Panel Discussion | Brain Rot in the Gallery

Get the Skibidi out of my white cube. 

The Institute of Modern Art is hosting the first institutional display of the viral YouTube series Skibidi Toilet. The serialised animated narrative has prompted critical discussion about brain rot algorithms and digital cultures since becoming a Gen Alpha cultural touchstone in 2024. 

Visual artist and curator Simone Hine is joined by University of Queensland’s Director of Digital Cultures & Societies Nicholas Carah to discuss the implications of Skibidi Toilet both within and beyond the gallery space. The panel will be hosted by IMA Assistant Director Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer. 

Made by the creator known as Boom the machinima series employs videogame violence and meme culture on an epic scale where a race of toilet-bound heads clash with camera-headed men in an eternal technological war. The horrors of the unconscious filtered through TikTok remixes and action-film excess are unleashed through Boom’s nightmarish vision filled with Fortnite dances and unending destruction.  

Skibidi Toilet stands as a contemporary manifestation of surrealist film its dreamlike logic at once both banal and disturbing its undeniable resonance with young people a red flag for contemporary art.

Host or Publisher Institute of Modern Art