artists who explore similar territory.
Mitch Goodwin (2010) Dark Euphoria series, photographic print, on paper, eMerge Media Space, Townsville, Australia.
This text explores the recent history of western technoculture and the corporate and political myth making associated with network technology, techno-futurist marketing, consumer electronics and mass media production. It questions how the image constructs of corporate advertising – especially those which promote communication technologies and services – have perpetuated the glossy myth of a technological Utopia, commonly associated with notions of western progress. Using advances in machine intelligence, ubiquitous computing, and personal communication apparatus to facilitate this narrative these marketeers have blended science fiction fantasy with near future projections to author a false reality. Simultaneously this project responds to the cinematic fictions of filmmakers, media artists and visual communication designers who have summoned a far more dystopian vision of our future selves and thereby forging a dark visual aesthetic in contemporary media culture.
The aim of this project then is to answer the following by way of narrative construct, theoretical analysis and creative endeavour: What effect has the 20th century futurist narrative of technological Utopianism (and therefore its neo-gothic Dystopian mirror) had on the emergence of a new contemporary digital aesthetic and a broader cultural condition at the beginning of the new millennium?
And moreover, what are the origins, means and purposes of the concepts of dark euphoria and gothic high-tech inherent in the narrative of millennial technoculture that informs this emergent aesthetic and the art works that inform this thesis?
Mitch Goodwin (2011) Screen glitch grabbed from "My Endless Dystopian Summer Blockbuster” (https://vimeo.com/42345058) featuring interpolated frames from the film Swordfish (Sena, 2001).
Notes on the Text
This text was designed to be read in PDF format on a computer or preferably a tablet device. There are sufficient images embedded in the text to identify the media artefacts discussed and visually illustrate key points so the text can be read without a direct connection to the web but, the experience is greatly enhanced with internet access.
Numerous art works, media samples and advertising ephemera associated with the analysis have been hyper linked to an online repository. In most cases I have uploaded copies of this material to a YouTube channel to ensure that these links remain active for the duration. When this was not possible I have endeavoured to use links to content on corporate and organisational websites, commercial YouTube channels or Wikipedia. In such instances it cannot be guaranteed that these links will remain unbroken.
The full dissertation is available from Griffith University collections.
Media assemblage documentation is archived at Dark Euphoria.
DOI 10.25904/1912/3134
