Short Abstract

Media can generate affective atmospheres of solidarity, outrage, and fatigue. In this lab participants bring Social and Multimodal Media material that moved them or their collaborators, and compose from this shared pool feeds of their own, asking what carries affect and what dissipates it

Long Abstract

Media can move people affectively, materially, and politically – feeds, reels, algorithms and interfaces generate affective atmospheres of solidarity, hope, outrage, or fatigue, fostering feelings of connectivity but equally withdrawal or disengagement. At the same time, media practices themselves are often embedded in atmospheres of fear, hope, dissent, and activism. Understanding these dynamics requires attending to multimodal forms and engagements and how they foster these affective atmospheres.

The lab approaches these dynamics by working with the media that have produced them, asking: How are they related to material infrastructures and platforms, and how do these enable or constrain particular political or subjective trajectories? How do intimate scrolling and viewing/listening practices relate to political mobilisation or disengagement? How can co-produced audiovisual, sonic, and textual material – both on social media and in the ethnographic research process – capture affective atmospheres as they move through feeds, platforms, and publics?

The lab pursues these questions in shared multimodal practice across two 90-minute sessions: participants are asked to bring materials from their research contexts that moved them, or that they observed moving their research participants and partners. Working from this common pool in small groups, we compose sequences of our own feeds that are not algorithmically produced, asking what holds an affective atmosphere together, what dissipates it, and what happens to affect once material is detached from its infrastructure. The multimodal working format, as well as the handling of consent and anonymisation, will be developed together with participants in advance and during the workshop.