GOMA Talks: Cancel Culture

Overview

Usually when Brisbane's Gallery of Modern Art includes the words 'cancel' and 'culture' in close proximity, it's to the heartbreak of art lovers — not that having to cancel its stunning cultural experiences is a common occurrence at all. But on Thursday, April 20 from 6.30–7.30pm, the South Brisbane spot is spending a night contemplating the most frequent use of those two terms together: cancel culture.

Performer Courtney Act, comedian and QUEERSTRALIA presenter Zoë Coombs Marr, artist Michael Zavros, and Gumbaynggirr and Turkish storyteller and creative Brittanie Shipway are hitting Brisbane to discuss social media's approach to accountability at the venue's latest GOMA Talks session. It's timed to help see out its spectacular Air exhibition, which wraps up its run on Sunday, April 23. And if you're wondering how the site is connecting its topic to its focus on the substance that we all breathe, that's happening by posing a question: "is cancel culture giving us a voice or suffocating us?".

The panel will chat about their own brushes with cancel culture, and dive into what's driving this modern wave of boycotting, if the digital world is truly keeping people answerable and if there's a more empathetic way.

Journalist Paul Barclay will be hosting, and entry is free. Can't make it along in-person? GOMA is also livestreaming it via its YouTube channel.

Top image: Gallery of Modern Art, James Turrell artwork.