INDEX: Fanfictional Politics

Find out more about Steve Bannon’s labour exploitation operation in World of Warcraft and how it contributed to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election. Reflect on the symbolic and literal significance of the table in struggles for political power and how all this may be linked to Vladislav Surkov, Putin’s personal adviser until February 2020.

Fanfictional Politics, by Pedro Gossler, uses online conspiracy theories and objective facts to show how political narratives are constructed and manipulated from opinions, ambitions, opportunities, illusions, memories and a few certainties. Against a backdrop of widespread mistrust of the media, the very concepts of good and evil, right and left, human and inhuman, have lost their meaning. In this metaphysical wasteland, we question the grim absurdity of what is presented as fact.

What if it is the fans who know what is really going on, better than the detractors and those who simply don’t care?

Pedro Gossler is a Brazilian interdisciplinary artist based in Rotterdam whose practice encompasses photography, video, and animation. His work explores memory and the archive in the post-internet era, examining how digital cultures are reshaping the ways in which stories are recorded, transmitted, and reconstructed. Gossler’s projects have been presented at major international venues, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM). Her films have received notable accolades, winning the Best Documentary award at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival and the Most Innovative Film award at Visions du Réel. In addition to exhibitions, her work has been published by DIS and Do Not Research, and she has also received commissions from institutions such as Rupert (Lithuania).

_
Full programme and further information about INDEX 2026 available at www.indexmediaarts.com