DEFRAG Planning Meeting April 20, 2026 1:00 PM (PDT)

Overview

Defrag is a multi-day art, performance, and panel event exploring how cultural memory is constructed, destabilized, and assembled across network systems, with a focus on AI and memory. Proposed as the evening programming for BC + AI Festival Week, hosted at the Internet Archive / The Permanent.

Leads: Philippe Pasquier, Erica Lapadat-Janzen, Arshia Sobhan Sarbandi, Kris Krüg.

Integration Into Festival Week

• Defrag serves as the evening component (roughly 6pm to midnight) on festival weeknights.
• Proposed nights: Tuesday Oct 27 and Thursday Oct 29, 2026.
• Each Defrag evening: artist talks and presentations 6 to 8pm, followed by party and exhibition 8pm to midnight.
• Exhibition can open in the afternoon on at least one day (Oct 28 discussed).
• Set up runs Sunday and Monday leading in, since the space comes raw and needs plane construction and screen installation.
• Defrag sits in the week alongside Education Day, Life Sciences Day, Hackathon, MAC Day, and Ethics Day, with the Film Festival closing the week Oct 30 to 31.

Event Structure

• Format: multi-day event with art exhibition, performances, artist talks, and panels.
• Original plan: three-day event Tuesday to Thursday with full setup time.
• Revised concept: two curated evenings (talks plus party and exhibition) inside festival week.
• Possibility to align artist curation with the daily festival theme (Life Sciences, Hackathon, Ethics, etc.).