Playing the subject

Today identities are considered fragmented and multiple; they are ever-changing performances. However, recent discourse surrounding identity suggests the way we engage in online media can actually essentialise identities through social sorting, creating positive feedback loops and by commodifying niche communities. We illustrate our thinking by looking at examples of current online applications that are concerned with identity and investigate how artists play with and subvert these constructs by playing many selves and producing caricatures. We do this in order to advance a discourse of identity in an age of pervasive social media.