Before we take any substance we need to know or better we need to be informed what is that substance for. PHARMAKON (the gift of god Thoth = skill of writing or recording at large) is both the knowledge about the substance (or fluidum / æther) as well as the substance per se, self-speaking cultural substrate, ousia, hylé, ylem. The knowledge (information received) about the substance and the substance itself dœsn´t have to be identical —the placebo magicks of homeopathics. Information is the superstance. From this regard we can speak about certain logopathic and/or graphopathic effects of recording. The substance can change in time, space, relational context (topos / diaspora… poison can be used as a remedy / remedy can be used as a poison). PHARMAKON is a transitory, nematic pseudo-substance.
Boris Ondreička (1969) is an artist, author, former director of an art-initiative tranzit.sk, since 2012 curator at Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna. He has co-curated Rare Earth, Supper Club, Tomorrow Morning Line, Olafur Eliasson „Green light—An Artistic Workshop“, and 6 seasons of the frequence of spoken-word Ephemeropteræ, all for TBA21, Manifesta 8, Murcia, Cartagena, ES, Being The Future, Palast der Republik, Berlin, DE, Symposion / The Event, Birmingham, UK, Auditorium, Stage, Backstage, Frankfurter Kunstverein, DE, individual projects of Lois & Franziska Weinberger, Stano Filko, Andreas Neumeister, Július Koller, Denisa Lehocká, Zbyněk Baladrán, and more. The most recently he had curated The Question of Will, OSF, Bratislava, SK and Empire of the Senseless, Meetfactory, Prague, CZ. Ondreička has co-founded The Society of Július Koller. His artistic projects were exhibited at Manifesta 2, Luxembourg, L, Venice- (Czecho-Slovak & Roma pavilions), Tai-Pei-, Prague-, Gyumri-, Torino-, Anzengruber-, Athens- , Kyiv-, Jakarta- biennials; MoMA PS1 NYC, USA, BAK Utrecht, NL, W139 and De Appel, Amsterdam, NL, Marres, Maastricht, NL, Smak, Gent, BE, Tramway Glasgow UK, Fondazione Sandretto re Regaudengo Turin, IT, Air de Paris, Le Plateau, and Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, F, Frankfurter-, Kölnischer-, Badischer-, Münchener-, Würtenbergischer Kunstvereins, DE, Kiasma, Helsinki, FI, HKW, Berlin, DE, ACAF, Alexandria, EG, Slovak and Czech national galleries, Secession, Mumok, Kunsthalle, TQ, Vienna, AT, Donaufestival, Krems, AT, Magazin 4, Bregenz, AT, and the most recently at Alogorrhea at Galerie Kurzor, Prague, CZ (still on) to which hisPHARMAKON lecture is linked to. His HI! lo. was published at tranzit / jrp Ringier, CH; One Second / Out of Time at Revolver, DE, and soon Spevník at Brak, SK. Ondreička is a regullar correspondent of the Slovak monthly Kapitál.