Minor Compositions
Minor Compositions is a podcast associated with a publishing project that explores radical, unruly, and experimental ideas. Based in London, it focuses on bringing together autonomist thought, avant-garde aesthetics, and everyday political practices. The show features discussions and readings from the project's published works and related topics. It aims to theorize and disseminate alternative cultural and political perspectives.
Episodes
Counter-Accounting, Refusal, and the Future of the Strike
In this episode we speak with Abe Walker and Callum Cant about how workers produce knowledge of their own exploitation – and when making that knowledge visible risks strengthening the systems of management and control they oppose. Beginning with Walker’s work on counter-accounting, the conversation explores workers’ attempts to challenge official narratives through alternative records, inquiries a
Disrupting the Transition
In this episode, we speak with Nicholas Beuret and Keir Milburn about ecological transition as a terrain of class struggle – not simply a technical shift in energy systems, but a contested reorganisation of investment, work, infrastructure and everyday life. They examine how the existing green transition uses ecological crisis to stimulate investment and renew capitalist growth while imposing job
What’s the Use? Entanglement, Indebtedness, and Minor Socialities
In this episode, we speak with Erin Manning and Giovanni Marmont for a conversation about how use might be detached from productivity, mastery, and measurable achievement. Moving between studious use, the pragmatics of the useless, colonial property, football, maple syrup, improvised infrastructures, and the struggle to reclaim time, they explore forms of collective life grounded in entanglement r
Enduring Otherwise
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 7 Enduring Otherwise In this episode, we talk with Ferdiansyah Thajib about his book Enduring Otherwise: Muslim Queer and Trans Worldmaking in Indonesia. Drawing on ethnographic research in Aceh, Yogyakarta and Jakarta, Ferdi explores how queer and trans Muslims build meaningful lives within social, religious and political conditions that often refuse th
The Institution Negated?
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 6 The Institution Negated? In this episode we are joined by John Foot, Susana Caló, and Godofredo Enes Pereira for a wide-ranging conversation on the publication in English of The Negated Institution, and the radical milieus that shaped it, emerging from the turbulent political and intellectual landscape of the 1960s and 70s. The discussion traces the ov
Defund Culture by Any Means Necessary
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 5 Defund Culture by Any Means Necessary In this episode owe are joined by Gary Hall and Seth Wheeler for a wide-ranging conversation on cultural funding, radical publishing, and the changing conditions of collective knowledge production.The discussion begins with Gary Hall’s recent book Defund Culture, which challenges conventional calls to increase arts
Wages Against Dreamwork
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 4 Wages Against Dreamwork In this episode of Minor Compositions, the usual format is playfully overturned as Richard Gilman-Opalsky stages a friendly “revolt,” taking over hosting duties to interview Stevphen Shukaitis about The Wages of Dreamwork, co-written with Joanna Figiel. What unfolds is less a conventional author interview than a comradely and re
Communism Actually
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 3 Communism Actually In this episode of the Minor Compositions, we discuss Communist Ontologies with its authors Richard Gilman-Opalsky and Bruno Gulli, exploring their proposal that communism be understood not only as a political program but as a form of life. The conversation ranges across questions of political economy, ontology, and revolutionary sub
Jazz is My Religion, Ted Joans is My Perspective
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 2 Episode 2 Jazz is My Religion, Ted Joans is My Perspective In this episode of the Minor Compositions, we are joined by Steven Belletto and Grégory Pierrot, in order to discuss Steven’s book Black Surrealist. The Legend of Ted Joans. Together we explore Joans as Beat Generation insider, jazz trumpeter, collage artist, Pan-Africanist, and self-styled Surrealist g
In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
S2E1 – In girum imus nocteet consumimur igniSeason 2 opens with a conversation with Silvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson – filmmakers, artists, and co-founders of Firefly Frequencies – reflecting on radio as a collective, political, and affective medium. Moving between the history of autonomous radio, projects such as Lullabies for the Revolution and Terminal Beach, and collaborations including the
Communize the city
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 43 Communize the city This episode begins with Kike España’ presenting his essay “Communize the City: Towards an Insurgent Vicinity,” a text that examines the contemporary urban condition through the lens of financial brutalism, before segueing into a discussion of themes from it. España argues that cities have become logistical infrastructures of extraction, whe
We Are Making a Podcast About Mark Fisher
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 42 We Are Making a Podcast About Mark Fisher In this episode, we speak with artists Sophie Mellor and Simon Poulter of Close and Remote about their sprawling, collaborative, and genre-bending project We Are Making a Film About Mark Fisher. The conversation traces the origins of the film: how an initial spark in Fisher’s writing grew into a hybrid work that fuses
Alifuru World: Stateless Histories, Decolonial Futures
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 41 Alifuru World: Stateless Histories, Decolonial Futures Discussion with Ferdiansyah Thajib & Hypatia Vourloumis on the forthcoming book Anarchy in Alifuru: The History of Stateless Societies in the Maluku Islands by Bima Satria Putra Putra’s book traces the histories of the Alifuru peoples – those who refused incorporation into the state formations
Utopia in the Factory?
