A list of IRL events, podcasts, streams, talks, conferences, etc. I’ve been involved with in some capacity.
A Sad & Lonely Constellation 2019
I was beamed into Caffè Letterario Macao in Milan on Friday 3rd Mary 2019 to do a short presentation on AI, communism, dogs and mythology for A Sad & Lonely Constellation: Navigating the Antinomies of Technological Hope, a conference which “attempts to navigate through the thick swarm of hopes surrounding the body of Artificial Intelligence as it accelerates towards us.”
You can read a transcript of this talk here.
On Sunday 24th March 2019, I gave a talk about the relationship between accelerationism and patchwork, reaffirming lines of flight in the aftermath of the Christchurch terrorist attack in New Zealand earlier that month. This was the fourth edition of #WYRDPATCHWORKSHOP, an event organised byDiffractions Collective at Punctum in Prague.
You can read a transcript of my talk here.
Hyper / stition — ‘Pisalni stroji’ on Radio Študent
In March 2019, I made an appearance on ‘Pilsani stroji’, a radio show hosted by Marko Bauer and Primož Krašovec on Ljubljana’s Radio Študent. The theme of the episode was “Hyper / stition”.
You can listen to the show here and read a transcript of my text here.
Unboxing the Machines: An Unboxing Video
Robin at Urbanomic sent me a Toy Model AGI Playset. I decided to make an unboxing video for it to demonstrate how it can help you better understand Reza Negarestani’s highly-anticipated 2018 book Intelligence & Spirit.
Xenogothic Radio #4: The Sounds and Silences of Llansteffan
A dip into the archives: an audio project made for the village of Llansteffan in West Wales back in 2015. It wasn’t made as a radio show but it basically is on. This is an excuse to give it an extra lease of life.
Xenogothic Radio #3: Halloween Mix
We interrupt our usual philosophising to bring you a 90-minute Halloween mix of black metal, noise, jungle and other stuff.
Xenogothic Radio #2: The Breakdown and the Breakthrough
From Xasthur to Kanye West to Albert Ayler to Sister Nancy and back to Phil Elverum.
Episode #2 is about breakdowns and breakthroughs.
Xenogothic Radio #1: Introduction
An introduction to this radio show with a 30-minute mix of jungle to start things off…
Phil Elverum for Invisible Oranges | Oliver Coates’ ‘Invisible Jukebox’
Acid Communism: An Introduction to “Egress”
On Monday 12th November 2018, I was invited to lead a session of Laura Grace Ford and Dan Taylor’s Acid Communism reading group at Somerset House Studios.
You can read a transcript of my initial introduction to the session here.
Halloween 2018
I’ve made a pumpkin carving video with my family and friends (almost) every year since 2012. It’s something of a lame but endearing (to us) tradition that I hope will continue on the blog.
Xenogothic 1st Birthday Stream
On 10th October 2018, Xenogothic turned 1. I got drunk, answered some questions, went through some of my record collection and talked about my forthcoming Egress book.
Hermitix #1: The Work of Mark Fisher
I spoke to Meta-Nomad about the work of Mark Fisher for the first edition of his podcast, Hermitix, starting with Capitalist Realism and meandering scatterbrained through the rest of Fisher’s published works, with some nods elsewhere in between.
You can listen to the episode here.
#WYRDPATCHWORKSHOP 01
I spoke about the aesthetic implications of the weird and the wyrd in relation to patchwork (via Skype) at this event held at Punctum in Prague on Saturday 22nd September 2018. The event was live-streamed on Justin Murphy’s YouTube channel.
You can read a transcript of my presentation here.
For K-Punk: 50 Years
An event organised with lēves to celebrate what would have been Mark Fisher’s 50th birthday. The night was held at SET in Dalston on Saturday 14th July 2018.
Other Life: “The Ethics of Shoplifting From Self-Service Kiosks”
Talking patchwork, amongst other things, with Justin Murphy on a livestream on his YouTube channel on Tuesday 3rd July 2018.
For K-Punk: Consciousness Razing
Twelve hours of workshops, performances and DJ sets, organised with lēves and funded by the Visual Cultures department at Goldsmiths. This event took place at SET in Dalston on Saturday 9th June 2018.
For K-Punk
A night at Tola in Peckham, organised with lēves, following Kodwo Eshun’s inaugural Mark Fisher Memorial Lecture which took place on Friday 19th January 2018, featuring contributions from Mark’s friends, colleagues, students and admirers. I held down the decks for the latter half of the night.
One Second a Day 2017
An old video, revisited in early 2019 as a way of reflecting on what was a tumultuous year, close to the second anniversary of Mark Fisher’s death.
The Fisher-Function: ‘Flatline Constructs’
A reading group and discussion which took place at Goldsmiths, University of London, on Thursday 1st June 2017.
K’Exchange: ‘Monastic Vampirism’
Taking Giorgio Agamben’s monasticism (The Highest Poverty, 2013) and Nick Land’s vampirism (The Thirst for Annihilation, 1992) and holding them precariously in orbit of each other amongst a constellation of other mad philosophers, this talk will seek a new madness for our time; a speculative madness; a productive madness.
Recorded at Goldsmiths, University of London, on Thursday 23rd February 2017.
Fragile
Back in 2015, I went to this ceramics exhibition at the National Museum in Cardiff called Fragile? The last room of the exhibition was home to Keith Harrison’s installation Mute which consisted of a giant wall of speakers attached to two turntables. Each of the speakers had a ceramic disc attached to its front and the idea was that, over the course of the exhibition, you could watch the deterioration of these ceramics plates through sound.
On the wall behind the turntables there were lots of records you could use to abuse the speakers for yourself. Jazz worked best, apparently. Brass timbres seemed to do a lot of damage. I wanted to find out for myself so, one Sunday during the unusually hot Welsh summer, I decided to cycle over with a record bag and play some of my noisiest records for a hour. I think its the most fun I had all year.
