[Commlist] CFP: Influencer Aesthetics | Post45 Contemporaries

Influencer Aesthetics | Post45 Contemporaries Cluster

Edited by Yiğit Soncul, Grant Bollmer, and Katherine Guinness

Abstract submission deadline: July 15, 2023

The livelihood of internet influencers depend directly on the ability to 
cultivate a self, an identity, as a brand to be consumed by others, a 
brand that inherently depends on the mediation of sensation by social 
media platforms. "Influencer Aesthetics" examines popular internet 
influencers in terms of their reliance on sensory form, from the 
spectacle of MrBeast to the illicit visual consumption of sacred spaces 
by Logan Paul, from the mediation of sound and touch by ASMR influencers 
such as Gibi ASMR to the mediation of scent by Jeremy Fragrance. This 
cluster seeks to examine the increasing fragmentation of "aesthetics" in 
the sense of "personal style," locating this fragmentation in 
conjunction with the digital mediation of the senses provided by digital 
media. Most significantly, it seeks to discuss how the linkage of style 
and sensation has, today, been industrialized, a central part of the 
contemporary political economy of marketing and branding.

The aesthetics of the influencer culture is nebulous – "List of 
Aesthetics" and "Aesthetics Wiki," chronicle the sheer number of 
"aesthetics" that have emerged over recent years. In invoking the 
aesthetics of influencer culture we will attend to forms apprehended by 
the senses with a particular sense of "identity" as a commodity, of 
influencers speaking to a particular market defined by this "identity" 
composed of various formal elements. We invite contributions to address 
individual influencers as well as trends and generic forms. Overall 
contributions are invited to engage the identity, style and sensation 
attached to influencers and their content.

In focusing on figures, forms and trends, contributions might address:

Lifestyle influencers
Wellness industry
Reactionary figures
Mediated sensation
Genre and conventions
Platform-specific forms
Sensory infrastructures

Please email Yiğit Soncul ((y.soncul /at/ lcc.arts.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(y.soncul /at/ lcc.arts.ac.uk)>), Grant Bollmer ((g.bollmer /at/ uq.edu.au) 
<mailto:(g.bollmer /at/ uq.edu.au)>), and Katherine Guinness 
((gakather /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(gakather /at/ gmail.com)>) with abstracts of 250 
words by July 15th. Notice of acceptance will be issued by July 31st, 
with full drafts (2,000-3,000 word essays) due by September 15th. There 
is no article processing charge relating to this publication.

https://post45.org/contemporaries/ <https://post45.org/contemporaries/>

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