Xeno Futurism presents: In/Human Infrastructures
In/Human Infrastructures: A 3-Day Symposium by Xeno Futurism
Hosted at Gossamer Fog / Alt_R | 22–24 May 2026
Alt_R, 1-2, Enclave, 50 Resolution Way, London SE8 4AL
Xeno Futurism and Gossamer Fog invite you to In/Human Infrastructures: a three-day symposium, exhibition, and screening programme hosted at Alt_R in Deptford, London. Unfolding across the bank holiday weekend, the symposium will feature a free exhibition and film screenings during the day, followed by an evening programme of lectures, performances, and workshops. Moving beyond academic posturing and hype-cycle sloptimism, the symposium aims to establish a communal contact zone where artists, theorists, and technologists can transfer the tactical skills and operational knowledge needed to navigate an era of accelerating technological capture and uncertain autonomy.
Building from Xeno Futurism’s second issue, Technologies of Domination, the symposium will critically examine the technical architecture of contemporary life: from deconstructing the extractive logistics of platform capitalism and surveillance systems to forging counter-platform systems, demystifying machine learning, and unbiasing artificial intelligence development, whether via climate modelling or by embedding somatic interspecies tendencies into budding superintelligence. Our goal is to develop critical technological literacy through both speculative approaches and practical heuristics, fostering a space for politically actionable knowledge grounded in our shared material–virtual reality.
Friday 22nd of May: Systems of Control (6–10pm)
Our first evening's programme addresses the political, military, and economic systems shaping contemporary technological life: surveillance architectures, platform capitalism, datafication, AI governance, and militarised technoscience. Our presenters and performers will frame how power circulates through distributed infrastructures and how these systems script everyday life.
Contributors: Harry Halpin, Uzu Lim, Lucia Rebolino, Steve Goodman (Kode9), and Sam Griffin.
Saturday 23rd of May: Entangled Agencies (6–10pm)
Teasing out epistemic threads from cybernetics, posthumanism, and neo-mechanism, this evening explores how humans, machines and wider systems co-produce each other. Moving beyond techno-fetishism or outright Luddism, we'll explore critical and non-dogmatic approaches to agentic entanglement.
Contributors: Sonia Bernac, Melissa Schwarz & Nella Piatek, Betti Marenko, Zein Majali.
Sunday 24th of May: Counter Protocols (6–10pm)
Our final evening explores counter protocols: tactical methods of rerouting and repurposing soft and hard infrastructures. Drawing from DIY anarcho or alt-tech ethics, we will explore how the liberatory myths of the early '90s gave way to our current techno-authoritarian moment, experimenting with broadcasting technologies (frequencies, static, noise), focusing on community-driven connectivity, interspecies egress and digital autonomy.
Contributors: Parham Ghalamdar, Wassim Al Sindi, Maggie Roberts, and Kat MacDonald.
Exhibition & Screening Programme
Exhibiting Artists: Ruba Al-Sweel, Mika Ben Amar, Lina Deng, Parham Ghalamdar, Geoffrey Lillemon, Zein Majali, Yuri Pattison, Nella Piatek & Melissa Schwarz, Maggie Roberts, Dylan Serventi, Suzanne Treister, 0rphan Drift, and more...
Ticketing
Evening Ticket (£5): Access to the full programme of any single evening.
Weekend Ticket (£10): Grants access to the entire three-day symposium, including all evening lectures, performances and workshops.