Influence as Method

Today, intellectual work no longer exists outside of systems of visibility: it operates within an economy shaped by attention and influence. Critical and analytical ideas, too, circulate through platforms, and they not only reward rigor but also form a visual language.

This shift invites a closer look at the formats and incentives that make critical and intellectual production legible and impactful today: from short-form content such as Instagram reels that accelerate recognition and reach, to long-form essays that sustain depth and critical engagement, to research-driven books that experiment with narrative structures and aesthetic strategies.

Within this evolving landscape, intellectual practice becomes inseparable from questions of mediation and exposure. Together, Alex Quicho, Günseli Yalcinkaya, and Morgane Billuart will discuss the following wonders: How are ideas shaped by the formats through which they appear? What kinds of thinking are amplified, and which remain less visible? In these new landscapes, what are the new canons and references? 

Made possible with the generous support of Reference Point and Mondriaan Fund.

About the speakers:
Alex Quicho is a theorist in London. Her practice develops novel ways of understanding life within technological systems, unfolding in multi-year cycles through critical writing, performative lectures, and moving image. Past major projects include Girlstack (2023-25), an investigation into the planetary impact of inhuman ‘girl’ intelligence; Alley to Heaven (2021-23), a trilogy of videos and performances on data annotators and edge computing in the contested South China Sea; and Small Gods (2017-20), a book of departures in drone narratives. Her work has been featured in Wired, Frieze, Dazed, Vogue, Spike, The Face, and MIT Journal, and she has collaborated with arts institutions including Serpentine Galleries, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, Tate Britain, Somerset House Studios, Singapore Art Museum, Power Station of Art Shanghai, Julia Stoschek Collection, Nationalgalerie Berlin, Fondation Pernod-Ricard, and Rennie Museum.

Günseli Yalcinkaya is a writer, researcher and critic based in London, whose work explores how technology shapes myth. As Contributing Editor at Dazed Magazine and former External Research Associate at Moth Quantum, Günseli investigates internet folklore, tracking how emerging technologies – from AI to quantum computing – give rise to new ideologies, digital superstitions and collective fantasies. Her writing has appeared in Art Review, carrier-bag.net, CURA, Spike Art and 032c, among others. As a member of the multidisciplinary audiovisual project The Talk, she collaborates with musicians James K and Heith, and architect Andrea Belosi, transforming research into live performance.

Morgane Billuart is a writer, researcher, and storyteller whose work navigates the intersection of critical inquiry and narrative practice. Her practice spans writing, visual media, and sound, exploring how technology shapes contemporary modes of imagination, perception, and social relation. She is an affiliated researcher at the Institute of Network Cultures and the New Center for Research and Practice, and co-hosts the podcast GirlEmployee with Carmen Lael Hines. Her written works include The Heat of Others (2026), Cycles, Becoming the Product (2025), and The Sacred and the Doomed (2024), reflecting a sustained engagement with the material, ethical, and cultural entanglements of technology in contemporary life.

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