hallie ayres

Please join us next Thursday, January 22 at 7pm, for the launch of the illustrated catalogue of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, Séance: Technology of the Spirit, featuring a conversation with catalogue contributor Alexandra Munroe @alexandramunroe , as well as a screening of Onisaburō Deguchi’s Shōwa no Shichifukujin (The Seven Lucky Gods). The event will be introduced by the catalogue’s English editor, Ben Eastham @eastham_ben . For this launch event, pioneering curator Alexandra Munroe will be in conversation with the exhibition’s curators—Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , and Lukas Brasiskis @lukasbrasiskis —to discuss the Japanese religious movement Oomoto and the work of Onisaburō Deguchi, the movement’s former spiritual leader, whose work was featured in the Biennale. The evening will commence with a screening of Deguchi’s Shōwa no Shichifukujin (The Seven Lucky Gods). The Biennale’s richly illustrated publication documents, contextualizes, and expands upon the exhibition’s desire to explore the entanglement of art and spiritual practice from the dawn of modernity to the present, connecting the mystics and mediums who prefigured the emergence of modern and abstract art to contemporary artists from around the world. Comprising 340 color pages across 650 in total, this bilingual English–Korean publication presents a map of that complex historical relationship. Eleven newly commissioned texts reflect on the influence of marginalized belief systems on the development of modern and contemporary art, collectively proposing an alternative—or complement—to the prevailing formalist, social, or materialist accounts. Séance: Technology of the Spirit is co-published by Seoul Museum of Art and Mediabus and edited in English by Ben Eastham and in Korean by Jihee Jun. It is designed by nonplace studio (Shanghai). The publication will be available for purchase at the event, and is also available through The Book Society (Seoul), Idea Books, and online. RSVP via the link in bio.

Might human destiny be as productively understood through esoteric prophecy as through empirical laws of physics? A new show at the Drawing Center takes up the Jungian mantle, writes Hallie Ayres, conceiving of UFOs not as vehicles for galaxy-hopping but as vessels for psychological projection. Read at the link in bio. #hallieayres #drawingcenter @hall_yeah @drawingcenter Images: [1] René Magritte, Voice of Space, 1931. Courtesy of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York). Photo by Daniel Terna. [2] Attributed to He Nupa Wanica (Joseph No Two Horns), Visionary Drawing, 1920. Courtesy of Donald Ellis Gallery, New York and Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne. [3] View of “Voice of Space: UFOs and Paranormal Phenomena” at The Drawing Center, New York, 2025–26. Photo by Daniel Terna.

Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , co-curator of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, examines how religious practices in East Asia were adapted to the demands of modernity. Read her essay at e-flux journal issue 156: “Séance: Technology of the Spirit” at the link in our bio. Image: I Ching Systems and Artworks, Engineering for the Human Spirit: From Gentle Wind Project to I Ching Systems, 1983–2025. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Hong Cheolki. Courtesy of Seoul Museum of Art.

On the occasion of the 2025 Seoul Mediacity Biennale, titled Séance: Technology of the Spirit, curators Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , Lukas Brasiskis @lukasbrasiskis and Anton Vidokle speak with Frieze magazine @friezeofficial about technologies of the spirit and holes in the canon. Read it at Frieze via the link in bio. Image: The 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale Artistic Directors Anton Vidokle, Lukas Brasiskis and Hallie Ayres (from left to right). Courtesy: the Monthly Art; photograph: Hongsoon Park

Opening in August, the 13th @seoulmediacitybiennale – titled "Séance: Technology of the Spirit" – is organized by @antonvidokle , @hall_yeah and @lukasbrasiskis . We spoke with the team about continuing on from their work in Shanghai, what they are developing for Seoul and why there need not be a distinction between art and life. Read the full interview via the #LinkInBio! #interview #curation #curator #seoul #seoulmediacitybiennale #art #artexhibition #movingimage #movingimageart #media #mediacity #artist #comingsoon

This spring, e-flux Education will focus its coverage on the United States, examining educational institutions in the American South and Southwest in particular. With attention paid to the specificities of each program or institution and its pedagogies, the upcoming features will also consider the surrounding regions’ dense legacies of segregation, slavery, and frontierism alongside more contemporary reformations of schooling, museology, and justice. In conjunction with Tabitha Steinberg’s recent feature on the Blackwell School Museum, Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah returns our attention to Marfa, Texas, to contrast the museological approach of a neighboring schoolhouse, the American and Soviet artist Ilya Kabakov’s School No. 6, installed at the Chinati Foundation. Read at the link in our bio. Images: [1] Ilya Kabakov, School No. 6, 1993. Permanent installation at the Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas. Photo: Florian Holzherr. [2] A photographic display on view at the Blackwell School Museum, Marfa, Texas. Photo: Sara Button.

