G P S Giorno Poetry Systems is a non-profit organization that supports artists, poets, and musicians, and centers their perspectives.

Obviously, if you are NYC adjacent, you should go:
giornopoetrysystems.org/222-bowery/e...

It's difficult to describe my weird talk, so here are a few teaser slides.

the lineup for Mark Leckey's "The Physics of Mystics" at GPS.

On April 30th, I'm giving the strangest talk I've ever given as part of a 3-day event for artist Mark Leckey ("The Physics of Mystics") at Giorno Poetry Systems in the Bowery, NYC.

Screenshot: «AI JUST COMBINED STAR WARS ITH LORD OF THE RINGS» - a hovercraft in front of bag end

Deepfakes, synthetic media, AI slop etc. have often been discussed in terms of a «crisis of truth» or an «erosion of trust». Fair enough. But in my impression, there’s something else that gets lost in waves of AI slop flooding our screens: a «sense of wonder» – surprise, amazement and awe
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@shirachess.bsky.social writes: Recently I traveled to Chicago to present my research on Mondo 2000 at the Society for Cinema & Media Studies. Given the tense nature of air travel in 2026, I was both surprised & unsurprised to encounter this airport signage for CLEAR, the biometric security service

If you are still using the word “seminal” to describe some dude-bro researcher please know that I’m judging the fuck out of you.

Why Techno-Fascism Requires Magic✨ Meditations on Magic, Discourse, and Mythos

Why Techno-Fascism Requires Magic✨

another good one by @shirachess.bsky.social

I had forgotten you used to do gothic!

Love a good piece that connects recent trends in the horror genre to modern cultural anxiety.

"As we reconcile our lost spaces and our offices give way to new "lifeforms," [...] liminality will continue to define this threshold moment between physicality and digitality."
— @shirachess.bsky.social

‘Backrooms’ and the Rise of the Institutional Gothic A new spin on an old genre replaces flesh-and-blood monsters with the mundanity of modern bureaucracy.

Wondering what is going on in those Backrooms trailers? Some thought on the creepypasta, the web series, the film, and the emerging aesthetic of Institutional Gothic via @mitpress.bsky.social

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/backrooms-an...

Phenomenal read exploring Backrooms in the context of current culture and digging into the concept of and fascination with liminal spaces, and the dread they invoke.

‘Backrooms’ and the Rise of the Institutional Gothic A new spin on an old genre replaces flesh-and-blood monsters with the mundanity of modern bureaucracy.

How did “The Backrooms” go from an obscure creepypasta to an A24 film? For @shirachess.bsky.social, its rise reflects the “liminal aesthetic” and a new Institutional Gothic of corporate dread.

This is a great read if you're interested in Backrooms lore, but also liminal spaces in general

The Backrooms and the Rise of Institutional Gothic Welcome to the Nightmares of our Corporate Hellscape

The Backrooms and the Rise of Institutional Gothic
open.substack.com/pub/unseenin...

More brilliance from @shirachess.bsky.social Looking forward to the release of Backrooms

‘Backrooms’ and the Rise of the Institutional Gothic A new spin on an old genre replaces flesh-and-blood monsters with the mundanity of modern bureaucracy.

Wondering what is going on in those Backrooms trailers? Some thought on the creepypasta, the web series, the film, and the emerging aesthetic of Institutional Gothic via @mitpress.bsky.social

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/backrooms-an...

15 minutes! Sex and drugs (sandwiching Kyra’s super wholesome work)!

Spoke to Wired for this piece. In a world where AI can only mimic its prompt, it’s not surprise this reflects the inherent violence of reality TV dating shows.

Also everyone should watch the old show UnReal

For my mess, I’ll be talking about my strange plunge into Mondo 2000 research / fandom / whatever you want to call it…

Program page for SCMS panel on magazines at 2:15 today in the Crystal Ballroom.

Hey #SCMS26 - think magazine research is boring? Then you clearly haven’t met my panel. 2:15 today … it will get messy.

Friday at 1pm at the MIT booth!

If you are at #SCMS26 you should come get a free signed copy of my new book, THE UNSEEN INTERNET. Counterculture icon @rusirius.bsky.social endorses that reading it is like tripping on robitussin! (This is probably not true.)

Seeing the Unseen Internet with Shira Chess Podcast Episode · The AP Strange Show · March 22 · 1h 16m

This week on The AP Strange Show, I had a fascinating chat with Shira Chess about her new book The Unseen Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse, covering the history of magick and weirdness in our modern technological age.
We had a great time...🧵

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

As these things often go, RU Sirius beat me to posting about a fantastic podcast interview I did with AP Strange. 🙃 Honestly this is one of my favs.

@ckunzelman.bsky.social I absolutely want to have this conversation with you!

“I don’t think there’s a phrase that better characterizes the Internet we have now than, 'Nothing is true, everything is permitted.'" - @shirachess.bsky.social

Stream and subscribe:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOp...

The Internet is an Occult Machine (w/ Shira Chess) | Team Human Ep. 358 Has the internet always been a magical space? Shira Chess , a Professor of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia and a leading scholar of digital folklore, dive in...

@shirachess.bsky.social on Team Human. Huzzah!

This sounds very interesting indeed 👇 👇 👇

The Internet Is an Occult Machine (w/ Shira Chess) YouTube video by Douglas Rushkoff

The counterculture spent the 90s trying to destroy consensus reality. It worked.

We just didn't have a plan for what came next.

Stream and subscribe my conversation with @shirachess.bsky.social:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWOp...

The Unseen Internet Our contemporary digital landscape often reflects a strange logic: Elon Musk believes there’s a one-in-a-billion chance that we are not living in a com...

And book here!
mitpress.mit.edu/978026255388...

The Internet is an Occult Machine (w/ Shira Chess) | Team Human Ep. 358 Has the internet always been a magical space? Shira Chess , a Professor of Entertainment and Media Studies at the University of Georgia and a leading scholar of digital folklore, dive in...

Episode here: www.teamhuman.fm/episodes/358...