On the Affective Stickiness of Art,Bodies, and Technologies as»Sticky Storytelling«. Exploring Climate Activism and Reactionism in Platformed Museum Publics

The article discusses digital storytelling as an epistemic and methodological problem of (social) media research and develops a concept of digital storytelling as »sticky storytelling.« Following Donna J. Haraway, storytelling is understood not only as an object of investigation but also as a method, producing a relational approach to contested narrative realms of meanings, materialities, and aesthetics that can be conceptualised as a »diffraction pattern.« To illustrate this approach, the investigation follows the traces of climate activism and reactionism in digitally extended museums, weaving a narrative that emphasises two specific aspects: first, the historical strings of activism in museums, which are re-enacted through digital storytelling via social media; and, second, the effects of social-media attention markets and digital aesthetics that articulate mediatised reactionism. Finally, the article poses the concept of »sticky storytelling« by reading Haraway’s metaphor of »diffraction« alongside Sara Ahmed’s concept of »affective stickiness.« In this perspective, »sticky storytelling« refers to the multiple and ephemeral connections and interferences between sticky objects that constitute differences, along the conditions of media technology.