Quantum Political Feedback

Is a conceptual art film by Edward Akrout, Jakob S. Boeskov, and produced by Shelby Welinder.

Chosen in the official selection for festival Les Rencontres Internationales, the film made its international debut (in association with the Pompidou Center) at Le Carreau du Temple in Paris. Following its premiere, the film opened in Berlin at Haus der Kulturen der Welt and in Antwerp at Het Bos in the fall of 2018. 

Project Statement

Fact checkers play an increasing role in our lives. They're here to supposedly protect us from disinformation, manipulation, and fake news. Facts have now been put on trial, and their power has been challenged.

The Stanford Studies in the 70s demonstrated that "once formed, beliefs are remarkably perseverant", making it virtually impossible to change our judgments using rational thought alone. Whilst Schulz Hardt's study for the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology determined that with sustained repetition, theories could seep into our subconscious and evolve into beliefs.

Since the birth of religion, control has been maintained through modeling human perception. However, in the age of consumerist democracy, our opinions have themselves become the key to power. As a consequence, instead of sculpting our convictions, today's leaders must mirror them.

One of the greatest mysteries of quantum mechanics remains the "Double-Slit" experiment. This procedure showed that at a photon level, "the witness participates in the creation of the event”. The Internet has, over time, become a unified field of subconsciousness: multitudes of minds simultaneously shaping and reacting to our reality.

Through data collection, a new generation of politicians have tailored their campaigns and policies. As a result, we have unwittingly moved into a quantum democracy in which our latent urges are in charge. Our leaders have become followers.

Individual expression has reached its paroxysm and is now stuck within its own echo chamber. The world inside our heads has come to be more tangible and attractive than objective facts. Never before has our personal experience been so similar to others and yet never have we felt so isolated. We are all imprisoned within our own manifestos.

If our lone persuasions are holding the destiny of humanity hostage, how can we reclaim our minds? What do we know of our own subconscious beliefs? Can we monitor them and clear them from irrational contamination?

Execution

In the film, the artists combine pseudoscience with repetition to investigate the connection between technology and truth.

An E-meter device was exploited as a crude polygraph machine. Its pseudoscientific function is to "detect lies" in order to monitor a statement's progression from lie to truth.

Statements were read to and repeated by the participants. Through continuous repetition, the subjects built a relationship with the spoken words, which over time, matured into experiences and finally beliefs.

All of the combined elements resulted in mettre en abîme the transformation of a political affirmation into a belief.