Nerd_Funk

Digital culture is all around us and has changed our lives fundamentally and irreversibly. But although the change has already happened, we’re still trying to come to grips with it. In an attempt to investigate the online culture that’s surrounding us, and allow others to investigate it with them, artists Ali Eslami and Mamali Shafahi created a virtual identity called nerd_funk, whom you can follow on Instagram for a curated dose of contemporary digital culture. A series of VR experiences delve into the larger themes that emerge from this media stream.

At IDFA, Eslami and Shafahi will present the first two chapters of this archive of the digital now. A returning visual element is a sculpture of a hand and a screen, melted together. The presentation of the physical body through digital media is also at the heart of the first VR chapter. The second chapter takes us beyond the physical, into a virtual experience of a dance club. Both chapters offer alternate hyperrealities, moving between chaos and order in an overwhelming experience of information overload.

Winner of the 2019 Netherlands Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant.