On 11 June, the artist duo Goldin+Senneby presents the performance lecture Swallow Image at Stockholm University’s largest meeting facility, The Auditorium in Aula Magna. Swallow Image is presented as a part of the Nordic STS Conference.

At the beginning of the new millennium, Jakob Senneby squinted at a grayscale image of his brain while a doctor traced a series of white blobs on the screen. His doctor told him that these figures, captured by an MRI scan, were “white spots”: signs of damage to the nervous system that are associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). In the following years, Senneby—one half of the artist duo Goldin+Senneby—cycled through experimental and largely ineffectual treatments, tracking the progress of the disease with each scan, with each crop of “attacks” launched by his immune system. As he lost faith in the drugs, Senneby learned that the white spots have proven to be a source of immense, hidden value: a booming economy is based on visualising, counting, and measuring the spots in the development of pharmaceuticals. The drugs have become more and more successful in treating the white spots in the image, but not in addressing the onset of permanent disability—the most critical consequence of the disease. Nevertheless, the value of the market for treatments has reached nearly $30 billion per year.

For Swallow Image, Goldin+Senneby will give a presentation on the evolution of “sick images”—depictions of illness that obscure the accounts of patients—and the lucrative market for MS drugs. The event picks up on two related works by Goldin+Senneby: Spot Price, a blockchain-based artwork that links scans of Senneby’s diseased brain to the value of the drugs targeting such images; and Regions of Interest, an essay on living as a medical specimen and source of profit for drug companies, both published by Triple Canopy.

Aula Magna, Frescativägen 6
Wednesday, 11 June
Time: 17:00
Duration: 45 min
Language: English
Free entry, please RSVP to accelerator@su.se

Find Aula Magna

Aula Magna is just a short walk from Accelerator, across the green on Frescativägen 6.

About the conference

Science and Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field that explores how science, technology, and society shape and influence each other. At the Nordic STS Conference, scholars meet to present and discuss research on what happens within scientific knowledge production, but also how scientific knowledge and technological innovations interact with other forms of expertise and impact everyday life, policy, and the environment. This year’s theme, “STS in and out of the Laboratory,” highlights the importance of studying both traditional sites of knowledge production and the broader social contexts in which science and technology operate, are created and transformed. The conference brings together researchers, practitioners, artists, and students to share new methods, exchange insights, and explore the role of science and technology in shaping the Nordic region and beyond.

Swallow Image is presented in the context of this conference. However, everyone is equally welcome to experience Goldin+Senneby’s performance lecture.