Art as Object Species at The New School, GIDEST
New York, 2026
At the invitation of my friend Hugh Raffles, thinker, writer, and Professor of Anthropology at The New School in New York, I was invited to present an idea for an open seminar. I chose to explore the possibility of Art as Object Species—the idea that art might be something we interact and collaborate with, rather than simply something humans make.
Participants were invited to watch two of my lecture performances beforehand. I began the seminar with a short introduction of about seven minutes, after which the floor was opened for discussion.
This was a fascinating experience for me, and I feel I learned a great deal from the conversation. I particularly like this format, where the emphasis is on dialogue rather than monologue. It resonates with my belief that thinking never happens entirely in isolation. Our ideas exist in relation to the ideas of others, and theories develop through conversations across people, cultures, and generations. In that sense, it is perhaps societies, rather than individuals alone, that develop ideas.
The discussion centred on two related propositions: first, the idea of Object Species, and second, the possibility of Art as Object Species.
To prepare for the seminar, participants were invited to watch documentation of two earlier lecture performances: