FOMO: Yuri Pattison, McKenzie Wark

Artist Yuri Pattison discusses ideas relating to automation and outsourcing within the context of his own artistic practice, including his new ICA digital commission mute conversation (2015). The Q&A with Yuri Pattison is led by Helen Kaplinsky.

Yuri Pattison is an Irish multimedia artist based in London who studies ways in which the virtual world permeates material reality. Mastering a huge variety of media, his work often uses different devices to explore the strengths and limits of digital communication.

McKenzie Wark presents on Molecular Red: Theory for the Anthropocene (Verso, 2015). He writes:

"The good news is: this civilization is over. And everybody knows it. And the good news is: we can all start building another one, here in the ruins, and out of pieces of the old one. There is a certain emotional difficulty in accepting the fact that our world is disappearing in slow motion. That is why I present this response to the ‘fear of missing out’ as a good news story. Let’s get on with making a new world out of the ruins of the old. As Marx said, “All that is solid melts into air.” It is just that now this is literally true. The seeming solidity of the natural base of our social bubble melts with the high concentrations of atmospheric carbon that collective labour introduces into the air. What small part can a mere speculative theory play in such a bold endeavour as building a new civilization? Well, theory is about concepts. We need new concepts, because we have new facts."

McKenzie Wark is the author of A Hacker Manifesto, Gamer Theory and 50 Years of Recuperation of the Situationist International, among other books. He teaches at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College in New York City.

The Q&A with McKenzie Wark is led by Nina Power.

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