14. Dec 2020

Václav Janoščík: Trauma and Identity after Computing

Talk @ International Festival of Computer Arts

Live stream: Monday, 14. Dec 2020, 19:00 / mfru.org/live

Just as there are many diverse genealogies of computers, AI, algorithms or the digital, so there are many problems tearing apart our current societies, from resurgence of populism and nationalism to the lack of dialogue or commitment to reasoning or science. Janoščík attempts to connect and transcend these complexities by presenting his speculative history, developing a media theory of trauma and hijacking of the current popular culture. A few remarks about his own work and affective investment in the art school environment make a coda, an exemplification of this trauma-oriented, pharmacological and pop-philosophical approach.

Václav Janoščík (1985) is a pedagogue, theorist and curator currently teaching at the Academy of fine Arts (AVU) and Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM). He edited several volumes on the problems of contemporary thinking, ranging from new materialism, speculative realism, acceleration and future studies to media theory (Object, 2015; Reinventing Horizons, 2016; Mind in Terrain, 2018). His own works include Nonsleeping (2018), which gives a highly personal account of social acceleration or abstraction, and Stretching the Contemporary, Detective Search for Shared World (2020), which tries to reinterpret and weaponise pop-culture. He currently curates a year-long exhibition cycle in Centre for Contemporary Arts, Prague.

The lecture is part of the main curated program of 26th IFCA – Infrastructure Complex: Altered Earth. Václav Janoščík was a theorist-in-residence at Guest Room Maribor, Pekarna Magdalenske Mreže. The residency is co-organized by Šum journal.