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 40 Utopia in the Factory? Discussion with Rhiannon Firth & John Preston on their new book Utopia in the Factory. Prefigurative Knowledge Against Cybernetics There’s long been this seductive idea that automation, AI, and robotics might finally deliver us into a kind of post-work utopia. You can find it everywhere, from Silicon Valley pitch decks to ce
From Disalienation to Collective Care. Institutional Psychotherapy as Resistance
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 39 From Disalienation to Collective Care. Institutional Psychotherapy as ResistanceDiscussion with Elena Vogman & Marlon Miguel discussing the work of François Tosquelles and Jean Oury Born amidst the ruins of World War II and the shadow of fascist extermination policies, institutional psychotherapy emerged not just as a form of mental health care, b
Post-War Surrealism and Anti-authoritarianism
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 38 Post-War Surrealism and Anti-authoritarianism This discussion brings together Abigail Susik and Michael Löwy to explore the international history of surrealism after 1945, with a focus on its enduring anti-authoritarian spirit. Often misunderstood as an avant-garde movement confined to the interwar years and extinguished by World War II or the death o
Universal Prostitution & the Crisis of Labor
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 37 Universal Prostitution & the Crisis of Labor This episode is a conversation with Jaleh Mansoor on the themes of her new book Universal Prostitution and Modernist Abstraction: A Counterhistory. In this provocative work, Mansoor offers a counternarrative of modernism and abstraction and a rethinking of Marxist aesthetics. Drawing on Marx’s concept o
Feral Class
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 36 Feral Class Untamed. Unheard. Unstoppable. For this episode with have a chat with Marc Garrett about his forthcoming book Feral Class. The book is Marc Garrett’s raw and resonant memoir of surviving – and creating – on the margins. It delves into the lived realities of working-class artists, charting Garrett’s journey from the edges of cultural produc
Return to the 36 Enclosures
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 35It’s summer and we’re feeling a bit lazy… so rather than record something new, for this episode we’re presenting a recording of a seminar discussion between Stefano Harney & Stevphen Shukaitis that occurred this May in London. It was part of an event organized by CHRONOS from Royal Holloway. You are on the way to destruction, make your time. In thi
Communism After Deleuze
Minor Compositions Season 1 Episode 34 Communism After Deleuze Discussion with Alex Taek-Gwang Lee about his new book Communism After Deleuze. What if communism was always the secret engine of Deleuze’s thought? This episode uncovers a hidden itinerary running through Deleuze’s work: a subterranean current where the idea of the Third World becomes a cipher for revolutionary desire. Against the gra
Dismantling the Master's Clock
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 33 Dismantling the Master’s ClockIn this episode, we speak with Rasheedah Phillips about her groundbreaking book Dismantling the Master’s Clock: On Race, Space, and Time. Drawing from Black Quantum Futurism, Phillips challenges dominant, Western notions of time – showing how they have been shaped by colonialism, capitalism, and racial oppression. Why doe
States of Divergence
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 32 States of DivergenceFor this episode we have a discussion with writer and theorist Sven Lütticken, as we delve into his new book States of Divergence. In it we will explore the book’s core themes: the lived experience of accelerating catastrophe, and the emergence of divergent, resistant practices across art, politics, and everyday life. More on the b
Take This Refusal and Dance To It
Minor Compositions Season 1 Episode 31 Take This Refusal and Dance To ItThis episode is a conversation with Paul Rekret, centered around his book Take This Hammer: Work, Song, Crisis (2024). In this discussion we explore the book’s key themes through both discussion and curated music selections that speak to the intersections of labor, leisure, and sound. Take This Hammer examines how shifts in wo
Penny as Producer
