what is robotamerica?

before robotamerica became my handle, before it was a blog, %%green%%it started as a two-edition mini-zine that was sold at punk shows%%. i created the zine sometime around '98. it was a dadaist and situationist inspired little booklet with some essay-like writing and a series of collages and sketches. %%yellow%%the premise of the zine was a critique of everyday life and consumerism (overconsumption) in the so-called developed nations.%% that was the origin of the name as well, "robot america", describing what i saw as an almost robotic impulse for consumerism around me in the nineties. %%purple%%everyday folk becoming robots, automatons, consuming for the sake of consuming%%. strangely, robotamerica was a sort of tongue-in-cheek parody that became a little more prophetic. especially now, with ai-driven marketing algorithms, and the current social media trap, %%red%%we appear to be becoming a little more robotic, a little less agentic, a lot more caught in the spectacle of things%%. i…