The work examines male-dominated internet subcultures, especially incels—men who feel excluded and radicalize through misogyny in forums like 4Chan or video games. Kling uses video game aesthetics to critically reflect on this culture. Despite the hard materiality, structural breaks appear, evoking fragility and feminine attributes. The work addresses both hypersexualized depictions of women and themes of rejection and alienation.
Maxi Kling (born 1995 in Finsterwalde, Germany) is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on film, photography and installation.
In her cinematic works, she reflects on her East German origins in multi-layered narratives. The starting point for her works is an examination of collective transformation processes. More recent installation works deal with digital spaces and their iconography. Kling particularly examines phenomena of digital subcultures.
