Hyperculture

In the wake of globalization, cultural forms of expression have become increasingly detached from their places of origin, circulating in a hyper-domain of culture where there is no real difference anymore between indigenous and foreign, near and far, the familiar and the exotic. Hyperculture is a state of the deep intertwining of cultures in which once formerly separate cultural spheres now overlap and interpenetrate. It is a profoundly rhizomatic culture of intense hybridization, fusion and co-appropriation. Today we have all become tourists, even in our ‘own’ culture, to which we do not even belong anymore. Examining the distinctive characteristics of our contemporary hyperculture and its costs, Han demonstrates why we need to renounce our status as perpetual sightseers in the realm of ‘cul-tour’ and devise a new way of orienting ourselves in the world.