Flux Forever (text)
Flux Forever
By Rook Floro
Curated by Nim Niyomsin
‘The absolute being
the becoming of the reform
revered by the new norm
your new form of fiction told’
With the widespread advent of the internet, we are the first era in which everyone can create his or her own story and persona and broadcast it to the public. Through digital platforms, we can portray how our lives are viewed, how we want to be seen, the story of our life, and the images we want to be remembered and bestowed.
In addition, mass media helps create role models, idols, and stardom. A desirable image many of us want to be. Combined with advertisements encouraging us to be better, more powerful, successful, and beautiful, there are now many options and aspects to follow of how we should and could be. The ‘cult of personality’[1] which was meant for the cultivated image of rulers and political leaders, has now been handed to the populace.
In an age where everyone can connect easily through multiple channels of high communication technology, we tend to be ever more alienated from each other. We see each other’s lives and converse through social media. A person’s identity has become a brand, channelling like a corporate advertisement or an institution’s public relations, portraying a desirable quality, linking to preferred ideology, traits, or groups. Image applications and false profiles help make an individual life more appealing to the public.
This detachment from reality contributes to many people’s vulnerabilities, living in his or her own fictional world, online, where everything can be erased, rewritten, and introduced. As well as repeating this mantra to others, some of us started to lose touch with our true selves and identity. When real life takes a wrong turn from that happy image, it is hard to deal with those unsettled situations and the failure and loss many have felt. A psychological disparity occurs when the feeling and experience are real, but the appearance that a person is trying to portray is not. How can one deal with this condition?
‘The new you are reborn
Don’t mourn for the loss
…
Imagine new reality
Unsee the question
The new nation of change
Available now today’
In a situation that seems to have no way out, instead of facing the issue and reality, lacking practice, courage, and hope, many turn into another illusive narration where there is an easy fix for all the problems. Many of us want to hear an affirmation from an authoritative voice that things will be okay. This can be a religious, spiritual healer or even a fortune teller. These groups or people draw us to their promise that things can simply be turned around. The power of the language and media, once used for our personal branding, has now been turned to propagate us to the belief of a better and more beautiful new world, which can be achieved under their conditions and guidance.
Interestingly, the word ‘propaganda’ originated from a religious context, with the formation of the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide (Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith) by Pope Gregory XV in the 17th century during the Counter-Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church.[2] The word that was meant as a ‘deliberate attempt to employ the techniques of persuasion for specific goals’[3], is now widely used in various domains, from religion to politics, international relations, advertisements, and organization branding. It does not necessarily imply negativities but depends on its intention. Many times, its persuasive quality is based on its reconfirmation aspects more than the conversion. We tend to follow things that affirm our original beliefs.
‘(S)truggle to define models for our identities, where what was previously assumed as “normal” has dissolved. Who will be first to form new identities out of the flux?’[4] Many of us wish to be reborn, reformed, or become a new person free from any distress or inconvenience and find a new and better self among loss and crisis. But without realizing the reality and who we truly are, this rebirth only acts as a fabrication. When those we are trying to convince and manipulate are ourselves, when we are the propagandists of our own identities, then we will continue to live in this cycle of fantasy where there is no hope and no escape.
About Flux
Flux is one of Rook Floro’s alter egos. Others are Corvus, Blastard, and Alpha/Omega. Each represents a certain character and angle of the artist and influences its own aesthetic story and representation. Flux is Floro’s ego, representing his ambition to reach the perfect version of self. Throughout the process, this causes conflict and a cycle between his perceived inferior self and the optimum one.
[1] D. Welch, Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, London, The British Library, 2013, p. 5
Welch describes ‘cult of personality’ as a ‘perennial practice of rulers, but one that has become such a major feature of political leadership in the modern era.’
[2] D. Welch, Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, London, The British Library, 2013, p. 6
[3] D. Welch, Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, London, The British Library, 2013, p. 2
[4] P. Pomerantsev, This Is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, London, Faber & Faber Limited, 2019, p. 193