The Marx Lounge - Other Activities

Fridays 29 April and 13 May, 3:00–5:00 p.m. Lectures by the literature theorists Joost de Bloois and Ernst van den Hemel: ‘Art & Communism: An Introduction to Alain Badiou’s Inaesthetics’. Presentation in English.

This small series of two lectues offer an introduction to the dissident aesthetics of the philosopher Alain Badiou. Alain Badiou (b. 1937, Rabat, Morocco) is a professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. In the 1960s he was actively engaged with leftist political parties in France and involved in the decolonisation of Algeria. Badiou is known for his post-Marxist thinking and his critique of post-modernism.

The emphasis in this reading group will be on Badiou’s fundamental notion of inaesthetics and its foundations, political relevance and application. Central here are Badiou’s Handbook of Inaesthetics and his recent texts regarding communism, in order to be able to investigate the connections between contemporary art and radical politics and touch on the importance of his philosophy.

Joost de Bloois and Ernst van den Hemel both work in the department of Literature Studies at the University of Amsterdam. They are presently working on a book about Alain Badiou’s inaesthetics that will be published next year, and recently interviewed Badiou in connection with this project.

Tuesday 24 May, starting 8:30 p.m. (instead of 19 May) Screening of The Forgotten Space, with an introduction by Sven Lütticken, a public interview with Noël Burch and the launch of Open #21, cahier on Art and the Public Domain. Presentation in English.

In the cinematic essay The Forgotten Space (2010) the photographer-filmmaker-writer Allan Sekula travels with the French-American director and film historian Noël Burch. Together they explore the sea, the “forgotten space of our modern age, where globalization becomes visible in the most pressing way”.

The Forgotten Space is about the triumphal march of sea container traffic. More than 90% of the world's shipments of goods go by way of the sea. The thread running through the film is the relation between the stream of sea transport and globalisation; the film reveals the creeping progress of an industry that has spread to every corner of the world but remains invisible to politics and society.

Preceding the filmscreening and the interview with Noël Burch, chief-editor Jorinde Seijdel will present the new issue of the journal Open, Cahier on Art and the Public Domain, titled (Im)Mobility. Exploring the Boundaries of Hypermobility. Open is initiated by SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain and published by NAi Publishers.

The art historian and critic Sven Lütticken works at the Vrije Universiteit, where he specialises in modern and contemporary art, art criticism and art and media theory.

Noël Burch is a Paris-based film historian and theorist. His writings include books and essays on topics such as Japanse cinema, the 'primitive mode of representation' in early film, and the essay film. He is co-director of The Forgotten Space.

Click here to watch the trailer of The Forgotten Space.

Wednesday 25 May, starting 8:00 p.m. Discussion: ‘Fiscalicide. Marx, Sloterdijk, of: heeft het kapitalisme toekomst?’. Programme in Dutch.

A discussion based on Peter Sloterdijk's much-talked about interventions under the title Die nehmende Hand, die gebende Seite in the Frankfurter Allgemeine in 2009 (Suhrkamp, 2010). Is there any sort of pressure that can be put on the harrowing gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of society, between those whose wealth is counted in billions and those who must count every cent? According to Sloterdijk the fiscal systems of the Western welfare states are the culprit. So long as there is no serious alternative for the regime of the free market, should we not train, yes, compel, multimillionaires to give rather than carry off?

Moderator:

Laurens ten Kate (philosopher, University of Humanities Utrecht)

Discussion:

Liesbeth Noordegraaf-Eelens (economic-philosopher, Nederlandse School voor Openbaar Bestuur, Den Haag)

Ewald Engelen (philosopher, professor Financial Geography, University of Amsterdam)

Theo W.A. de Wit (philosopher, professor Political Philosophy, University of Tilburg)

Saturday 28 May, starting 3:30 p.m. ‘Destruction of the Orchestra’ by Jeronimo Voss. Presentation in English.

German artist Jeronimo Voss takes the theatre experiments by the Soviet avant-garde as its frame of reference. Voss’s artworks are played by light objects: drawings are projected as slides or with overhead projectors, controlled by disembodied hands. Why does Marxian analysis provide helpfull orientation for artistic production? Jeronimo Voss will discuss this question alongside his own artistic practice. Therefore he will argue for understanding contemporary installation art as translations of modernist soviet avantgarde theater into the present. What connects the theater experiments of “Budetlyane”, “Theater October” and “Epic Theater” with contemporary questions in the field of exhibition art?

Jeronimo Voss (1981) lives and works in Frankfurt am Main. He finished academic studies of visual art in 2009 at HfBK Städelschule. Since 2007 he is a member of the cultural worker's association Free Class FaM.

Notify at marxlounge@smba.nl.