RESEARCH PROFILE
Lona Gaikis (*1982 Toronto, Canada) is a writer, curator, and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna (Austria) where she offers lectures on current debates in philosophy, society, and the arts. She regularly contributes as an author to exhibition catalogs, journals, and anthologies (ORCID).
She obtained her doctoral degree (Dr. Phil.) in Philosophy, Art and Cultural Studies from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 2017. Her research focused on the “new key” in the American philosopher Susanne K. Langer and the meaning of music in artistic practice.
Lona’s commitment to research and academia is complemented by a curatorial engagement with media art and music sub-cultures. In 2009, she founded the platform czirp czirp – experimental and sonic arts. Oscillating between experimental formats and dance music, this project has showcased various international artists in electronic musics and sound art such as Aïsha Devi (CH), Bergsonist (USA/MAR), EVITCELES (BGR), Islaja (FIN), Lucas Abela (AU), Steve Roden (USA), or Jasmine Guffond and Ilan Katin (USA/AUS) among many others.
Philosopher of the research group PHANTOM LAB with performance artist Barbis Ruder, industrial designer Walter Lunzer (Ottobock Healthcare Products).
Member of media artist collective #vaporfolk with Peter Moosgaard and Bernhard Garnicnig. Artistic research and media didactic workshops revolving consumer culture, branding, pseudo-science and pseudo-cultures.
COMING UP:
GUEST LECTURE | 10. MAY 2023
NATURA CULTURANS: FURTHERING LANGER’S PHILOSOPHY IN THE FIELD OF BIOACOUSTICS
This session will discuss Susanne K. Langer’s philosophy in light of its roots in Whitehead. We will trace back the art symbol with its emphasis on musical form, and see how this idea develops in Langer’s later theory of embodied and embedded mind. Her book MIND I (1967) will serve as a point of departure to make a case for media artistic explorations at the intersection of living and non-living systems. Within the lecture, Susanne K. Langer and American Aesthetics of Her Days and Beyond, hosted by Dr. Tereza Hadravová @Charles University, Prague.
CURATORIAL TALK | 9. FEBRUARY 2023
SOUNDING NATURE AND CHALLENGING CULTURE: MEDIA AND MUSIC SUBCULTURES
This presentation scouts Media, Musics, and Electronic Arts outside established canons. We will follow transdisciplinary practices and perseverance, see what strategies they apply, and discuss their agency in society. Drawing Studio 2, 11:30 pm – 12:30 CST (18:30 – 19:30 CET), School of Art @University of Manitoba.
CURRENT PROJECTS:
TOWARDS AN AESTHETICS FOR PROSTHETICS | 2020-2025
Lona Gaikis is the philosopher in the research group Towards an Aesthetics for Prosthetics, along with performance artist Barbis Ruder and industrial designer Walter Lunzer (Ottobock Healthcare Products). We ask, “What haunts quantitative evaluation and qualitative assessment in the field of medical engineering?” This group and its endeavour are linked to the Angewandte Performance Lab (APL) at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.
BOOK 2023
THE FUTURE WHISPERS: THE BLOOMSBURY HANDBOOK OF SUSANNE K. LANGER
A collection of essays on new keys in the works of philosopher Susanne K. Langer. Authors: Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin, Donald Dryden, Christian Grüny, Robert Innis, Eva Kit Wah Man, Brian Massumi, Adam Nocek, Anne Pollok, Eldritch Priest, Martina Sauer, Helen Thaventhiran, Christophe van Eecke, Iris v. d. Tuin, and more. Edited by Lona Gaikis. Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2023.
ESSAY 2023
“RECYCLING CRISES: A ‘How To’ for the Precarious Subject”
In WORK – CYCLE – BODY: 10 YEARS BARBIS RUDER. Edited by Madeleine Frey (DE/EN). Published by edition Die Angewandte/de Gruyter, forthcoming 2023.
Further information:
ACADEMIC CAREER
FUTURE PROJECTS
LIST OF PUBLICATIONS