🎤 5/31(土) プレゼンテーション 「セッション1：霊魂のテクノロジー」は、韓国ソウルで開催される第13回ソウル・メディアシティ・ビエンナーレ（8月〜11月）の芸術監督による講演と上映会から始まります。 「交霊会（séance）としての展覧会」という今回のビエンナーレの試みに呼応する本セッションでは、人類が通常の知覚を超えた世界と交信を試みてきた長い歴史を概観し、アート制作における言語や方法にどのような変容をもたらしてきたのかを探っていきます。 アントン・ヴィドクル 「アート、死、スピリチュアリティー」 ルーカス・ブラシスキス 「不在のメディア：霊魂・シネマ・精神分析にみる交霊会」 ハリー・エアーズ 「テクノ神秘主義とその不満」 ——— キュラトリアル・シンポジウム 家鳴｜YANARI｜야나리 (Rattling A House) Curatorial Symposium on Media, Spiritual and Geopolitical Worldmaking DAY 1：2025年5月31日(土) 13:00〜18:00 ［開場 12:30／閉場 18:00］ 会場：東京都写真美術館 1階ホール 【Session 1 Technology of the Spirit: Presentation】 Anton Vidokle "Death, Art and Spirituality" Lukas Brasiskis "Mediating the Absent: Spiritual, Cinematic, and Psychoanalytical Seances" Hallie Ayres "Techno-Mysticism and its Discontents" - Technology of the Spirit features screenings and presentations by the artistic directors of the upcoming 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale. This “exhibition-as-séance” draws on the long history of attempts to contact worlds beyond waking life and seeks to outline how this engagement transformed the languages and methods of artistic production. The programme puts forward that the popularity of these alternative “technologies of the spirit” correlates to periods of drastic social and political upheaval, and might be interpreted as a response to their attendant insecurity, anxiety, and disorientation. @antonvidokle @lukasbrasiskis @hall_yeah @seoulmuseumofart @seoulmediacitybiennale — 家鳴 | YANARI | 야나리 (Rattling A House) Curatorial Symposium on Media, Spiritual and Geopolitical Worldmaking Day 1: Sat. 31 May 2025 13:00–18:00 Session 1: Technology of the Spirit Venue: 1F Hall, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum Organized by: The 0-eA Society for the Curatorial In Partnership with: Seoul Museum of Art Grants: Arts Council Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture [Grant Program for Tokyo Art and Culture] / Arts Council Korea Sponsored by: Shibunkaku Co., Ltd. / Logs Inc. Support: The National Center for Art Research, Global Art Practice (GAP) Tokyo University of the Arts - Visual Design: Tezzo Suzuki (@tezzosuzuki ) See more details from bio 🔗

Please join us at e-flux on February 20 at 7pm for an evening hosted by Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , and Lukas Brasiskis @lukasbrasiskis , the artistic directors of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale @seoulmediacitybiennale . Consisting of presentations and screenings, this program will introduce the team’s proposal of the “exhibition-as-séance,” mapping modern and contemporary artistic practices that relate mysticism, the occult, art, technology, and society across histories, geographies, and cultures.  ⚫ Part 1. Death, Art, and Spirituality Anton Vidokle will speak to the centrality of death and the pursuit of immortality in mystical and spiritual practices throughout history, and the impact this has made on the development, iconography, and language of art.  Followed by a screening of Jane Jin Kaisen @kjanejin , Wreckage (2024, 12 minutes). ⚫ Part 2. Mediating the Absent: Spiritual, Cinematic, and Psychoanalytical Seances Lukas Brasiskis will explore three different meanings of the séance—spiritual séance, cinematic séance, and psychoanalytical séance—widely practiced in the West at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Followed by a screening of Maya Deren, Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946, 16mm transferred to digital, 15 minutes), courtesy of Re:Voir; and Jordan Belson, Samadhi (1967, 5 minutes), courtesy of Center for Visual Music, Los Angeles. ⚫ Part 3. Contemporary Techno-Mysticism and its Discontents Hallie Ayres will examine the relationship between contemporary technology, spirituality, and the automation of the mind.  Followed by a screening of Shana Moulton @shanamoulton , MindPlace ThoughtStream (2014, 12 minutes). This program is part of the 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale’s pre-biennale program, organized by Seoul Museum of Art and first presented in Seoul on November 30, 2024. RSVP via the link in bio.

