Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
Buddies Without Organs - Episode #2: The Ccru w/ Robin Mackay

Episode #2: The Ccru w/ Robin Mackay

02/20/22 • 104 min

1 Listener

Buddies Without Organs

This week, we continue our exploration of the work of Mark Fisher with an extensive interview with his friend and collaborator Robin Mackay.

Last week, we dipped our collective toe into the blogosphere of the mid-2000s, discussing hyperstition, 70s pulp sci-fi and some of Fisher’s most enduring weird and eerie interests. Lurking in the background was Fisher’s role as a member of the Ccru, and who better to discuss this period of activity with than Robin Mackay.

Mackay is a philosopher, translator and director of the hugely influential publishing house Urbanomic. He also posts his own writings over at readthis.wtf. He has, since Fisher’s death in 2017, reignited interest in the work of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (Ccru) through the publication of their writings.

This week, we talk about the Ccru, Robin’s own work and interests, and also his more recent return to his collaborations with Fisher in the form of a newly haunted audio-work, By The North Sea.

You can listen in all of the usual places, including Spotify, iTunes and Podbean. You’ll also find the episode on YouTube here.

For Zer0 Books patrons, there is also a bonus conversation available here, in which Mackay discusses the hauntological significance of time travel in twentieth-century British sci-fi, riffing on our previous conversation about Children of the Stones, a TV series that Mackay shares our perverted love for.

The K Files logo, theme tune and accompanying video introduction were created by Sereptie.

plus icon
bookmark

This week, we continue our exploration of the work of Mark Fisher with an extensive interview with his friend and collaborator Robin Mackay.

Last week, we dipped our collective toe into the blogosphere of the mid-2000s, discussing hyperstition, 70s pulp sci-fi and some of Fisher’s most enduring weird and eerie interests. Lurking in the background was Fisher’s role as a member of the Ccru, and who better to discuss this period of activity with than Robin Mackay.

Mackay is a philosopher, translator and director of the hugely influential publishing house Urbanomic. He also posts his own writings over at readthis.wtf. He has, since Fisher’s death in 2017, reignited interest in the work of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit (Ccru) through the publication of their writings.

This week, we talk about the Ccru, Robin’s own work and interests, and also his more recent return to his collaborations with Fisher in the form of a newly haunted audio-work, By The North Sea.

You can listen in all of the usual places, including Spotify, iTunes and Podbean. You’ll also find the episode on YouTube here.

For Zer0 Books patrons, there is also a bonus conversation available here, in which Mackay discusses the hauntological significance of time travel in twentieth-century British sci-fi, riffing on our previous conversation about Children of the Stones, a TV series that Mackay shares our perverted love for.

The K Files logo, theme tune and accompanying video introduction were created by Sereptie.

Previous Episode

undefined - Episode #1: Megalithic Astropunk

Episode #1: Megalithic Astropunk

Last year, Buddies Without Organs explored the works of Gilles Deleuze. Now, in association with Zer0 Books, we are turning towards the lesser-known works of Mark Fisher.

Fisher is a writer we all already love, and we felt he’d be great to read together. We’re starting as we intend to go on with a oft-neglected post from the Hyperstition blog about the 1970s children’s serial, Children of the Stones — a series that Fisher suggests is an example of an underrepresented British sci-fi genre: “megalithic astropunk”.

In a slight change to our hosting arrangements, the podcast will first be made available to Zer0 patreons, going live on their YouTube channel shortly afterwards, and finally appearing on our website a week after that.

From that point on, you can listen in all of the usual places, including Spotify, iTunes and Podbean. You’ll find the episode on YouTube here.

Below are a few links to things discussed in the episode, including the full series of Children of the Stones:

The K Files logo, theme tune and accompanying video introduction was created by Sereptie.

Next Episode

undefined - Episode #3: “Who’s Pulling Your Strings?” w/ Amy Ireland

Episode #3: “Who’s Pulling Your Strings?” w/ Amy Ireland

In episode 3, the Buddies dive deeper into the work of Mark Fisher with help from special guest Amy Ireland. Falling further down the CCRU K-hole, we cover the multi-layered hyperstitional piece “Who’s Pulling Your Strings?”, belief and unbelief, Monarch conspiracies, the numogram, and more.

Amy Ireland is an experimental writer and theorist best known for her work with the technomaterialist transfeminist collective, Laboria Cuboniks. She has exhibited and performed work in Australia, the UK, Korea, China, Canada, and France. Amy currently works as an editor for UK publisher Urbanomic.

You can listen in all of the usual places, including Spotify, iTunes and Podbean. You’ll also find the episode on YouTube here.

The K Files logo, theme tune and accompanying video introduction were created by Sereptie.

Episode Comments

Generate a badge

Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode

Select type & size
Open dropdown icon
share badge image

<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/buddies-without-organs-274543/episode-2-the-ccru-w-robin-mackay-33236030"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to episode #2: the ccru w/ robin mackay on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>

Copy