Demagogic Speech And Rhetorical Emptiness

The third volume of the Electronic Literature Collection (ELC3) is home to Radikal Karaoke by Argentine-Spanish artist Belén Gache. This work offers a criticism of the political speech by transforming it into a karaoke and, consequently, raising the question about the decreasing “value” of this locus (Grossberg 2012). Radikal Karaoke is an interactive online device that displays a video in loop while the user / reader speaks / shouts using a microphone and pressing the keyboard randomly. The video shows people applauding, explosions, spectators watching a show, aliens, slaves, etc., and at the same time, the user / reader is pressing the keyboard following instructions and reading a written text that scrolls along the bottom of the screen. Depending on the volume of the voice and the use of the keyboard, the video will produce different images, colors and sounds. The author clearly marks a position related to the need for intervention from those who consume her technopoetic (Kozak 2...