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

Daniel McKewen on Treading Slop: Jon Rafman, AI, and infinite video

Daniel McKewen responds to Jon Rafman’s grotesque, uncanny, and often humorous artworks, scavenged and generated as they are from the collective digital depths. Drawing on his recent work within algorithmic advertising and AI-generated scams, McKewen will survey what has become of labour, humour, and authenticity within an economy of infinite stimulus made to hold its audience in a strange kind of static thrall.

Holly Eddington on Pixelated Patriarchy

Holly Eddington looks into the invisible gendered structures beneath Jon Rafman’s Memento Hikikomori that make digital escapism possible.

Spencer Harvie on MY OFFICIAL RESPONSE: An art historical and personal reflection on the work of Jon Rafman

Harvie will share a creative personal response to themes of AI slop and surrounding discourse, the collapse of online and offline worlds, the terminally online male loser, and the relationship between artistic and administrative computer labour.

Daniel McKewen is a Senior Lecturer in Visual Arts at QUT, where he coordinates Open Studio Practice and Time-based Art units. His work as a visual artist and educator ranges across numerous artforms and fields of visual culture, exploring how institutions, systems, and structures of power inform our individual and collective imaginations. His practice and research sit at the intersections of contemporary art, digital culture, economics, and politics, examining how ideological and aesthetic conventions shape the way we make sense of our social experiences.

Holly Eddington is an independent curator and arts writer. She loiters between the gallery floor and the footnote, currently working at Milani Gallery in Meanjin/Brisbane. Holly specialises in experimental and off-site exhibition making. Recent curatorial projects include House of Dust, TCB Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, 2026; A Narrow Strip Along a Steep Edge, Fort Lytton National Park, 2025; and Total Loss, Wreckers Art Space, 2026.

Spencer Harvie is an artist and lecturer. His work explores dark, surreal, and nonsensical aspects of online and fan subcultures. Blending found, AI-generated, and imagined imagery within an elaborate cartoon logic, his work exemplifies a geeky life within digital networks. He was featured in Platform 2026, and had a solo show at Milani Carpark, Meanjin/Brisbane, in 2025. He lives in Meanjin/Brisbane.