Join us at the IMA for our third and final On Rafman lectures—a series of short presentations by academics, artists, curators, and writers that unpick the central themes of Memento Hikikomori.

Audrey Jo Pfister on ‘Notice me senpai, notice me!’ Simps, -cels, larp and Jon Rafman

Pfister considers the web of fandom, in-group signalling, memetic warfare, and the parasocial both in and around the work of Jon Rafman. From incellectual minion accounts to the fan-fictional work of Twee Whistler, Rafman’s audiences take his methods of digital scraping, edge-lording, aggregation, in-group references all back in on himself. Like a hikikomori who may pick up a dirty sock, folded into itself, we pull it apart to see that it’s made of the same fabric, no clear inside or outside.

Nicholas Carah and Maria Gemma Brown on Culture That Eats its Own Vomit

Jon Rafman’s Main Stream Media Network looks backwards to MTV, reflects Instagram and TikTok in the present, and heralds the arrival of a generative AI slopworld. A pulsating stream of non-narrative pure presence tuned by algorithmic machines. The descent of platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Rafman’s Main Stream Media Network into the slop economy are characterised by failures of cultural form, intimate publics, and in their own ambition to become a superapp. What they have succeeded in doing is creating a mode of non-nutritious, synthetic but biodegradable culture that eats its own vomit.

Kyle Weise on Nine Eyes: A Google Collab

Kyle Weise digs into Jon Rafman’s ongoing Nine Eyes project, where street photography meets desktop voyeurism and where corporate databases are leveraged as an arena for expanding human/machine collaboration.

Registration is essential.

Audrey Jo Pfister is a writer, editor, and curator based in Naarm/Melbourne, and originally from Dharawal/Wollongong. Audrey is currently the General Manager at un Projects and a full-time fan of many things.

Nicholas Carah is Director of the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at The University of Queensland. He is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society where he co-leads the Australian Ad Observatory project. He is Deputy Director of the Australian Internet Observatory.

Maria Gemma Brown is a PhD candidate in digital cultural studies at the ARC CoE for Automated Decision-Making and Society with the School of Communication and Arts, UQ. Drawing on participatory, critical industry and cultural historical perspectives, she examines how marketers organise our attention through media technologies, and the critical implications of this on our urban landscapes, media cultures and public life.

Kyle Weise is Curator at the University of Queensland Art Museum.  He has a longstanding involvement with artist-led organisations and was previously curator at Metro Arts and co-founded and co-directed Screen Space and Kuiper Projects.