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合弁 שלולית 1 POOL — May 2012 Amelia Ulman Bret Schneider Domenico Quaranta Matei Samihaian 2 F/F had to commit to strict, regular posting– — Amelia Ulman once a day, every day. Similar to Facebook “likes”, the finite amount of comments Fotolog reached its peak in 2008 with over made the 20 signatures a currency, a 30 million registered users, primarily goal that had to be achieved regularly from Chile, Argentina and Brazil. As for the sake of nurturing one’s online a standard photo-sharing platform, it persona, leading users to overproduction, wouldn’t be worth writing about if it a constant desire for renovation aided by wasn’t for the magnitude of its usage and new photos and special effects. A aesthetic cultural consequences. Fotolog became commonality between the most popular a trend, a symbol, a brand 1, a tribe. In Fotolog users gave birth to the Floggers Argentina and Uruguay, Fotolog users as a tribe or style, dictating the hair, were known as “floggers”, representing the outfits and the musical tastes of the a generation of open-minded, sexually winning combination for popularity. It tolerant, and educated teenagers. In Chile, was a blend of mid 2000´s European teen they called themselves “Pokemones”. fashion, electro dance music, plus some While Pokemones were influenced by elements from Emo and anime culture. Japanese culture, they shared many interests with floggers, such as apparel This competition for attention was derived and hairstyle. From head to toe, the from the anxious ambition to provide Flogger and the Pokemon were easy to entertainment and garner popularity differentiate from other subcultures, such through updates. Cultural capital as Punks, Goths and Emos, even though manifests itself in virtual environments their aesthetics were an amalgamation just as it does physically. Social inequality of many of these groups. This sartorial and class become apparent online as overlap was something that led to the much as offline, frustrating the optimistic many infamous fights between old and expectations of the net as a utopian new tribes outside the malls of Buenos playground in favour of a digital mirror of Aires2, Santiago and Montevideo; similar to people’s offline realities– a conglomerate those viral Emo vs. Punks confrontations of social networks. The colours and in Mexico. The disputes, far from merely the fonts, the writing and the grain, all being kids fighting over clothing, were functioned as indicators of social class and evocative of South America’s evolutionary background, transforming the semiotics and transitional stage. It wasn’t all of the interface into a decisive factor in the about the hair; Floggers, Pokemones nature of one’s social interactions. and Emos were androgynous youth who threatened the established patriarchal 2. and homophobic South American culture. In the crowd, a feeling of insecurity These groups represented that half of the discomforts. Although users cannot live southern cone’s youth that came from an in cyberspace alone, the necessity of a Europeanised middle class. This resulted dwelling and the need for belonging, make in attacks, harassments, abuses and even the building of a community a solution murder in Argentina– in 2008, a 16 year for uprooting, for uncertainty. While we old was kicked to death outside of a club dwell plurally, we do it separate from the by a group of teenagers from an opposing others, the strangers, protecting ourselves tribe, the Cumbieros. from the hostile. Gradually, certain groups flourished in Fotolog, cliques formed and 1. communities emerged in parallel with Fotolog was particularly addictive due those forming offline. A hierarchy took to its restrictions. Limited daily to one shape, mirroring the two halves of the picture, 20 comments, one layout, a colour population– the higher and the lower. chart and a 520 x 410 px Oeil-de-boeuf, the In a dynamic in which the peripheries platform succeeded because of it’s game- constantly tried to become the hegemony, like set of rules. Its structure encouraged the formation of a new photo sharing consistent daily use, which became the platform took place under the name of epicenter of its allure. Fotolog forced Fotocumbia. anyone with the aim of maintaining a current blog to adhere to a fastidious In 2008, the creation of this bootleg version uploading routine. If the opportunity to of Fotolog functioned as a statement update was missed, the rewards would not against the rules of the original, including be reaped. To keep a popular profile, one total freedom of content (pornographic 3 images welcome), unlimited photo not surprising that the initially despised uploads, music and an embedded chat Cumbia Villera music and style were later room. It was an online embassy for the popularized into an acceptable depiction Cumbieros, an uprising against a system of the unprivileged. Carlos Tevez, who that didn’t accept them. signed with Manchester