Next week, on Friday 7 June 2013, I will be hosting a screening and discussion of Being in the World (Tao Ruspoli | USA | 2010 | 81’) through Birkbeck’s Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice. Being in the World explores the intimate connections between skilful mastery and the ways in which humans beings find themselves in contact with objects in the world. The film highlights a series of personal stories (musicians, cooks, etc), which are interwoven with the insights of contemporary philosophers – namely Hubert Dreyfus and the phenomenologists that have followed in his wake – on the nature of ‘being human’ and the limits of technology.

After seeing Being in the World, I became really interested in screening it in the superb Birkbeck Cinema. Partly, because it’s simply an interesting and well-shot film. But also because it seemed to invite a discussion focused on the relationships between human creativity and emergent digital technologies in particular; and it had more than few links with the Conditions of Mediation conference I am co-organizing with Tim Markham. The film itself is self-consciously ‘a celebration of being human in a technological age’ but I hope, with the help of discussants Paul Caplan and Justin McKeown, that we can orchestrate a critical discussion of what being human might mean in an era many see as defined by intrinsic codependencies between humans and nonhuman objects and technologies.

The event is free and open to all, but registration is essential at: http://beingintheworldbbk.eventbrite.co.uk

The screening will begin at 6pm, followed by a discussion until around 8.30pm. Wine and nibbles will follow.

Below is the trailer: