New Models

As with Non Fungible Tokens themselves, the NFT hot-take economy—particularly when it comes to big-a Art—became a hysterical bubble of its own this winter. In his radio play excerpted from NM TopSoil Ep 59, "Ghost Face Shillah," LIL INTERNET lays out the full spectrum of fresh hells and hopeful nirvanas in under 10 min. Subscribe here patreon.com/newmodels for more LIL INTERNET radio plays, all 58...

Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, RICHARD BECK, author of "We Believe the Children: a Moral Panic in the 1980s "(Public Affairs, 2015) and a senior writer at N+1, spoke to New Models about social contagion—from the wild, child abuse allegations of Q and the satanic panics of recent history to the witch trials and blood libels of times before. Deepening the conversation is Richard’s current...

Dubbed the “busiest man on the internet,” polymath TIM HWANG, currently a research fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown Univ., visits the NM pod to discuss his new book, "SUBPRIME ATTENTION CRISIS: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet" (FSG, 2020). We also talk GPT-3, predictive policing, DIY platforms, and founding the first-ever con...

From the depths of the NEW MODELS DISCORD comes a new glossary for ASTROTURFING and related forms of soft-nonlinear warfare, collectively authored by members of an emergent group called Shifting Uncertain Situations (S.U.S.). For more context, NM hosts Carly, Daniel, and LIL INTERNET got on call with S.U.S. spokespeople Jak Ritger and Clack Auden to discuss these new terms of engagement.

"A CONEY ISLAND OF THE VIRUS: COVID-19 IN NEW YORK" is an essay by the New York-based, Argentinean writer REINALDO LADDAGA, excerpted from a book he is writing about Covid-19 & NYC. The essay tells of physical geography, strategic cartography, and one city's urban planning as death machine on the generational timescale. https://newmodels.io/proprietary/coney-island-of-the-virus-reinaldo-laddaga Fo...

Fellow in Drug Policy at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, KATHARINE NEILL HARRIS speaks to New Models from Texas about: substance use in America from Prohibition to the War on Drugs; the political and economic incentives for the most damaging policing policies; some surprising problems with body cameras and other tech solutionist fixes; and how all of this fundamentally reinfor...

Journalist MICHELLE LHOOQ calls into the pod with a report from the NYC STREETS (note: audio for this part of the ep recorded with available equipment/bandwidth). We discuss AUTONOMOUS ZONES and GENERATIONAL KNOWLEDGE. Plus: LILNET reads current dissent toward law enforcement as a GROWING MOTION TO DELEGITIMIZE THE LARGER STATE, CARLY cites the EVILS of UR-VIRTUOUS VICTORIAN ENGLAND, and DAN consi...

We speak with ARTHUR JONES & GIORGIO ANGELINI, filmmakers of "FEELS GOOD MAN," which tells the story of comic artist Matt Furie and the wild journey of his character Pepe the Frog. Yet this set up is also a lens for telling an even broader and deeper story of the past two decades: one that spans intergenerational communication, magic and media, anti-authoritarian rebellion, and the volatility of s...

We are joined by UC Davis professor of literature and critical theory, JOSHUA CLOVER, who is also a communist and the author of several books including RIOT STRIKE RIOT: THE NEW ERA OF UPRISINGS (Verso, 2016). This conversation begins with the street protests that have erupted across the US in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many other black Americans at the hands of...

We speak with High Snobiety editor-in-chief, THOM BETTRIDGE about content production, retail circulation, and celebrity in 2020. Thom has extensive experience working in media and creative consulting, including, among other things, having served as the executive editor of Interview magazine and of 032c, as well as the managing editor for the creation of the SSENSE editorial platform. He is also ve...

Writer Steve Marsh [https://twitter.com/stephenhero] joins us from a Minneapolis swelling with unrest to give details and context to the life and death of George Floyd (aka Big Floyd), and the history of the police department that murdered him. TAKE ACTION Support the family of George Floyd: https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd Black Visions MN (black activists and organizers local to ME/twin ci...

Writer and theorist NORA KHAN speaks with New Models about how institutional power reifies itself online, COVID aesthetics, and the labor pressures of distance working/socializing/learning via platforms such as Zoom. Nora is the author, most recently, of Seeing, Naming, Knowing (Brooklyn Rail Press, 2019) on mass surveillance and 'machine visual culture.' For more: https://noranahidkhan.com/ https...

Writer, consultant, and Ribbon Farm founder VENKATESH RAO speaks with New Models about memetics & institutions, virality & democracy, Log Level thinking, BIOS Level politics, and how to navigate reality in a time when we're all NPCs in a world going "brrrrrrrrr.” ⛓️This conversation was recorded April 7th, 2020. FOR MORE: https://twitter.com/vgr https://venkateshrao.com/ https://breakingsmart.com/...

