The Digital Grotesque

Abstract This chapters unravels the concept of the digital grotesque. It examines how grotesque aesthetics have been part of the creative process of artists, from sounds to images. The chapter suggests that artists and writers have experimented with ugliness throughout history as a form of political protest as well as affective resonance. The grotesque has been employed by different ideologies. The digital grotesque is presented as a tool for aesthetic disobedience. The chapter then connects monsters to meme culture. While it embraces the dominant understanding of monsters, it adds a characteristic shared by monsters inspired by its Arabic etymology. Digital monsters, therefore, serve to reveal and warn, but also to highlight feelings of isolation and yearning for connection in a monstrous world.