Hyperexistence - a web essay on individualism in late capitalist society

Environmental destruction, absurd levels of inequality, growing cynicism and a feeling of powerlessness characterize the state of late capitalism we are living in today. These are calling for a deep transformation of our ways of life. In particular, we must question the globalized network culture which is allowing this state of affairs to perpetuate itself. Individualism is one of the cornerstones of this globalized culture. It is a moral stance which, in its contemporary form, originates from post World War II cultural movements. It emphasizes the agency of the individual, its worth, its goals and aspirations, over those of the social group. As such, it is associated with positive values such as the right to self-fulfillment. But the same ideology of individualism is also justifying pervasive competition, blaming the poor for their failures, and is ultimately atomizing society. This is why we must challenge it. Individualism has infused the public sphere. It manifests itself through the ubiquity of self-expression, through the careful self-branding of public persona, and through the ruthless instrumentalization of others for the acquisition of reputation. Considering these conditions, any challenge to the ideology of individualism is built on a paradox: to be able to challenge, the critic must have a voice, and to have a voice they must first compete through the very modalities they are trying to criticize : self-expression, self-branding, acquisition of reputation. The arts, the academia, knowledge labor, social media, [...] there is (almost) no public platform that isn't underlied by these modalities. Individualism is a component of the hardware which late capitalism operates on. This thesis consists of two parts. (1) A production, which is a website called `hyperexistence`, and is published at https://hyperexistence.me. It consists in (i) a collection of visual documents, videos and images, (ii) a structured bibliography of books and articles, (iii) a series of short textual essays linking together the visual collection and the bibliography. The web essay will continue to evolve, as new texts and documents will be added in the future. (2) The present manuscript, which is a re-edited compilation of some of the essays written for the hyperexistence website. By no means exhaustive, it attempts to provide an outline of the themes addressed there