Cherry Crush ASMR
Our 2024 VRAL program opened by spotlighting Stefan Panhans and Andrea Winkler’s Freeroam À Rebours, Mod#I.1. This 16-minute experimental video from 2016-2017, a “machinima sui generis”, warrants extended analysis in its own right and we highlighted key themes in our extended conversation with the artists. But since contextualizing unique works within broader cultural spheres often proves illuminating, we will situate Freeroam À Rebours within surrounding phenomena that inspire comparative examination and share (perceived) resonances.
In our previous article, we compared PinkyDoll’s TikTok NPC streaming to Stefan Panhans and Andrea Winkler’s 2016-2017 video artwork Freeroam À Rebours – two cultural artifacts involving video game character behavior reenactment with vastly different aesthetics and framing, not to mention intent.
We characterized PinkyDoll as an ongoing sexualized doll performance on social media pursuing viral fame and profit. In contrast, Freeroam À Rebours operates as avant-garde art aiming to critically analyze media culture and deconstruct simulations. PinkyDoll loosely borrows from Grand Theft Auto iconic imagery while Freeroam À Rebours closely recontextualizes specific Grand Theft Auto V mechanics. Lastly, PinkyDoll represents viral internet trends capitalizing on sexual tropes for views and money whereas Freeroam À Rebours pushes experimental boundaries to interrogate human-machine interaction.
We applied Sigmund Freud’s theory of the uncanny to decode both cultural phenomena, noting shared qualities of repetition and distorted familiarity. Yet clear divergences emerged on critical perspectives. For instance, Freeroam À Rebours is explicitly framed as a meditation on experimentation, failure aesthetics, and broken simulations. We noticed how Freeroam À Rebours lacks any direct, explicit reference to the very notion of viral media, social platforms, and attention economics and it is extraneous to hypersexualization and objectification that connotes Pinkydoll’s performances.
Expanding our analysis, we now relate Freeroam À Rebours to adjacent TikTok NPC streaming phenomena and the wider ascent of sexualized ASMR/cosplay performances. These intimate online practices often present fantasized personas, leveraging scalable platforms, gamified interactions, and participatory culture…
Matteo Bittanti
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