Queer Workings of Digital Affect: The H...

This paper explores the internet hype surrounding the Eurovision Song Contest victory of Austrian drag artist Tom Neuwirth/Conchita Wurst in Copenhagen, 2014. In particular, it looks at the resonating affective intensities that have shaped the circulation of Conchita’s body image on YouTube and Tumblr. Drawing from the interactive dynamics of these platforms, the (hyper-)mediated eventfulness of Conchita’s Eurovision will be examined as (1) derived from the anomalous entanglements of everyday media use, (2) transformed and transforming in its spread through a variety of viral memetic practices, and (3) characterized by both dominant and deviant articulations of visual social engagement. The complexly modulated queer workings of these entanglements will be argued to perform through networked and seriated dynamics of digital affect.