Significant Content w/ James Rehwald & Defunctland
10 April 2024
20.00 – 22.00
Pakhuis De Zwijger
Amsterdam
Speakers
James Rehwald
Through fast-paced videos with lots of video effects and added text and graphics, James Rehwald shares his take on American and international politics. The abundance of references creates the feeling that his videos are well researched, but combined with the fast-paced editing style, it also contributes to the comedy that plays a large role in his videos. As a creator of content that does not conform to the political status quo, James has had to deal with videos and accounts being (shadow) banned in recent years.
TikTok
Instagram
Twitter/X
YouTube
Patreon
Defunctland
In 2017 Kevin Perjurer started making a video series on a VR project he started where was creating a virtual theme park consisting of various demolished attractions called Defunctland. Even though the VR project still exists, as a community project now, Kevin has made Defunctland into a popular YouTube channel. In his videos he maps out the history of vanished theme parks and attractions. Eventually he branched out to include broader pop culture topics too such as TV shows and fast food chains.
YouTube
Twitter/X
Patreon
Reddit
Bored during the pandemic Annie Rauwerda started her Instagram page “Depths of Wikipedia” in April of 2020. Although originally intended to share strange, surprising, and interesting facts from the English Wikipedia among friends, the page has grown over a million followers. Annie made a Twitter page, where the Wikipedia screenshots get posted as well. On TikTok she uses the @depthsofwikipedia handle to post personal stories, facts about Wikipedia, comedic videos and updates on her perpetual stew.
Somi Lynda, @driplist, moved from Nigeria to the Netherlands a couple of years ago. She uses surprising situations she found herself in, in her new country of residence to make TikTok videos. Using the platform's formats and tools she shows Dutch habits and aspects of the culture natives might not even realize they participate in.
Recorded 7 October 2021 at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
Michael, aka Fashionlover4 or @hotfashiontakes, has an interest in fashion, but is also critical of the fashion world. On TikTok he posts short and snappy videos like tier lists, and explainer videos on topics like a specific garment or the history of a brand or designer. On his YouTube channel he posts longer video-essays that go more in-depth and visually often have a livestream-like composition where a green screen video of Michael is placed in a bottom corner on top of archival video footage.
Hoog started out as a YouTube-channel posting video essays about design. The video essay genre is one of the most prominent on the platform. Hoog essays maintain a consistent style, with 3D animation as one of its more distinctive elements and the use of genre defining elements such as archival footage, musical elements and voice over. Lately, Hoog started a joint venture with Simplicissimus as Fern, a new YouTube-channel where they post “armchair documentaries” in a similar style, but on a wider variety of topics, from McDonalds packaging to how The Netherlands should be considered a giant city. Only two years in, Hoog and Fern video’s clearly resonate with the YouTube audience, having passed a total of thirty million views to date.
The page of Sophie Browning, @joan.of.arca, is a shitposting Instagram account that, as the name suggests, has a focus on pop star Arca and their music, as well as related artists. Ms. Of Arca also regularly posts references to themselves and other befriended meme pages.
Recorded 16 December 2021 at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
MJ Corey interprets the online and televised presence of Kardashian-Jenner family members using media theory. After starting Kardashian Kolloquium on Instagram, where she would write captions to accompany screenshots of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and post self-made memes, she branched out to TikTok and YouTube to make video content as well. MJ also wrote pieces for outlets like the New Yorker and Vogue and is currently working on her first book.
Recorded at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam on 26 October 2023.
Stefan Li, @TheSushiDragon, is active on Twitch. His streams look like video performances in which he is constantly flipping between different cameras, applying video and sound effects in an incredibly high pace and all in real time using a custom suit full of buttons and toggles. In his own words he is “exploiting technology to inject realtime imaginative content.”
Recorded 7 October 2021 at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
The Instagram meme page @this.and.a.blunt could be considered a so-called "shitposting" account. The images uploaded to the page seem random and aimless. They don't really have a punchline, but are humorous nonetheless. The pictures and videos are nearly always screenshots or screenrecordings from other places, resulting in a chaotic reflection of the online zeitgeist.
Recorded 16 December 2021 at Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam.
Content creators on social media are usually not approached like film directors, musicians or designers, while these creators make an important contribution to our daily media consumption and (digital) culture. In the Significant Content event series, popular creators on various social media platforms are offered an artist talk.
Just as a significant figure in mathematics can make a difference in a calculation, the content of these creators can make a difference within the framework of a social media platform and reveal medium-specific characteristics of this platform. These creators often deploy very clever tactics that make their content work well within the medium they are using. By outlining the content and methods of these creators we unravel how social media platforms work beneath the surface.
Significant Content was initiated by Sjef van Beers and Florian van Zandwijk and is made possible by the Creative Industries Fund NL.
