Cultural fascinations, the French-American philosopher René Girard argued, are a product of mimesis. We know what to desire not because the object of desire is desirable, but because others desire it. The mimetic character of desire operates both economically, and in the mass media. The convergence of the two is the basis of the attention economy. Peter Thiel, one of the first investors into Facebook, famously studied under René Girard as a student at Stanford – years later these teachings would feature in a course of his own. What can we learn of Thiel by paying attention to what he paid attention to? What can we learn about his worldview by examining the educational complex in which he both learnt and taught?
This is one starting point—one of many—in the work of the artist Michael Stevenson. Berlin based, but born in New Zealand, Stevenson has developed an artistic language that slips between historical interrogation, research, and confabulation. His talk will address questions of history, navigation and space, and the edge conditions of artistic representation.
Michael Stevenson has exhibited since the late 1980s. Comprehensive survey exhibitions have been held in Berlin at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in 2021, and in Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in 2011. Michael Stevenson represented New Zealand at the 50th Venice Biennale, and his work has been included in large-scale thematic exhibitions including the 21st Biennale of Sydney, 6th and 8th Berlin Biennales, Liverpool Biennial 2014, 2nd Athens Biennial, 8th Panama Art Biennial, and the 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial.
This is one starting point – one of many – in the work of the artist Michael Stevenson. Berlin based, but born in New Zealand, Stevenson has developed an artistic language that slips between historical interrogation, research, and confabulation. His talk will address questions of history, navigation and space, and the edge conditions of artistic representation.
Ort
Technikumstrasse 21
6048 Horw
