Studio Bonn: Listening to the Future

Studio Bonn is the new public think tank of the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany. Join artists, scientists, programmers and activists discussing models of care for global communal infrastructure—mental, physical and digital. The events will remain accessible online in the form of videos and podcasts in both German and English and invite further collective discussion. Supplemented by in-depth essays, a “coral reef” of long-term thinking about the common ground aggregates. Watch it grow on studiobonn.io.

Upcoming:

Studio Bonn: Exchange Values
“Cryptocapitalism” (English with German interpretation)
July 15, 8:15pm CEST
Live on @bundeskunsthalle and on studiobonn.io,

The craze around crypto art and NFTs (non-fungible tokens, i.e. digital certificates of ownership) blurs the boundaries of culture, economy and politics. Does blockchain technology offer ways out of parasitic platform capitalism, in which all users feed the ledgers of tech gigants? Or will it lead to even greater inequality and the complete financialization of human relationships? Artist Hito Steyerl, the cultural scientist Joseph Vogl, the musician Ville Haimala, one half of the duo Amnesia Scanner, and Studio Bonn moderator Kolja Reichert discuss the opportunities and risks of a decentralised internet for the arts and democracy.

Hito Steyerl uses the latest control and surveillance technologies as artistic tools. Her highly alert video installations and essays have made her one of the world’s most influential contemporary artists and theorists.

In his book Kapital und Ressentiment (C.H. Beck, 2021), the philosopher and literary scholar Joseph Vogl continues his investigation of the financial industry and shows how its alliance with platform corporations has turned populism into a lucrative business model.

Ville Haimala’s band Amnesia Scanner (with Martti Kalliala) creates sublime, floating stills of information overload full of contradictory signals. Haimala has worked with the fashion house Balenciaga and with the artist Anne Imhof, for example on her current exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Previously on Studio Bonn:

Studio Bonn: The Common Ground
“The Future of Cultural Politics” (German only)
Monika Grütters, Eva Kraus
Studio Bonn premieres in the former chancellor’s residence in Bonn. German culture secretary Monika Grütters, director Eva Kraus, and Studio Bonn moderator Kolja Reichert discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on culture and the struggle for sustainable economies for the arts in the face of platform capitalism.

Studio Bonn: The Common Ground
“Culture and Class Struggle” (German with English subtitles)
Henrike Naumann, Andreas Reckwitz, Anke Stelling
Studio Bonn moves into Henrike Naumann’s tilted post-’89 living room installation Ostalgie. Sociologist Andreas Reckwitz (The Society of Singularities, Polity, 2020), writer Anke Stelling (Higher Ground, Scribe US, 2021) and artist Henrike Naumann discuss an escalated economy of valorisation and aesthetic displacement.