Helen Barr

Every minute new conspiracy theories are born online. They flow through platforms, systems and networks, unauthored and unwarranted. In this age of ubiquitous connectivity, how can we trust anything that we are presented with anymore? To coincide with the Design Museum exhibition Hope to Nope: Graphics & Politics 2008-18, the Alt-Age: Designing Belief one-day festival, comprising live performances and a symposium, investigates the role of memes and online message boards in constructing and concealing truth. It invites leading thinkers and practitioners across contemporary art, design and technology, to question how conspiracies are building belief systems, communities and alternative bodies of authority. The festival confronts how the design of online platforms can be co-opted by different groups, and how that might be affecting the ways we communicate today.

Contributors: Bora Akinciturk in collaboration with Mehmet Duran, the Demystification Committee, Michael Dieter, Factmata, Timandra Harkness, Joey Holder, Natalie Kane, Daniel Keller, Taylor Le Melle and Kyrre Lien.

MA Curators: Marlies Augustijn, Helen Barr, Natalia Benitez, Phoebe Cripps, Thomas Ellmer, Raoul Klooker and Helen Neven.

Find out more here: Alt-Age: Designing Belief