Total Refusal : Susanna Flock
Susanna Flock lives and works in Vienna as a visual/media artist. She graduated at the University of Art and Design Linz (2015) and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2017), Austria. Member of Total Refusal since 2020
The pseudo-marxist media guerilla Total Refusal is a collective of artists, researchers, and filmmakers who upcycle the resources of mainstream video games to create political narratives in the form of videos, interventions, performances, and lectures. The collective’s themes are informed by critical game studies and social theory in an attempt to promote and popularize a counter-hegemonic left. Their work has been screened at over 400 film and art festivals and exhibited at various spaces. Since their foundation in 2018, Total Refusal have been awarded with more than 70 prizes and honorary mentions.
Subverting Games: Total Refusal's Artistic Heist of Mainstream Culture
In this talk, Susanna Flock from the artist collective Total Refusal introduces their distinctive practice of appropriating and upcycling mainstream video games.
By pouring post-Marxist analysis into the glossy world of video games, the collective aims to provide an accessible yet critical examination of mass media and its underlying ideological algorithms. Its work spans films, video art, live in-game performances, texts and educational initiatives.
Since its foundation in 2018, their work has been awarded with over 70 awards and honorary mentions – like the European Film Award, Best Short Direction Award at the Locarno Film Festival, and the Vimeo Staff Pick Award etc.
