Conflict in My Outlook

We live in a hyper-mediated world. We are drowning in an ocean of images and information. Data is the new oil. Conflict in My Outlook brings together contemporary artworks and new texts that shed light on human experience in an era of ubiquitous networked technologies. From digital intimacies and the weaponisation of social media to invisible power structures, clickwork and the ‘gig’ economy, contributors argue for a better future in the context of algorithmic racism, machine learning, and the new colonial frontiers of surveillance capitalism.

Conflict in My Outlook takes a unique approach by focusing on contemporary art as a means to explore the techno-politics that define our age. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok depend on us turning our lives into flows of images, while notoriously harvesting our data. This abundance of information is inextricably entwined with invisible power structures. It is precisely because of the invisibility of such technologies that images as carriers of meaning matter more than ever before.

This anthology, edited by Anna Briers, Nicholas Carah and Holly Arden, is published on the occasion of Conflict in My Outlook, a two-part exhibition series that includes We Met Online (2020–2022, online), and Don’t Be Evil (2021–2022) at the University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia.