AI Politics: Slop and Slopaganda
Curated by Roland Meyer and Antonio Somaini.
The symposium will focus on AI-generated propaganda, or “slopaganda”. Recent wars have been accompanied by escalating waves of synthetic online propaganda designed to spread disinformation, popularize conspiracy theories, troll the enemy, and celebrate one’s own military dominance.
When
Thursday, June 11, 2026, 5–10 PM
Program
5 PM: Welcome & Introduction by Antonio Somaini and Roland Meyer, followed by short presentations by Ada Ackerman, Occitane Lacurie & Barnabé Sauvage and Wolfgang Ullrich
7–8 PM: Discussion
8:30–9 PM: Hito Steyerl, followed by a film screening of Hito Steyerl’s THE ISLAND (2025)
Location
Gabriel-Riesser-Weg 3, Frankfurt am Main
Language
English
Notes
Limited number of participants. Presale starting soon
AI is rapidly and profoundly transforming visual culture and visual politics. So-called “AI slop”—cheaply mass-produced synthetic content—is flooding social media feeds, AI-generated memes have become a new kind of political propaganda spread by official government accounts, and fake historical documents are increasingly indistinguishable from authentic archival records. How do we navigate an online landscape entirely reshaped by deep-learning technologies and generative media? And what role can artistic practice and critical research play in this new political context? When authoritarian politics dissolve into synthetic vibes and brutal violence is reduced to an AI meme, can we conceive of alternative image politics capable of countering slopaganda?
Antonio Somaini: Curator of the exhibition, Professor of Film, Media, and Visual Culture Theory at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris
Roland Meyer: DIZH Bridge Professor for Digital Cultures and Arts at the University of Zurich and the Zurich University of the Arts – ZHdK
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Supported by
NEMETSCHEK Innovationsstiftung