REAL BUT FAKE, REAL BECAUSE FAKE: TECHNOLOGICALLY AUGMENTED K-POP IDOLS AND META-AUTHENTICITY

Abstract

Through the case of the technologically augmented K-pop idol group Mad Monster, this article explores the participatory culture in the supposedly revolutionary proliferation of “humanlike, realistic” digital technologies by drawing on the concept of meta-authenticity, loosely defined as the desire or achievement of authenticity in practices of inauthenticity. I focus on the implications of the social integration of artificial agents and augmentative tools for humans, not to re-establish the human-nonhuman binary but to illuminate the persisting human presence and involvement. Mad Monster’s authenticity was achieved through—not despite—their blatantly “inauthentic” technological augmentations like extreme facial and voice filters. They were co-managed to perform as per “human” authenticity expectations while drawing on the presumption of inauthenticity: by the comedy duo, their fans, existing institutions, and commercial interests—the locus of their authenticity was in collaborative performances. Mad Monster is a case of contemporary meta-authenticity that demands a shift of focus from technological states to collaborative performances around it: how “humanlike” or technologically augmented cyborgs are involved in social spheres matters more than what they are. Their success as “fake but/thus real” AR-filtered, autotuned celebrities also warns of how diverse humans’ crucial contributions can be easily hidden in cyborg phenomena that stress their technological components, and how accountability can be diverted. The revolutionary potential of cyborgs rests not in technical achievements but in the collaborations of the actors involved: questioning, shaking, and breaking the standards.