MetaForumX: PermaCrises

When: October 24, 2024 -
October 26, 2024

Where: Trafo House of Contemporary Arts & Hungarian University of Fine Arts – Intermedia Department Liliom u. 41 & Kmety György u. 27 Budapest

MetaForum X – PermaCrises

Embracing the legacy of the three MetaForum conferences (1994-96), MFX continues to highlight the urgent issues of the times with a reflection on contemporary crisis surfing. The theme of PermaCrises examines the persistent breakdown of our political, societal and cultural systems, capturing the extremity of this situation through its continuality and pervasiveness.

The unique political climate of East-Central Europe, situated in a semi-periphery, generates a perspective that often feels overlooked and stagnant. In the nineties, Hungary provided a useful lens with which to view emerging social, political and technical realities – almost in slow motion – as they came into being. In keeping with this, this event seeks dust of that lens with a view that underscores the regional context, fostering dialogues about the cultural dynamics of the immediate environment, influenced by and influencing global tendencies. While some speak of a ‘stack of crises’, others use terms such as polycrisis and metacrisis. Permacrisis emphasizes time: a neverending end. It questions how to confront crises such as the hot wars in Ukraine or Gaza, or the warm wars across the global south, the rise of right-wing populism worldwide, the impending environmental catastrophe, and the growing social disparities globally. None of these crises can be separated from the current ascent of technocracy or the exploitative nature of digital capitalism.

In October 1994, the inaugural MetaForum significantly impacted media art, activism and discourse within Hungary, across East-Central Europe and points further West. Organized by the Media Research Foundation in cooperation with the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, it was conceived of and realized by Geert Lovink, Diana McCarty, and János Sugár. This series of three yearly conferences transformed the scope of media art events and gained a special notoriety. It sparked vital discussions and collaborations, blending media criticism, tactical media, and cultural exchanges between East and West.  As the 30th anniversary draws near, we are excited to announce MetaForumX, set for October 2024. This edition promises to tackle the critical issues of our era, focusing on the deep influence of digital technology on art, culture, and societal frameworks.

Over three days, MetaForumX will merge presentation formats and topics featuring younger voices that are engaged with current issues and reconnecting with original participants from the series with in-depth lectures, discussions and screenings. The urgent concerns of young people bridging generational knowledge and fostering ongoing dialogue for a sustainable and inclusive future.

Editorial Team

Flóra Barkóczi, Geert Lovink, Áron Lődi, Diana McCarty, Zsolt Miklósvölgyi, János Sugár.

Speakers

Dušan Barok, Ágnes Básthy, András Cséfalvay, Mijke van der Drift, Constant Dullaart, Sepp Eckenhaussen, Charlotte Eifler, Boldizsár Hordós, Sanneke Huisman, Szabolcs Kisspál, Róna Kopeczky, Juli Laczkó, David Muñoz Alcántara, Szilvi Német, Tjaša Pogačar, Oleksiy Radynski, Vanda Sárai, Sanja Sekelj.

Program

Day 0, 24 October 2024

18:00 Finissage at T+U’s exhibition at Trafó Gallery. Guided tour by Zsolt Miklósvölgyi and Márió Nemes Z.

Day 1, 25 October  2024 – ‘Conference Day’ at Trafó

09:30-10:00

Registration

10:10-10:30

Welcome and Introduction by Flóra Barkóczi

10:30 – 12:00

Session 1: Sources of the Permanent Crises (presentations + discussion) moderated by János Sugár

Sanja Sekelj: Reconsidering the Crisis and the Art System: Structures and Narratives of and about CEE Cultural Actors in the 1990s and Early 2000s from a CEE Perspective

Dušan Barok: Artist Organising and Para-Institutional Practices in the Semiperiphery

Ágnes Básthy: Crisis of What? – Taking a Suspicious Walk around our Fashionable Notions

12:00-13:00

Lunch Break at Trafó’s Café

13:00 – 15:00

Session 2: From the Representation of Crises to the Crisis of Representation (presentations + discussion) moderated by Geert Lovink

Vanda Sárai: Virtual Bodies, Virtual Threats? On Online Violence and Real-Life Anxieties

Szilvi Német: Military Influencers in Peace Camp Hungary™. LARPing the War – But Standing Out of It

Constant Dullaart: Open-Sourced Iconoclasm

Charlotte Eifler: Utopia Feeds Machines – On Alternate Worldings

15:00 – 15:30

Coffee Break

15:30 – 17:00

Session 3: Technopolitics of Planetary Computation and Beyond (presentations + discussion) moderated by Zsolt Miklósvölgyi

Boldizsár Hordós: Naked Logic: Black Boxes and Eternal Computation

András Cséfalvay: Re-Imagined Space Exploration – Evolutionary History of the Call to Fly, Rise Above. Geopolitics of Extinction Angst and New Cosmologies

Juli Laczkó: All Computers are Broken. Rethinking the Technosphere Along the Lines of Repair and Maintenance Work

18:00 – 19:30 Screening and discussion event at MKE Intermedia Department + Q&A with Oleksiy Radynski

Where Russia Ends, 25 mins (dir. Oleksiy Radynski).

More info: https://www.sheffdocfest.com/film/where-russia-ends

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMoPtP_5EBk

Day 2: October 26, 2024 – ‘Forum Day’ at Trafó

10:00 – 11:30

Session 4: Beyond the Institutional System – Cultural Work in the Era of PermaCrisis

Sepp Eckenhaussen from INC, Amsterdam: ​​Art in Permacrisis: Organizing Art Workers in the World Beyond Art

Session 4+: Discussion moderated by Zsolt Miklósvölgyi

Sepp Eckenhaussen

Sanneke Huisman from LI-MA, Amsterdam

Tjaša Pogačar from ŠUM, Ljubljana (via Zoom)

Róna Kopeczky from Easttopics & Secondary Archive, Budapest

11:30 – 12:30

Session 5: Red Forest (Mijke van der Drift, David Muñoz Alcántara & Diana McCarty) – in conversation with Szabolcs Kisspál

12:30 – 14:00

Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:00

Session 6: Aims and Relevance of MetaForum – Then (1994-1996) and Now

Round Table with Geert Lovink, Diana McCarty, János Sugár

Moderated by Flóra Barkóczi

15:00 – 15:30

Coffee break

15:30 – 16:30

Session 7: Discussion with Roman Dziadkiewicz of UKRAiNATV (Krakow), Gytis Dovydaitis and Adomas of 3022 (Vilnius) and students of the Budapest Intermedia Dept. about the newly founded Stream Art Network, moderated by Geert Lovink

16:30 – 17:30

Final discussion about contemporary arts, the digital condition and the perma crisis, in Hungary, the region, Europe and beyond.

18:00 onwards

Closing event at MKE Intermedia Department

Stream Art Network LIVE with UKRAiNATV web streaming network, with onsite and remote contributions from Krakow, Kyiv and elsewhere, including a conversation between Szabolcs Kisspál and Geert Lovink & sound performance of Dániel Kophelyi and Ádám Jeneses

Venues and Information

Conference program at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts (Liliom u. 41). Evening programs at MKE – Hungarian University of Fine Arts – Intermedia Department (Kmety György u. 27).

Please write for more information to <metaforumx@proton.me>.

The event is free to enter.