Minor Compositions Season 1 Episode 31 Penny as ProducerPenny Rimbaud is best known as a founding member of the anarcho-punk collective Crass, as well as for his work as a poet, writer, and philosopher. But beyond these well-known aspects of his life and practice lies another, less frequently discussed dimension: his role as a record producer. The original idea for this episode of Minor Compositio
E29 - Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 29 Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues This episode is a discussion with Paul Buhle, Abigail Susik, and Penelope Rosemont about the newly released book Surrealism, Bugs Bunny, and the Blues: Selected Writings on Popular Culture. This collection brings together legendary Chicago surrealist Franklin Rosemont’s writings on popular culture over a period of more tha
E28 - Band People with Franz Nicolay
E28 Band People with Franz Nicolay This episode is a recording of a seminar held at the University of Essex with Franz Nicolay on his book Band People. In it Franz Nicolay explores the working and creative lives of musicians. In it, he argues that to talk about the role of a ‘band person’ is not only to talk about art and craft but also to develop a critique of the value placed on fame and a celeb
E27 - Free Jazz, Revolution and the Politics of Peter Brötzmann
For this episode we have a discussion of the book Peter Brötzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution and the Politics of Improvisation with its author Daniel Spicer and long time comrade and fellow radical theorist / free jazz musician Richard Gilman-Opalsky. In it we discuss the countercultural and artistic milieus that shape Brötzmann as an artist, the importance of his work as an organizer and catalyst, an
E26 - We Don’t Need More Heroes with Scorpio
For this episode we talk with Brixton-based textile artist Scorpio about his life and work. Last summer a quest to learn more about the 1990s militant queer art collective Homocult led us to visiting “Iconic Queer,” an exhibition of Scorpio’s work at the Lambeth Archives. Moved by the power of the work, and sensing there would be interesting stories behind these pieces, which focussed on cycles of
E25 - Shaping for Mediocrity
For this episode, in light of the current sector wide university crisis in the UK, we present the recording of a seminar with Ronald Hartz, David Harvie, and Simon Lilley about their book Shaping for Mediocrity. In 2021, as part of a programme called Shaping for Excellence, bosses at the University of Leicester made redundant numerous scholars in what was simultaneously an attack on academic freed
E24 - Jobs, Jive, & Joy with Bernard Marszalek & Peter Bloom
For this episode we have a conversation with Bernard Marszalek and Peter Bloom about Bernard’s new book Jobs, Jive, & Joy: An Argument for the Utopian Spirit. In it we cover a wide range of topics including tech bros, the place of Bernard’s mum in labor history, and the ongoing quest to have our lives be filled with radical hedonism, collective joy, and non-alienated time. “Utopianism arose in
E23 - No Authority No Self, or, Penny Rimbaud at the Substation
As part of previewing and preparing for a larger project with Penny Rimbaud, this episode revisits a conversation with Penny from 2017. This was part of the “Stop the City… Revisited” installation which was part of “Discipline the City” exhibition and event series at the Substation in Singapore. It’s an interesting, if somewhat strange conversation, where Pen, as is his wont, answers questions in
E22 - Subversive Performance in the Age of Human Capital with Pil & Galia Kollectiv
In this episode we chat with Pil and Galia Kollectiv to explore their new book, Subversive Performance in the Age of Human Capital. Stevphen was originally to take part in the book release event last autumn in London but was unable. So instead we’ve turned that missed event into an excuse for a conversation around Pil and Galia’s work. Topics covered include intersections of performance, labor, an
E21 - Feminist Antifascism v Contemporary Microfascism
In this episode of Minor Compositions we delve into the complex intersections of gender, power, and contemporary alt-right and neofascist politics with Jack Bratich and Ewa Majewska. Drawing on Bratich’s On Microfascism: Gender, Death, and War and Majewska’s Feminist Antifascism: Counterpublics of the Common, the discussion unpacks how gender dynamics are central to the rise of fascist ideologies
