Retro, futuristic, greco-roman

aesthetic representation in the musical genre vaporwave

Abstract

This article intends to investigate the central elements that compose the asthetic of vaporwave, a born-digital musical genre that has gained popularity in the last decade. Having as its main characteristics the pos-ironic critique of postmodern capitalism, vaporwave has a visual identity that blends past and future, by superimposing elements such as obsolete eletronic objects, greco-roman statues, computerized graphics and logos of modern companies. By achieving a synesthetic effect between sound and imagery, we argue that this stile attempts to create an nostalgic place, as an escape from contemporary reality; this place is not located in the past, but in a timeless space, which confuses past and future in a surrealistic way, at the same time rejecting and celebrating the consumerist lifestyle of capitalist society.