Austro-Greece: Parafiction and Myth-Making Mechanisms of Hyperstition

The paper analizes the phenomenon of “Austro-Greek Empire” — a collective art-research project that includes ethno-cultural, social-political, and artistic frames. The fictional dimension of this “work-in-progress” project becomes its substantial part due to the topical issue of the post-truth phenomenon and conspiracy theories that are prevailing the media space. The importance of fictionalization methods in post-conceptual art is analyzed and demonstrated, given the possibility of constructing a metaposition in a situation of historical and political uncertainty. The “Austro-Greek Empire” is an emblematic project for the contemporary Ukrainian art process, as it aggregates a series of key issues, one of which is still the problem of identity. The article uses various methodological approaches, in particular, the optics of “parafiction” by C. Lambert-Beatty, psychoanalysis of J. Lacan, post-structuralist analysis of the mythology by R. Barthes and fictionalization of P. Osborne.