E20 - The Arts of Logistics with Michael Shane Boyle & Elaine W Ho
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 20 The Arts of Logistics with Michael Shane Boyle & Elaine W Ho This episode is a conversation around the new book The Arts of Logistics: Artistic Production in Supply Chain Capitalism by Michael Shane Boyle. For this conversation we are joined by Elaine Ho, who artistic practice explores similar areas to those explored in Shane’s work. Through this conversa
E19 - Emergent Assemblages of Relationist Football with Jamie Hamilton
Episode 19 Emergent Assemblages of Relationist Football with Jamie Hamilton For this episode we talk with Jamie Hamilton, a football coach and tactical writer based at Ayr United in Scotland. Hamilton is best known for coining the idea of relationism in football, which is an approach that emphasizes emergent patterns of play discovered by the players themselves rather than fitting into a set plan
E18 - Anxiety as Vibration with Ana Minozzo
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 18 Anxiety as Vibration with Ana Minozzo For this episode we talk with we chat Ana Minozzo about her new book Anxiety as Vibration: A Psychosocial Cartography. What can anxiety do if approach anxiety not simply as a problem to be solved, but also as a potential site of rupture and transformation? And what tools might we find in a rethought version of psychoanalys
E17 - Militant Aesthetics with Martin Lang
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 17 Militant Aesthetics with Martin Lang For this episode we talk with art historian and painter Martin Lang about this book Militant Aesthetics: Art Activism in the 21st Century. How are practices of art activism changing in the current political and media climate? What tensions exist within these forms of political engagement and how can they be productively wor
E16 - Sports & the Avant-Garde with Przemysław Strożek
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 16 Sports & the Avant-Garde with Przemysław Strożek For this episode we talk with Przemysław Strożek about the relationship between avant-garde arts and sports in the 1920s and 1930s. We discuss two of his books, one as editor: Sport and the European Avant-Garde (1900–1945); and one as sole author: Picturing the Workers’ Olympics and the Spartakiads: Modernis
E15 - Class, Disasters, and Mutual Aid with John Preston and Rhiannon Firth
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 15 Class, Disasters, and Mutual Aid with John Preston and Rhiannon Firth For this episode we talk with John Preson and Rhiannon Firth about the relationship between class, disasters, and mutual aid. The conversation is formed mainly around re-visiting their 2020 book “Coronavirus, Class and Mutual Aid in the United Kingdom” but branches off to discussing broader
E14 - Revolutionary Love & the Deep Commons with Matt York
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 14: Revolutionary Love & the Deep Commons with Matt York For this episode we talk with Matt York about his book Love and Revolution: A politics for the Deep Commons “Based on award-winning research, Love and Revolution brings classical and contemporary anarchist thought into a mutually beneficial dialogue with a global cross-section of ecological, anti-capita
E13 - Up Against the Real with Nadja Millner-Larsen
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 13: Up Against the Real with Nadja Millner-Larsen For this episode we talk with Nadja Millner-Larsen about her book Up Against the Real Black Mask from Art to Action. “With Up Against the Real, Nadja Millner-Larsen offers the first comprehensive study of the group Black Mask and its acrimonious relationship to the New York art world of the 1960s. Cited as pioneer
E12 - The Subhumans & Punk Historiography with Ian Glasper
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 12: The Subhumans & Punk Historiography with Ian Glasper For this episode we talk with Ian Glasper about his book Silence Is No Reaction: Forty Years of Subhumans. In the conversation we cover broader issues of ‘punk historiography’ and documenting more marginal musical, artistic, and political milieus that one is a part of (rather than falling on or relying
E11 - Italian Operaismo with Gigi Roggero
