When political narratives collide with internet forums and cultural projects are built similarly to internet fan-fiction, ‘Fanfictional Politics’ uses conspiracy theories as a storytelling device, connecting events by the thinnest layer of cause and effect in a video-essay narrating the haphazard tapestry of facts and fiction that when interwoven seem to constitute our present sense of reality.

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Find out about Steve Bannon’s World of Warcraft sweatshop operation and how it contributed to Donald Trump’s presidency win. Think about the symbolic and literal significance of the table in political power struggles––and how it can all be connected to Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s personal advisor until February 2020.

Fanfictional Politics by Pedro Gossler utilizes online conspiracy theories and objective facts to show how political narratives are constructed and manipulated out of opinions, ambitions, opportunities, delusions, memories, and a few certitudes. Against a backdrop of all-consuming media mistrust, the very concepts of good and evil, right and left, human and inhuman, have lost meaning. In this metaphysical wasteland we wonder at the grim absurdity of what is presented as fact.

What if it’s the fans who know what’s really going on, better than the haters and those who don’t really care?

Pedro Gossler is an interdisciplinary artist based in Rotterdam, NL whose practice spans photography, video, and animation. His work investigates memory and the archive, examining how digital cultures reshape the ways histories are recorded, transmitted, and reconstructed. Gossler’s projects have been presented at major international platforms, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro. His films have received notable recognition, winning Best Documentary at Sheffield International Documentary Festival and Most Innovative Film at Visions du Réel. In addition to exhibitions, his work has been published by DIS and Do Not Research, and he has been commissioned by institutions including Rupert (Lithuania).

(Artist portrait by Clara Berger)