Moderator

Simon During is a critic who has worked in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Recent books include Exit Capitalism: Literary Culture, Theory and Post-Secular Modernity (2010) and Modern Enchantments: The Cultural Power of Secular Magic (2004). He is currently at work on a cultural critique of compulsory democracy.

Panelist

Drew Daniel is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Johns Hopkins University, where he specializes in Renaissance literature. He is the author of the book 20 Jazz Funk Greats (2008), on the industrial group Throbbing Gristle. With his partner, M. C. Schmidt, Daniel is one half of the electronic-music group Matmos. He is currently completing a book on melancholy.

Panelist

John Malpede directs, performs, and engineers multigenre arts projects. In 1985 Malpede founded the Los Angeles Poverty Department, a performance group of homeless and formerly homeless people that connects lived experience to the social forces that shape lives and communities. His 2009 work Bright Futures, on the economic crisis, was shown at MIT and in the Performa Festival.

Panelist

Amy Taubin is a contributing editor for Film Comment and Sight and Sound magazines, a frequent contributor to Artforum, and the author of the BFI Film Classics book on Taxi Driver (2008). She has served as a film and television critic for the Village Voice (1987–2001) and curator of video and film at the Kitchen, New York (1983–87).