Late Capitalist GIF Thoughts plays with the digital banality of the GIF format in an attempt to draw attention to the affective impact of late capitalism. The juxtaposition of text and emoji echo the feelings of anxiety and emptiness experienced in a society obsessed with hyper-productivity. The hypnotic repetition of each GIF normalizes the darkly humorous nature of the phrases featured in each piece, which mimics the expected performative ease and levity in corporate environments. While the GIFs in Lam’s series go on and on and on, we are forced to think about how feelings of alienation caused by capitalism have permeated, and perhaps masked, our digital communication.
See Rachel Bochner’s response to Late Capitalist GIF Thoughts here.
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Fidelia Lam is a Canadian experimental designer, artist, and researcher experimenting across mediums to synthesize theoretical work with creative practice. Her work often attends to the overlooked, intimate, and mundane spaces and moments that are shared collectively yet experienced singularly.
