Please join us Friday May 6th at 6:30 for DEVIRTUALIZER - A NEW MODELS Codex Cru Event

    In the past ten years, digital platforms have come to dominate daily life across much of the globe. The effects of this latest evolution of capital ripple out into physical space by contorting behavior, culture, politics, and the built environment to the uncanny desires of virtual systems. This phenomenon of “devirtualization” can be seen at many scales: in the “Carlton Dance” from 90’s TV Show, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” propagating into video game, Fortnite and then back into physical space through a viral TikTok dance. In luxury high-rise “Pencil Towers” that dot the skyline, sitting vacant while owners show JPGs of these investment properties as if digital collectibles. In radical political factions spiraling into massive online audiences before penetrating reality through flashmob style actions. In these instances we begin to question the solidity of the boundaries between the virtual cyberspace and the material world. Devirtualization charts a vector between digital platform capitalism and construction of social space in the 2020s.

    “Devirtualizer” is a swarmcrafted discussion happening at Woodbine NYC on May 6th 2022 at 6:30-9pm. The event will distill and expound a definition of devirtualization with the hope of creating new strategies for social formation in a digitally mediated moment. The conversation will focus on how four sites are impacted by virtualization: community and sociality; music, culture and aesthetics; loss and grief; architecture and digital infrastructure.

    The NEW MODELS Codex Cru, a group that formed around the production of the NEW MODEL Y2K20 CODEX, will lead the discussion, and invites members of Woodbine and wider NYC community to join the chat. Space is limited, RSVP strongly encouraged, email: leith@newmodels.io

Read Jak Ritger’s essay “On Devirtualization” (2020): www.punctr.art/on-devirtualization/

Codex Cru Bios:

Jak Ritger is an artist, activist and writer based in Boston MA. In 2013, he first identified “devirtualization” through an artistic research project: The Blind House Series. In 2021, he co-wrote a study “Astroturfs of Offense - Glossary” in the NEW MODELS discord server.

Rosie Overell is a Senior Lecturer in Communications and Media at National University of Singapore. Her work focuses on the intersections of gender, affect and media in contemporary cultural formations. 

Hamzat Raheem is a stone sculptor & conceptual digital Artist. He graduated from Cooper Union 2017. Notable works include: Black Face White Stone (2020), Ear of Colossal Cyborg (2020), Nude Self Portrait (August 2020), Solo Exhibition “Varsity Artist” Foster Gallery 2022.

Matīss Groskaufmanis works in architecture, media, and education. He is currently a teaching assistant professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture where he examines architecture’s relationship to managerial desires.

Attila Haraszti is an electronic dance music producer and an independent music software professional based in Berlin. He is currently developing Songsling, a website maker for artists creating interactive musical works.

Sarah Wambold is a writer, editor, and funeral director in Austin, TX. Her current project is Second Loss, a collaboration with Rem Moore, which explores the intersection of death, digitality, ritual, and ecology.

Orla Tiffney is a strategist and marketeer specialized in fashion. She is currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where she works as the EMEA Marketing Manager for Nike All Conditions Gear.  

Leïth Benkhedda is a designer, researcher, and service provider currently completing an MFA at the Sandberg Institute, Amsterdam. His practice explores concepts of autonomy, cooperation, ownership, and governance, both on and off-line.