This archival page brings together the documentation of two public events held on February 10 and 11, 2026 in Ljubljana, at Aksioma Project Space and Kino Šiška, as well as the livestream video essays produced on those occasions. The events were the outcome of a week-long residency by THE VOID at Aksioma, which also included a public workshop. Both public presentations were livestreamed using The InBetween, an experimental livestreaming platform developed by The Hmm.
In the transdisciplinary performative essay We Have Always Been Brainrotted, we joined forces with Aksioma for two public presentations unfolding both on site and online. Interwoven with audio-visual elements composed live on the spot, the essay addressed the prevailing imperative of contemporary social media cultural production, brainrot, which tends toward a form of vertical video defined primarily by unconditional algorithmic curation.
We Have Always Been Brainrotted engages with the elusive definition of brainrot as a cultural phenomenon. The performative essay moves away from understanding brainrot as a genre of content or a passing social media trend, and instead approaches it as an imperative and a true expression of algorithmic culture. Through an examination of digital holes, peripheral media, and operational images, it frames brainrot as a reflection of the intertwining of technological, cultural, social, and economic factors.
Across the two events, the essay took shape as a live collective composition of text, sound, and image. The public presentations created a shared setting in which performative narration and live-produced audio-visual material could be experienced simultaneously by audiences in the venues and through the livestreams archived on this page.
The THE VOID+ “band” consisted of members of the Amsterdam Institute of Network Cultures, Tommaso Campagna, Jordi Viader Guerrero, and Giulia Timis, together with intermedia artist and VJ Neža Knez, DJ and producer Tisa Troha aka msn gf, visual artists Oskar Kandare, and researcher Lea Sande.
Credits
Written and performed by Lea Sande
Lea Sande is a researcher, journalist and editor. She produces a monthly programme called Povratne zanke (Feedback Loops) at Radio Študent, where she discusses internet theory, culture, and literature. She coedits the book series multithread and works as a student researcher at the Black Hole Photography research project. She does her work in the field of sociology of technology, focusing on the role of computation in contemporary capitalism, new developments in AI and the cultural derivatives of emerging technologies. She studies sociology of culture at UL FF.
The Band
Lea Sande: SINGER (research, text, voice)
Tisa Troha: SYNTH (research, text editor, musical performer)
Oskar Kandare, Neža Knez: SCREEN (visual performer, video editor, graphic design)
Giulia Timis: CAMERA (3D visuals, camera, live image processing)
Jordi Viader Guerrero: DESKTOP (research, text editor, visual performer, video editor)
Tommaso Campagna: MODEM (director of photography, live streaming, stage design, video editor)
The Management Team
Neža Bukovec Promoter
Valter Udovičić: Stage technician, sound engineer
Ema Maznik Antić: Stage manager
Marcela Okretič: Production and tour manager
Janez F. Janša: Fat boss with cigar
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This work was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
