Does it matter if I’m here or there?
On-demand, same-day, what’s happening?, where to?, livestream.

The Resonance Speaker Series is excited to present Berlin/Vancouver-based designer, curator, and lecturer, Dr. Ben Evans James.

Social media platforms engender a ‘performance of proximity’, a choreographed algo-rhythm that shapes our politics, our labour, and our relations with one another through the screens of our devices. This talk will explore how these platforms exploit and deform our human need for connection by advancing proximity as a replacement for the closeness we yearn for in these times of (too) late capitalism.

James’ work has been exhibited at galleries including MoMA (New York) and the Design Museum (London) and screened at film festivals including Visions du Réel, and Sheffield Doc Fest. He is Curator and Research Lead at transmediale in Berlin, the annual festival for art and digital culture (transmediale.de), and a co-founder of South Kiosk, an artist-run space in London (southkiosk.com). Ben works as an exhibition architect, collaborating with institutions including Akademie der Künste in Berlin, ACCA in Melbourne, and Mass MoCA in Massachusetts. He is currently based between Berlin, Germany and Vancouver, Canada on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ Nations.

Resonance is a series of artist talks co-organized by the Photo and New Media + Sound Arts programs at Emily Carr University. James’ talk is also presented on the occasion of the exhibition, Generation that Generates: as above / so below, currently on view at the Libby Leshgold Gallery.