The 11th edition of A*LIVE, the multi-layered, transversal and expansive public event programme of A*DESK in collaboration with the Museu de l’Art Prohibit, on 6/11/2024 at 7:30 p.m.

In the ongoing debate about access to knowledge, censorship, fake news, distraction tactics, screen dependency, and the decline in critical thinking, A*LIVE 2024 delves into the concept of Radical Cuteness.

Radical Cuteness

The influence of memes and “cute” in popular culture is a radical part of collective imagination, from examples of sexualization of military propaganda, violence, to ways of radicalization in different areas through tenderness. Radical Cuteness aims to unmask the mechanisms that, based on subliminal strategies of seduction – the adorable, the childish, the tender, the vulnerable, the fragile, the soft – influence, disturb and confuse in order to reprogram minds. This approach questions the cultural and political meanings behind these aesthetics. Such disruptive mechanisms are increasingly more internal than external and go beyond prohibition to deploy their control from a veritable psychological warfare that the digital environment only intensifies. We see it through the massive presence on the Internet of very popular and attractive DIY products, in which subliminal aspects shape the collective consciousness, introducing supremacist messages.

A*LIVE 2024, Radical Cuteness
Subliminal Strategies: Prohibition and Control: Unraveling the Power of Psychological Warfare in the Digital Age

A*LIVE 2024, Radical Cuteness delves into these themes from an agile and dynamic structure. To do so, it has Nuria Gómez Gabriel as master of ceremonies and host of the event; the screening of the video Nation Estate (2011) by the artist Larissa Sansour; a performance conference by Noura Tafeche and Alex Quicho. The graphic image and visuals of the project that introduce the different sections are by the artists Momu & No Es.  A*LIVE 2024 event is completed with a Q&A section, led by the responsibles of A*DESK, Montse Badia and Maria Muñoz.

She’s Evil, Most Definitively Subliminal by Noura Tafeche & Alex Quicho

In digital culture, subliminals are DIY videos or soundtracks where affirmations are subtly embedded below auditory levels within a rhythmic base to bypass the logical and conscious mind, registering directly in the subconscious. These videos are very popular and highly impactful.

In the performative lecture She’s Evil, Most Definitively Subliminal, artists Alex Quicho and Noura Tafache delve into the theater of online psychological operations—because physical wounds eventually heal—and deploy an arsenal that ranges from state army e-girls to subliminal strategies. At this intersection of war and self-development, the battle is fought through seduction, influence, disruption, and confusion. With the ultimate reprogramming of the mind, the enemy—or ideology—begins to seem more internal than external.

This performative lecture was first presented at the most recent edition of Transmediale (February 2024), in Berlin. The event was not without controversy, as all participants were required to sign a document issued by the Berlin Senate, committing to making no explicit mention of the Palestinian conflict.

Noura Tafeche & Alex Quicho, She’s Evil, Most Definitively Subliminal. Imágenes Transmediale 2024 en Silent Green Berlín.

Nation Estate by Larissa Sansour

The Nation Estate project, consisting of a 9-minute fictional video and a series of photographs, dates back to 2011. It offers a dystopian view of the Middle East’s ongoing deadlock. At the time, with a touch of humor, the video—which combines computer-generated imagery with real people and an electronic soundtrack—proposed a vertical solution to the Palestinian conflict: a skyscraper called Nation Estate capable of housing the entire Palestinian population. Reality at the moment surpasses fiction and goes much further. The dystopia continues, right now in the form of genocide.

Nation Estate became part of the collection of the Museum of Prohibited Art after a controversial incident in 2011. On that occasion, Lacoste, sponsor of the Prix Elysée, demanded the expulsion of the Palestinian artist from the list of finalists, claiming that her work did not fit the theme of the competition, which was ‘joie de vivre’. The controversy led the brand to withdraw its sponsorship, and the organizers, in solidarity with Sansour, opted to cancel that year’s edition.

Larissa Sansour, Nation State, 2011. Film monocanal con sonido, 9 min 2 seg

[Featured Image: Radical Cuteness, graphic image and visuals of the event by Momu & No E.]