FORUM B-OPEN READING GROUP
B-open organises monthly reading groups in collaboration with artists in Bergen, and the May reading group is hosted at Hordaland Art Centre by B-open. B-open has chosen the introduction and chapter 1, Animal Spirits: A Conceptual Bestiary, from Matteo Pasquinell's Animal Spirits: A Bestiary of the Commons (2008).
The term "animal spirits" was coined by the economist John Maynard Keynes, describing the spontaneity and human motivations behind the apparent rationality of the economy. Pasquinelli applies the concept to media theory and discusses how human and material forces are part of the basis of a network culture that is often regarded as immaterial and frictionless. The digital communication society is not detached from our physical reality, Pasquinelli points out, criticizing how this is overlooked and feed a false perception of the common created by network society as egalitarian and free.
Matteo Pasquinelli is a writer, curator and researcher based in Amsterdam and Berlin. He has written and lectured extensively on topics related to knowledge economy, cognitive capitalism and media culture.
The text is in English and the event is open for English speaking participants.
Please e-mail toril.johannessen [a] gmail.com for registration.
The texts will be provided by registration.
Limited seats. Participation is free.