Brutalism 2k18 What the F**k is Going On?

Title slide of my presentation. Image of the doomed Birmingham Central Library, June 2015. Photo by A.M.

Last week I spoke at the Nonument Symposium in Ljubljana, focussing on the way that 'Brutalism' is used and abused in contemporary culture. The renewed cult popularity of Brutalism is a phenomenon I've been observing with a mixture of fascination, enjoyment, ambivalence and disgust for some time and the lecture had a packed agenda. It was an attempt to try and decode the various agendas and interests circling around Brutalism and to track them. I analysed a range of examples, from internet culture to contemporary design to industrial music to science-fiction. Brutalism as a (life)style or even an attitude is arguably more 'sexy' and, for some, virtuous than ever, yet many of its most iconic structures are now being demolished or de-brutalised through cladding - a term now synonymous with the horror of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Image of the doomed Birmingham Central Library, June 2015. Photo by A.M.

All this raises many questions. Is there any stable, agreed perception of what Brutalism means and has it been systematically appropriated from the architectural community?

'The White Heat of Birmingham'. Photo by A.M.

How do discussions around Brutalism interact with and contribute to the digital and cultural wars that mark our reality? Who 'owns' it and who profits from it? What does it reveal and what does it conceal?

Image of the doomed Birmingham Central Library, June 2015. Photo by A.M.

I'll be returning to the subject in future, but for now, here are some slides expressing the key arguments I made. Many thanks to MOTA for organising a fascinating event.

Brutal(ist) winter in Ljubljana, February 2018. , June 2015. Photo by A.M.

Doctor Who and the Death Factory at Noise=Noise, June 8th.

Montage by Vera Bremerton. Next Friday I'll give an experimental presentation at Noise=Noise on the strange parallels between the sonic and conceptual dystopianism of Doctor Who and first generation British industrial music. Dr. Who exposed mass audiences (often very young) to a combination of experimental electronic sound and dystopian themes, a combination that could also summarise industrial music. Dr. Who frequently presented post-apocalyptic scenarios of mutation, mind control and para-militarised societies and, in the process, at least implicitly criticised actual political and technological developments of the time, particularly those associated with the Cold War arms race. Due to budgetary constraints these visionary scenarios were often realised in a rudimentary ad hoc fashion; an approach that also applies to industrial. The early industrial groups highlighted the most serious social and political themes using very primitive electronic equipment, creating a kind of...

Interrogation Machine Update and Features

The book will be available from end September in North America and in Europe during November. Check here for further updates. Latest features: Morgenbladet, Norway: http://www.morgenbladet.no/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050819/OKULTUR/108190036&template=printart Novopress, Romania: http://ro.novopress.info/?p=354

Talk at Ausstellung Laibach Kunst, Łódź, 23rd June

I will be giving a talk on ‘Laibach Kunst and the Art of Total Non-Alignment’at the exhibition on June 23 rd at 6pm. Codex Europa and Wiktor Skok will DJ in an industrial vein afterwards. This Polish site has a short film which has a clip from the opening performance , similar to the one given at I.C.R.N.’s RoTr event in 2006. Read more here about this major exhibition, which presents the most comprehensive overview of Laibach Kunst works yet staged.

Plural Machine

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