Koby Barhad offers surreal graphic novel ‘Joyless’

Welcome to the True North Country Comics Podcast — originating in Canada and celebrating comic book and graphic novel creators and supporters.

On this episode, I chat with Koby Barhad about the new graphic novel Joyless available on Kickstarter.

Based in Toronto, Ontario, Koby Barhad is a designer, researcher, and educator. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, UK, co-founder of the Radical Norms research lab at OCAD University, Toronto, Canada. His work has been exhibited and published internationally: The Victoria and Albert Museum, UK; Science Gallery, Dublin; Z33 – House for Contemporary Art, Design & Architecture, Belgium; Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts, Switzerland; Artforum, Wired magazine, Fast Company, Dezeen and others. His latest project is his first graphic novel entitled Joyless.

Inspired by real world patents in Artificial Emotional Intelligence, Joyless is a “debut collection of surreal graphic vignettes that unfolds in a future where feelings are optimized for satisfaction, leaving nothing to be desired. Every chapter offers an intimate glimpse into someone’s or something’s daily routine, where the legal and technical language of a written patent becomes a lived reality – a ‘real’ human story, an algorithmic problem, a visceral tension. It is not an attempt to translate professional vocabulary, or follow a traditional hero journey, but a curious speculation on the type of inner life, inventors and corporations believe is worth living (a hidden gaze that follows readers everywhere through the book). Which feelings matter in their eyes? Is there a spectrum? What is the value of feelings?”

You can discover more about Koby Barhad online at KobyBarhad.com and on Instagram at @kobybarhadwork

You can discover Joyless at JoylessFutures.com

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