March 7, 7pm in Berlin

Abolitionist feminists like Angela Davis and Ruth Gilmore have shown us that prisons are not only punishing spaces that perpetuate the inequalities of racial capitalism. They are also an institution that transforms all of society, and are deeply integrated into corporate power and the emergence of new technology, including notably in surveillance and logistics. Prison is a physical and psychic instrument that secures us inside the nightmare of racial capitalism. In the first event in the Regular Disruptions series, please join us for a conversation about smart prisons, Amazon, and financialization.

What role does prison play in our dreams? Are prisons your worst nightmare? What is there to be afraid of? What makes a prison smart? Are smart people safe from incarceration?  Are police smart? Do you have a vacuum cleaner that spies on you? Can it see that you are boring? Does Amazon predict your dreams, and know what you want? What does Amazon dream of? Whose dream are we in?

During the meet-up:

• The event will kick off with a general introduction to the new Disruption Network Lab series, Regular Disruptions, and how it will work.

• We will introduce each other and discuss the impacts of prisons on our lives.

• The meeting will continue with a viewing of some film excerpts that will lead us into a discussion of 'what is a smart prison?’

• Next, an introduction to the connections between financialization, Amazon, surveillance and smart prisons, with a focus on Amazon's relationship to Berlin by Cassie Thornton.

• A Q&A and discussion session will follow.

• And finally, a thorough introduction to the coming Disruption Network Lab conference: Smart Prisons by Tatiana Bazzichelli.

Register now!

Participation is free of charge but spots are limited

Regular Disruptions is a series of experimental social events meant to regularly disrupt the sense that our future is doomed. 

This new experimental set of events will take place throughout 2023 before and after each Disruption Network Lab conference. In these brave social spaces visitors will be invited to understand, debate, feel and challenge the political concepts, complex political stories and intense experiences of each conference. People who are actively involved in the issues presented within the conferences are invited to participate, as well as people who are simply curious. 

In these sessions we will experiment with non-hierarchical social practices that produce alternative ways of dealing with the heavy information about our rapidly changing world presented in the conferences. Through discussion and action led by and for practitioners, these events will offer deep reflection, collective learning, complex feeling and action planning.

Cassie Thornton is an artist and activist who makes a “safe space” for the unknown, for disobedience, and for unanticipated collectivity. In her newest work, she turns towards the development of experimental techniques for healing the social and biomedical wounds that result from surviving smash and grab capitalism. These techniques are meant to support the development of collective powers for those made weak, invisible, sick and isolated by capitalism. Her book, The Hologram: Feminist, Peer-to-Peer Health for a Post-Pandemic Future, is available from Pluto Press.