Book tickets
This event celebrates the publication of Beyond the Image (Set Margins', 2025) by Italian theorist Alessandro Sbordoni, a provocative exploration of how images function in contemporary culture shaped by artificial intelligence, scrolling platforms and video monetisation.
Drawing on thinkers including Jean Baudrillard, McKenzie Wark, Geert Lovink, Franco “Bifo” Berardi and Yuk Hui, the book argues that images no longer simply reflect reality but increasingly operate within the logic of capitalism, where their value is set by markets rather than truth or beauty. Moving between memes, AI-generated images, NFTs and contemporary art, the discussion will consider the nihilism of visual culture today and the possibilities for rethinking the image beyond post-truth and deepfakes.
The evening will feature a visual presentation and discussion of the book’s themes with Sbordoni, moderated by British philosopher Matt Bluemink, followed by a Q&A, inviting audiences to reflect on how we see and how images will shape the future of seeing.
Drawing on thinkers including Jean Baudrillard, McKenzie Wark, Geert Lovink, Franco “Bifo” Berardi and Yuk Hui, the book argues that images no longer simply reflect reality but increasingly operate within the logic of capitalism, where their value is set by markets rather than truth or beauty. Moving between memes, AI-generated images, NFTs and contemporary art, the discussion will consider the nihilism of visual culture today and the possibilities for rethinking the image beyond post-truth and deepfakes.
The evening will feature a visual presentation and discussion of the book’s themes with Sbordoni, moderated by British philosopher Matt Bluemink, followed by a Q&A, inviting audiences to reflect on how we see and how images will shape the future of seeing.
Bios
Alessandro Sbordoni is the author of Beyond the Image: On Visual Culture in the Twenty-First Century (Set Margins’, 2025), Semiotics of the End: Essays on Capitalism and the Apocalypse (Institute of Network Cultures, 2023; Becoming Press, 2024), and The Shadow of Being: Symbolic / Diabolic (Miskatonic Virtual University Press, 2023). He is an Editor of the British magazine Blue Labyrinths and the Italian magazine Charta Sporca. He works for the Open Access publisher Frontiers.
Matt Bluemink is the editor-in-chief of Blue Labyrinths philosophy magazine. He is interested in the political and philosophical implications of technics, in particular the work of Deleuze, Stiegler, Sloterdijk, and Simondon. He also writes on contemporary music, urbanism, and digital culture. He is the author of the upcoming book The Future is Not Lost: On Music, Technology, and the Creation of New Worlds (Becoming Press, 2026).
Book tickets
Thu, 09 Apr 2026
Studio
06:30 pm
Ticket information
- All tickets that do not require ID (full price, disabled, income support) can be printed at home or stored in email
- For aged-based concession tickets (under 25, student) please bring relevant ID to collect at the front desk before the event.
Access information
Studio
- The Studio is accessible from Carlton House Terrace via a ramp. There is not a bathroom on this floor
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Beyond The Image By Alessandro Sbordoni.
no. 236848.