Art World Affirmations

Art World Affirmations is a self-help video, pushed to the outer limits of neoliberalism. It parodies popular social media formats, distilling self-help practices into their darkest neoliberal essence of a hyper-individualism accelerated by economic inequalities and class divisions. The film summons the hypnotic forces of ASMR, affirmations, manifestations, and gratitude practices, to channel our senses into a stark imminent future art world steeped in an extreme culture of ruthless self-interest, hostile egocentrism, and elitist self-indulgence.

Set in a fantastical near-future, the film is composed primarily of collaged and edited AI-generated imagery, depicting a surreal landscape populated by peculiar plants and flowers. At its centre is a single character: a softly-spoken young woman with glowing, futuristic makeup, clothing, and luminous neon eyes. Introducing herself as a ‘self-help guru’, she guides the viewer through what initially appears to be a conventional set of affirmations and gratitude mantras aimed at those engaged with the art world. As the film progresses, the affirmations gradually shift in tone, evolving from messages of empowerment and gratitude at the start to boastful expressions of arrogance, entitlement, and privilege by the end.

In her 2013 essay Meritocracy as Plutocracy, Jo Littler writes: “It is striking how, again and again, ‘hard work’ combined with self-belief is employed by an unprecedentedly privileged cadre of politicians and millionaire elites to justify their position and success and to prescribe this as the route for others”. Art World Affirmations transposes this analysis onto the art world, discrediting the deceitful promise of career success in an increasingly class-divided and unequal society.