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The project that my group presented for the Convergent Media module is a performative exhibition exploring the idea of control through the entire creation of a cult which occurred at the University of Westminster between 2005 and 2007. By focusing on the analysis of cult’s processes, our project intended to raise awareness on the idea of control and draw parallels between the power held by cult leaders and the power held by our leaders of society. For this project, we have created a cult called ‘Infinity’, made of eleven creative students from the University of Westminster following a leader, using a slogan, a logo and rituals. These cult followers wanted to break the society’s boundaries of identity. They were inspired by a university module entitled ‘Identity’, and its teacher who pushed them in a quest to be as creative as possible in order to find their own and real identity and who unconsciously became the leader of their ideological group. The cult ended because these students went too far in their research of their true identity that they all became the same, lost their sense of selves and disappeared. During the performative exhibition, only eleven people were allowed at a time. The audience was given a leaflet with the main information on it and was welcomed to enter into a small room where some of the Infinity’s archives were exhibited. The viewers were able to look at an image with the faces of the eleven still-missing students, some photographs of the logo tagged around campus, some sketchbooks pages, some history about the infinity sign, a replica of the clothe they were wearing during their rituals, a blog from a follower, some found footage of them doing their rituals, a recorded news interview of a mother who lost her daughter in this cult and finally to listen to an interview of a student who quit the cult before it went to far. Moreover, in order to convey our concepts and ideas, we had a performative role which was part of the exhibition. The three of us were dressed in black and while O’Shaya was welcoming people, Thea and I were inside the room, with them; Thea was holding the handle of the door and I was saying that we could answer their questions at any time. As a result, through the progression of our ideas and themes, we aimed to use technology and content with contextual awareness and conceptual development, in order to surprise and intrigue the viewers as well as challenge their individuality and make them think about their role within society.

Infinity

Convergent Media Project. University of Westminster, April 2013
©Lisa Vogel

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