The Cuts Have Been Made: Welcome to the Aesthetic of Capitalistic Vampirism is the title of a panel which will see Lanfranco Aceti in conversation with Bill Balaskas, Mark Fisher and Irini Papadimitriou. The panel will reflect and discuss the recent issue CUT published by the Journal of Visual Culture. The event, chaired by Marquard Smith Editor in Chief of this seminal refereed journal, will analyze the transformations of contemporary societies following a series of enforced financial cuts and the persisting of the economic crisis.

The discussion will provide the opportunity to reflect on the role that artists, curators and creatives can play within the re-design of a society characterized by Capitalistic Vampirism.

The panel, moderated by Marquard Smith, will analyze and present a variety of approaches, aesthetic and philosophical stances using as starting point CUT, the issue edited by Aceti for the Journal of Visual Culture.

This panel discussion follows a previous presentation at the British Council in Athens titled Cut Out or Cut IN? in recognition of the numerous Greek contributions to the issue, as well as a reflection on the severe impact of the economic crisis on Greek artists and cultural institutions.

Attendance is free and open to all. Room PSH LGO2, Goldsmiths University of London, Friday November 27, 2015, from 3pm to 5pm.

Link to Facebook Event.

Lanfranco Aceti is an academic, artist, and curator who works at Boston University. Aceti is editor-in-chief of the Leonardo Electronic Almanac (MIT Press / Leonardo Journal Series). He was director of Kasa Gallery, Istanbul where he exhibited a range of innovative artworks like 75Watts by Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen from the MoMA collection, or Paolo Cirio’s Loophole4all. In 2011, he curated the exhibition Uncontainable for ISEA2011 Istanbul as part of the parallel program of the 12th Istanbul Biennial and The Small Infinite at the John Hansard Gallery with artworks from the John Latham’s estate.

Bill Balaskas is a London-based artist, writer and academic working across different media. His works have been widely exhibited internationally, in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions. He has received nominations for several awards, including the 2013 AUDI Art Award for the most innovative young artist. In recent years, he has given talks about his work at the University of Oxford, the 11th Sharjah Biennial, Tate Liverpool, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Central Saint Martins and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Mark Fisher is a lecturer in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths. He is the author of Capitalist Realism (2009) and Ghosts Of My Life (2014). His writing has appeared in many publications, including New Humanist, Frieze and Sight&Sound. He has also collaborated with Justin Barton on two audio-essays, londonunderlondon (2005) and On Vanishing Land (2013).

Irini Papadimitriou is Head of New Media Arts Development at Watermans, an arts organisation presenting new work and supporting artists working with technology, where she is curating the exhibition programme and an annual digital performance festival. Irini is also Digital Programmes Manager at the V&A, mainly responsible for programmes such as the annual Digital Design Weekend.