Nathan Coster
Blood on the altar is a project examining how new media technologies are being leveraged to help fund the conflict in ukraine. This shift in how war is funded emerged as a result of a convergence of technology and cultural methodology. our modern cultural zeitgeist is dominated by user generated content from sites like youtube, instagram and tiktok. With the start of the modern war in ukraine, this form of entertainment has begun to see use by both sides as a vector for both funding and idealogical support.
With the content we consume now directly funding conflict, can we truly say that the audience is an innocent party in this modern war
the objective of my project was simple, to show that the content that was being uploaded online from combatants and their supporters served more than just propagandistic value. content by Creators such as Valgear, Grisha ,and many many more was helping fund units in Ukraine by encouraging donations and through passive income from viewership.
With the shift to an income based propaganda model the type of content, and how it is produced changes drastically. Creators now rely heavily on co opting already popular types of content ; mostly with young men, and using it to target this demographic for both moral and economic support. The effects of this shift are plain to see ,with organisations like Wagner hosting video game streamers to fund sniper rifle purchase's.
with this type of content making itself known its unlikely to stop with the end of the war in Ukraine, content based funding is coming to a warzone near you.