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 11: Italian Operaismo with Gigi Roggero This episode of the Minor Compositions podcast is recorded as part of the Ultradependent Public School exhibition at BAK (https://www.bakonline.org/program-item/ultradependent-public-school-2/) For this episode we are talking with Gigi Roggero about his book Italian Operaismo: Genealogy, History, Method. In this conversatio
E10 - Autonomia and Art with Jacopo Galimberti
Minor Compositions Podcast Episode 10: Autonomia and Art with Jacopo Galimberti https://fireflyfrequencies.org/podcasts/minor-compositions This episode is a discussion with Jacopo Galimberi about this book Images of Class: Operaismo, Autonomia and the Visual Arts (1962–1988) “During the 1960s and 1970s, Workerism and Autonomia were prominent Marxist currents. However, it is rarely acknowledged tha
Compound Lyricism
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 9 Compound LyricismThis episode intersperses a performance by experimental Indonesian doom folk metal band Senyawa (recorded in Folkestone in April 2022) with a discussion with their vocalist and lyricist Rully Shabara. The interview covers topics including his approach to writing lyrics, use of allegory and imagery, and how this has changed over Senyawa
After the Internet
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 8: After the InternetFor this episode we have a discussion with Tiziana Terranova about her recently released book After the Internet: Digital Networks between Capital and the Common. We cover a range of topics including the shift from the internet as open network to the rise of corporate platforms, the psychopathologies of digital culture, and capitalis
Feminism, Punk and the Avant-Garde
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 7 Feminism, Punk and the Avant-GardeFor this episode we have a discussion with Becky Binns about her recently released book Gee Vaucher: Beyond punk, feminism and the avant-garde. We cover a a range off topics including Gee’s work in relationship with punk and artistic countercultures, as well as the changing historiography of punk and feminism. Does art
Squatting, Art, and Gentrification
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 5 Squatting, Art, and Gentrification For this episode we have a discussion with Clarrie Pope and Alan W Moore around squatting, art, and gentrification, as well as a range of related topics. The idea is to explore these topics, but coming from different angles, for instance how writing a graphic novel about squatting is different from a personal account
The Weight of the Printed Word
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 4 The Weight of the Printed WordIn this episode we have a conversation with Steve Wright, about his book The Weight of the Printed Word: Text, Context and Militancy in Operaismo. In it we discuss the role of print production and document work in the history of Italian operaismo and autonomist Marxism. What role did the production of various forms of prin
Surrealism and the War on Work
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 3 Surrealism and the War on WorkIn this episode we have a conversation with Abigail Susik, about her book Surrealist Sabotage and the War on Work. We cover a range of topics including the centrality of work refusal to the history of Surrealism, automatist practices and aesthetic sabotage, the class composition of labor that influenced the beginning of Su
Football and Radical Politics
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 2For this episode, as something of a preview to the upcoming publication of Paolo Sollier’s book Kicks, Spits, and Headers. The Autobiographical Reflections of an Accidental Footballer we have a conversation with Gabriel Kuhn about the relationship between radical politics and sports, particularly focusing on his book Soccer Vs. the State: Tackling Footb
Communizing Publishing
Minor Compositions Podcast Season 1 Episode 1: Communizing PublishingThis first episode of the Minor Compositions podcast is a discussion with Nick Thoburn about experimental publishing and communizing media.Nick Thoburn is Reader in Sociology at the University of Manchester. He writes about publishing, political theory, social movements, and architecture, and is author of "Anti-Book: On the Art a
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