Building on the legacy of the original MetaForum conferences (1994-96), MetaForumX delved into the urgent theme of PermaCrises, reflecting on the persistent breakdown of political, societal, and cultural systems. Situated in East-Central Europe, the event examined how the region’s unique semi-peripheral perspective illuminated global dynamics and challenges, from environmental collapse to rising technocracy and digital capitalism. Marking nearly 30 years since the inaugural MetaForum, this edition reconnected past participants with new voices through lectures, discussions, and screenings, fostering critical dialogues on contemporary crises and their impact on art, culture, and society.
To kick off the second day of the conference, I gave a lecture a titled ‘Art in Permacrisis: Organizing Art Workers in the World Beyond Art’. In the age of permacrisis, we are increasingly being governed by crisis narratives, which both marginalize and instrumentalize art. However what if we cannot afford to not engage with crisis logic, crisis definition, and critique? You can watch back the lecture here:
The lecture transitioned into the panel conversation ‘Beyond the Institutional System’ with Sanneke Huisman of the media art archive LIMA (Amsterdam), Tjaša Pogačar of ŠUM (Ljubljana), and Róna Kopeczky of Easttopics and Secondary Archive (Budapest), moderated by Zsolt Miklósvölgyi:
About MetaForumX
MetaForumX: PermaCrises was co-organized by Flóra Barkóczi, Geert Lovink, Áron Lődi, Diana McCarty, Zsolt Miklósvölgyi and János Sugár. It was held from October 25-26, 2024, at Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest and the Intermedia Department of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts.
You can read the full introduction here.
Download the program booklet here.
A full stream archive and repository can be found here.