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Hobbesian Gnosticism

Me on the Hobbesian Gnosticism of The Road in Film Quarterly...

Itchy Chin Club discussion of Capitalist Realism

There will be a discussion of Capitalist Realism at the Itchy Chin Club (an "art, culture, politics, history and philosophy book group based in central London") on 31st March. Details here. All welcome.

Hauntology at Cafe Oto

The Wire Salon: Revenant Forms: The Meaning of Hauntology

A new series of monthly salon-type events, hosted by The Wire magazine at Cafe Oto in East London, and dedicated to the fine art and practice of thinking and talking about music. The evenings, which will take place on the first Thursday of each month, will consist of readings, discussions, panel debates, film screenings, DJ sets and even the occasional live performance.

For the first event in the series, Revenant Forms: The Meaning of Hauntology, Mark Fisher (K-Punk) and Adam Harper (Rogue's Foam) will head a panel debating the essence of the spectral, uncanny qualities of much contemporary audio, from dubstep to hypnagogic pop and beyond. The night will also include screenings of a number of short films by Julian House (Ghost Box, The Focus Group), which feature soundtracks by Broadcast, Belbury Poly and others; a live set by Moon Wiring Club; and eldritch vinyl interludes courtesy of Mordant Music.

Kafka 2010

There's been a room change for my talk tomorrow at King's .... it will now be in K.3.11, Strand campus, time the same (6 p.m.)

Content

Back soon, but in the meantime, be sure to check out Chris Petit's remarkable film, Content, on More4 tomorrow night. Here's my take on the film....

One of the most gratifying aspects of Content ... is that by contrast with so many contemporary television documentaries, which neurotically hector the audience by incessantly reiterating their core thesis, Petit trusts in the intelligence and speculative power of the viewer. Where so much television now involves a mutual redundancy of image and voice – the image is slaved into illustrating the text; the voice merely glosses the image – Content is in large part about the spaces between image and text, what is unsaid in (and about) the images.