United in 2007, had cameos in a few Cumbia Villera shows While floggers were a representation and was always vocal about his upbringing of the 2000’s South American flippant in the Fuerte Apache. Pablo Lescano, youth, which rebelled against the old frontman of Damas Gratis, precursor establishment with a queer attitude, of the Cumbia Villera, was awarded the they were still middle class– they played Clarín Prize4, invited to perform on Susana by European rules and were intolerant Jimenez’s TV Show5 and played at the MTV of their poorer and darker skinned awards in collaboration with mainstream contemporaries. On the other hand, performers. Their music portrayed the Villeros, the Cumbieros, emerged Argentina’s reality as tango did before it. It from a much lower social class. Many was accepted, saluted and respected. of them were immigrants (or from immigrant backgrounds) from rural 3. sides of the Patagonia and from other Every trend has a trajectory and lifespan– Latin American countries. They rejected a rise and fall, an appropriation and the Europeanised and Americanised repackaging. The only way for the aesthetics which were considered the Cumbia Villera and the Cumbieros top of the cultural hierarchy. Claiming a to be accepted by the establishment new style to represent their people, with was to lose their original meaning and tropical and Latin American beats, they become a commodified aesthetic. In also embraced the stereotypes that made 2011 Fotolog had plans of changing the them repulsive to their wealthier peers by layout that made it famous (and which using violent lyrics, politically incorrect Fotocumbia copied), Fotocumbia was attitudes towards women, homophobia, rotting and malfunctioning with bugs, antagonistic attitudes towards authority, Cumbia Villera was praised and played and explicit references to drugs– overseas in cultural events6 while being portraying the reality of their situation as diluted through religion in the mainland7, outsiders. Floggers barely existed anymore, and a band called the Wachiturros came to Floggers were the ambassadors of a life. The Wachiturros are a boy-band of Eurocentric identity, while Cumbieros dubious quality, who proclaim themselves were the enraged other, agitated by to be Cumbieros, Rochos and turros8. They cynicism. The restricted access to the Villa were immediately featured on TV, played Misera is a lock, a bolt that protects one at theatres like the Gran Rex9, garnered class from the other. By not allowing the hordes of fans and manufactured access to any outsider and by inverting merchandise– all of which rapidly led to the criteria generally applied outside the creation of a new subculture. They of it (in the high-street, downtown), the were soon hated by many. Viral videos community protects itself and generates and posts made reference to their past as its own economy of cultural capital. The floggers, and a new label was created for fortress shelters daydreaming, the fortress this new style, the one of the Flogger or protects the dreamer, the fortress allows the Cheto Arrepentido (Repentant Posh one to dream in peace; the community Kid). The Wachiturros and the Chetos protects the dreamer, and the dreamer Arrepentidos dress like Villeros, dance creates it’s own content3. The dreamer Cumbia but invert the symbols. By not succeeds in removing herself from the singing about the topics characteristic of periphery and takes a place at the top the slums and distorting the aesthetic by of a hierarchy of her own creation. The adding a queer element, the Wachiturros nihilistic aura of the Cumbia Villera was act as a subversive agent10. said to be a descendent of Tango, which also started in arrabales (poor quarters of To dance in front of the real Rocho or the City of Buenos Aires) and was sung in Turro, copying his clothes but wearing the immigrants’ slang, the lunfardo (mix of lipstick, is an attack to the only valuable Spanish and African/ Italian expressions). thing the Villero possess: genuineness. Being a style that ultimately became a The Chetos Arrepentidos play with this legitimate national symbol of identity, it’s disrespect towards the holiness of the 4 fortress, making themselves a target for Aires Tandem, concluded with a session of Cumbia abuse and violent attacks, from online Villera, at the Centre 104, Paris. bullying to physical aggression. Sexuality aside, the fight is about realness, about 7. At the end of the decade, Cumbia Villera’s violent the legitimacy of class, a struggle against and explicit lyrics turned into more pop- like, artifice and a desire for a singular style. romantic and friendly topics, after an intense process The thing that was now accepted was of evangelisation. the visual, and not the original context. While Cumbia has been repackaged and 8. Guachos and Turros are Argentinian words from made ready to sell, it’s origins remain the Lunfardo, meaning bastard, shameless. untouchable and restricted, its reality rarified.