Friday, 26 July 2024, 8 pm, diffrakt | centre for theoretical periphery
Reading and conversation with
Orion J. Facey | Char Hilgers | Elin McCready | NEON BOOK CLUB
Set in Manchester, UK, in 2080, Orion J. Facey’s novel The Virosexuals is a ride across a subculture in which people are sexually attracted to the idea of transmitting and receiving STIs. It all started as a counter-culture against computer algorithms that determine every aspect of people’s lives, from careers to romantic interests, where they live, all over the world: the virosexuals decided to alter their own bodies in order to subvert the algorithm; now treated as non-humans, they are left to survive on their own… When a deadly virus, nicknamed ‘Petitmort’ and manufactured by Eschatos 2.0, goes around and swipes the scene, we follow Amygdala as she tries to negotiate her body, her sexuality and her desires and finding the source of the ‘Petitmort’ threat… Across her journey, the book explores sex, prosthetics, disease-less-vacuums, erotics, non-monogamous relationship dynamics, espionage, android assassins, hackers…
Following a reading from The Virosexuals, Orion J. Facey will be joined by Char Hilgers and Elin McCready as well as the NEON BOOK CLUB in Tokyo and members of diffrakt’s SO FAR reading group online, and the conversation will revolve around queerness, the self and the body, the future of raving, identity, viruses, diseases and pandemics, book clubs, collectivity, and reading and writing.
The event being a collaboration with Hopscotch Reading Room, copies of the book as well as of NEON BOOK CLUB’s first zine will be available for purchase.
Please note: Given the current prevalence and circulation of Covid in Berlin, we encourage self-testing before the event. Wearing masks during the event will not be mandatory but welcome. Following the on-stage conversation, there will be drinks and time and space for further informal mingling, with and without masks.
