Hardly a truth about the contemporary subject seems more precarious and potent today, hardly a quality more sought after and remote, hardly a criterion more relevant and in doubt than “authenticity.” Unique personality, “own” experiences, and narratives and judgments highlighted by them are scarce resources in the struggle for distinction and attention, power and significance.

At the same time massively analyzed data on behavior and preferences, origin and résumé are having strange repercussions on apparently individual experience and general horizons of truth, while algorithmic functions are forming and controlling self-images and public images, and technological media are reproducing old conformities and ideologies.

From November 21 to 24—accompanied by an exhibition, the presentation of the project One Hundred Thousand Words in Search of an Author (100000words.net), and the release of the same-titled edition of the magazine DIAPHANES No. 8/9—performances and discussions examine the bizarre interplay of “authenticity” and “feedback,” exhibit and test the resulting forces, and play with still unknown effects of art, literature, and discourse.

The festival will be opened with a keynote speech by Tom McCarthy. On the following days you are invited to the exhibition opening, to performances by Nicole Bachmann, Discoteca Flaming Star, and Michele Pedrazzi, and a concert of voices from LXAR (Alexander Paulick & Andreas Reihse) followed by a magazine-release party. And to the discussions on “Authenticity and Feedback” (Barbara Basting, Claus Pias and Felix Stalder) and “What is an Author?” (Kathrin Röggla and Sandro Zanetti).

Thursday, November 21:
8.30 p.m.: Tom McCarthy: »Toke My Asymptote — or, the Ecstatic Agony of Appearance«

Friday, November 22:
7 p.m.: Exhibition opening »One Hundred Thousand Words in Search of an Author«
8.30 p.m.: »or what is« by Nicole Bachmann, with Patricia Langa, Legion Seven, Jia-Yu Corti

Saturday, November 23:
6 p.m.: »Authenticity and Feedback«: Barbara Basting, Claus Pias, and Felix Stalder (in German language)
8.30 p.m.: »Ingrid (2003 – so far)« by Discoteca Flaming Star
10 p.m.: LXAR – À propos (Alexander Paulick & Andreas Reihse)
Followed by: Magazine-Release-Party with music by Andreas Reihse (DJ set)

Sunday, November 24:
4 p.m.: »Lounge of the Living Antennas« by Michele Pedrazzi with Chris Hill and Markus Krispel, special appearance Tom McCarthy
5.30 p.m.: »What is an Author?«: Kathrin Röggla and Sandro Zanetti (in German language).