The Berlin-based musician LYRA PRAMUK (@lyra_songs) talks to New Models about the release of her 2020 album "Fountain" (@bedroomcommunity). For full post: https://newmodels.io/proprietary/nm-greenroom-lyra-pramuk-fountain For more: https://www.instagram.com/lyra.pramuk/ https://lyrapramuk.bandcamp.com/album/fountain Note: New Models GREENROOM, is a series of short interviews featuring artists and...

Berkeley-based writer and co-host of the wildly popular anti-corruption podcast TrueAnon, LIZ FRANCZAK joins New Models for a cathartic reflection on pandemic politics and the pros, cons, and probability of popular revolt. This conversation was recorded March 25th. FOR MORE: https://twitter.com/liz_franczak https://www.patreon.com/TrueAnonPod https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-century-of-spin-franc...

TopSoil is New Models' informal talk-core cast. For the full episode (plus the 31 eps before it) and to join our Discord: patreon.com/newmodels ----- Geographer STEPHANIE WAKEFIELD, trend forecaster SEAN MONAHAN, dad-artist-grocery store insider JEAN-LUC VILA, writer NATASHA STAGG, and deep systems researcher CADE check in with the NEW MODELS crew, reporting from their respective Corona quars. ALS...

Artist and writer MARIAM GHANI and Editorial Director of Eyebeam, MARISA MAZRIA KATZ speak to New Models about Ghani's new work Dis-Ease, a forthcoming essay-film that considers how the metaphors we use to speak about illness and contagion affect the ways in which we prepare and respond to epidemics and treat those afflicted and affected by them. This podcast is part of New Models' series for TENT...

ALEX KAZEMI is an online trickster and magick-practicing provocateur. When this episode was pre-released to our Discord community in February, it fomented vidid debate among the hard materialists, gnostic scholars, and woo-woo sympathizers. On this episode, we talk Super Super magazine, new sefirots, and Marilyn Manson's God complex, all to ask: Can magick be a framework for today's attention econ...

Featuring Washington D.C.-based writer/editor MIKE CRUMPLAR, whose work focuses on radicalization in America and the systemic drivers of incel culture. This January, Mike published the first segment of a project that looks at the autobiographical writings of Isla Vista spree shooter Elliot Rodger. His Framework takes Elliot not as author, but as subject—a protagonist trapped in his own novel as an...

With trading mania having gone mainstream this winter, the market has come to remote control the emotions of millions in lockdown. LIL INTERNET reflects on this phenomenon here, in a monologue excerpted from NM TopSoil Ep 57, "Capital Insurrection," considering the wild extremes of personal sensitivity today from WallStreetBets to woke culture. Subscribe here https://patreon.com/newmodels for more...

TopSoil is New Models' informal talk-core cast, which we create specifically for our Patreon community. For all NM TopSoil episodes & to join our Discord: https://patreon.com/newmodels ----- Norwegian artist BJARNE MELGAARD speaks to New Models about CULTURAL PRODUCTION, DESIRE, and the CHANGING THRESHOLDS of VICTIMHOOD and TRANSGRESSION. Also: BJARNE's ANTIVIVISECTION '80s, CARLY as KERN MODEL, a...

The Berlin-based British artist https://soundcloud.com/stevenwarwick (ex-Heatsick)talks to New Models about the release of his 2019 album "MOI" (https://soundcloud.com/pan_hq). For full post (incl. video by Dacio Pinheiro): https://newmodels.io/proprietary/new-models-greenroom-steven-warwick-moi Note: this is the first episode of New Models GREENROOM, a series of short interviews featuring people...

Featuring New York-based writer NATASHA STAGG who, on the occasion of her new book "Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019" (Semiotext(e)/Native Agents), speaks to us about the myths and metadata of NYC's culture sector and the protocol for creative production in the 2010s. (w/ Caroline Busta, Daniel Keller, @LILINTERNET) For more: https://natashastagg.com/ https://twitter.com/natas...

Featuring LA-based musician and scholar TOM KRELL (aka @howtodresswell) who talks with us about the aesthetics of climate activism, the roll of the critic today, music as carrier signal for identity, the threshold for authenticity, the value of negativity, extraction and power -- let's just say it's a rich and sweeping conversation that offers tools for thinking through some of the big questions o...

Featuring TREVOR McFEDRIES, co-founder of Brud, the LA-based transmedia studio behind a crew of digital-native influencer-avatars, including Lil Miquela, Blawko, and Bermuda. Also known as Yung Skeeter or DJ Skeet Skeet, Trevor came up via the music world, producing, directing, and DJ-ing for Katy Perry and other A-list acts. On this episode, we talk to Trevor about the fantasy of contemporary LA...