Neural Capitalism: How Technology Shapes Your Brain

[Please note: this event is postponed from December 4th till January 27th]

Do you ever feel that your phone, your feeds, or your work environment are quietly shaping how you think?

Have you noticed your attention shifting — your focus, your memory, even your mood?

And do you wonder what this means for the kind of person you’re becoming, and the kind of world we are collectively creating?

In this lecture, Warren Neidich explores how our rapidly changing technological environments are reshaping the human brain itself. Drawing on ideas from Fredric Jameson and Bernard Stiegler, he examines neural capitalism: a phase in which technology directly engages our neuroplasticity, shaping how we perceive, think, and act.

But this co-evolution also opens a horizon of hope. Neidich imagines the eco-planetary sapien — a new kind of human whose cognitive capacities are attuned to ecological, planet-friendly technologies rather than extractive ones.

Across four acts, the lecture introduces the Brain Without Organs, shows how brains and tools evolve together, and speculates how new forms of thought and imagination could emerge to meet the challenges of our world.

Collaborate on an art installation

The following day, Neidich will host an intimate workshop for a small group of students. The lecture and workshop are also connected to a vacancy for two student assistants who will collaborate with Neidich to create an installation for the For Love of the World festival on 21 March 2025.

A visionary, accessible exploration of how new environments may give rise to new minds.

About Warren Neidich

Warren Neidich is a conceptual artist and theorist whose work examines how technology, cognition, and politics intersect. His installations and writings have been featured at institutions such as the Whitney Museum, MoMA PS1, the Venice Biennale, and the Centre Pompidou. He is the founder of The Psychopathologies of Cognitive Capitalism conference series and co-director of the Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art.

Photo: Olivia Fougeirol