Terms such as “fake news” and “alternative facts” have become common vocabulary in the so-called post-truth era. But there is a sense in which these are just contemporary iterations of a familiar phenomenon: propaganda. Propaganda is not merely concerned with sending messages – its aim is to construct reality as such.

How is propaganda employed today in alt-right regimes, the ongoing War on Terror and corporate climate crimes? How do art and culture visualise and stage new realities in the making? And what alternative practices of emancipatory propaganda emerge from popular mass movements and stateless insurgencies? In this introduction to his book Propaganda Art in the 21st Century (MIT Press: 2019), artist Jonas Staal elaborates on what he describes as today’s arena of the propaganda (art) struggle.

Where: Melbourne Law School, Theatre G08, Ground Level, Parkville campus, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton Vic.

RSVP: bookings not required