ikkibawiKrrr’s solo exhibition at Art Sonje Center takes visitors on a trip through geologic time, writes Hallie Ayres, that redraws the evolutionary boundaries between organic life and the “inert” mineral world.  Read at the link in bio.  #hallieayres #ikkibawikrrr #artsonjecenter @hall_yeah @artsonje_center [1] ikkibawiKrrr, Buddha High Five, 2024. Cement, steel, 38 x 19 x 70 cm. Image courtesy of Art Sonje Center. Photo by Seowon Nam. [2] View of ikkibawiKrrr’s “Rocks Living in Rewind” Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2024–25. Image courtesy of Art Sonje Center. Photo by Seowon Nam. [3] View of ikkibawiKrrr’s “Rocks Living in Rewind” at Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2024–25. Rock n’ Feel, 2024. Fifteen pieces: charcoal on paper; 420 x 140 cm, 390 x 95 cm, 390 x 95 cm, 210 x 140 cm, 195 x 95 cm, 145 x 175 cm. Image courtesy of Art Sonje Center. Photo by Seowon Nam.

Please join us at The Book Society @tbs_book_society for the Seoul presentation of e-flux Index, a new print periodical by e-flux. The evening will include a discussion with Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , and Lukas Brasiskis @lukasbrasiskis of e-flux, introduced by Lim Kyung Yong. Registration is required. e-flux Index is a print journal that surveys the breadth of contemporary culture through writings on art, theory, architecture, film, criticism, and art education. Published bimonthly, it interweaves long-form essays from e-flux Journal and Architecture, exhibition and book reviews from e-flux Criticism, discussions and contributions from both established and emerging voices in e-flux Education, and texts that expand the register of critical inquiry from e-flux Notes, compiling all the diverse and fascinating content commissioned by e-flux under one cover. The Book Society is a collective publishing project based in Seoul. Since 2010, The Book Society has published and edited books under the imprint of mediabus. The bookshop distributes books related to contemporary art and design, while the collective also curates numerous exhibitions and projects.

Seoul Mediacity Biennale @seoulmediacitybiennale announces Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres, and Lukas Brasiskis as Artistic Directors of its 13th edition. For this upcoming edition, the curators propose an exhibition-as-séance: a show that employs the mechanics of séance as a way to move away from the contemporary neoliberal conception of biennial exhibitions and towards the construction of a heightened experience in which waking life is entangled with the more-than-human world. To do this, the curators will explore and present works of art that bridge material and immaterial worlds and critically approach the present. These ideas are connected to important contemporary discourses ranging from feminism to indigenous struggle, anti-capitalism to post-colonialism. The Korean peninsula, with the richness of its belief systems, religious practices, and folk traditions, is a particularly poignant place for such a project, while Seoul itself, as a modernist city informed by spirituality as much as technology, offers a dialectical context. Anton Vidokle, Hallie Ayres, and Lukas Brasiskis’s appointment is the result of an international open call—the second time this process has been undertaken in the Biennale’s history—overseen by a committee of leading Korean professionals. Anton Vidokle, an artist, filmmaker, and founder of e-flux, has worked and exhibited in South Korea numerous times, including two editions of Gwangju Biennale, where he won the Noon Award in 2016, as well as a solo show at MMCA in 2019 and other exhibitions, lectures, and projects. Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah , a curator, researcher, and art historian, has published texts and delivered lectures on the reconciliation of indigenous and Western knowledge production through spiritual belief systems, among many other topics. Lukas Brasiskis @lukasbrasiskis , a PhD scholar and film curator, is devoted to artists’ and experimental film. In his curatorial and academic work, he often explores the limits and potentials of moving image media to present more-than-human perspectives, a topic he discussed in his essay for Art Contemplating Crisis, MMCA Studies’ special edition in 2020, among other writings.

A new Cosmos Cinema conversation is now available for listening! Hallie Ayres @hall_yeah talks to artist Nolan Oswald Dennis @data_body . This episode is part of a series produced in conjunction with the 14th Shanghai Biennale at the Power Station of Art (November 2023–March 2024), curated by Anton Vidokle, Zairong Xiang, Hallie Ayres, Lukas Brasiskis, and Ben Eastham. In his para-disciplinary artistic practice, Nolan Oswald Dennis explores “a Black consciousness of space”—the material and metaphysical conditions of decolonization—questioning spacetime histories through system-specific interventions, sculptures, and drawings. Listen to the podcast at the link in our bio. #cosmoscinema #powerstationofart #shanghaibiennale #NolanOswaldDennis Images: Nolan Oswald Dennis, Black Liberation Zodiac: Khunuseti. Mounted wallpaper, altered plastic PET globe model, synthetic stone finish, white and black primer, and cowry shell veil. Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist, 2017-2023.