Thinking Through Collapse
Philosopher Simon Critchley, keynote speaker
Friday, March 23, 2012
Carter Journalism Institute | 20 Cooper Square, 7th Floor
In the past year we have been confronted with many sites of present and impending collapse: the collapse of oppressive regimes in the Arab world, a global economy pushed to its limits, our own political system in paralysis, the teetering of the fourth estate, continuing environmental collapse and so on. In each of these sites, visions of apocalypse exist alongside those of renewal, inviting the imagination of new forms of organization and sustainability. In the academy, they are prompting new interdisciplinary assessments of the conditions – historical, social, political, economic, cultural, technological – that have brought us to these limits, and are forcing the question: where might we go from here?
In light of the above, the 2012 Neil Postman Graduate Conference takes Thinking Through Collapse as its theme.
SCHEDULE
10:00 — Doors open | Coffee served
10:20 — Welcome
Marita Sturken, Chair, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
10:30
“Speculative Realism and Catastrophe,” Aaron Pedinotti
“Up Against the Wall/Motherfucker’s Politics of Immediacy,” Nadja Millner-Larsen
Moderator: Mara Mills, Assistant Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
11:15 — Panel: Environmental Politics | FULL VIDEO
“Delimiting Catastrophe and its Objects,” Max Liboiron
“Feeding New York from the Bronx: A Journey into Hunts Point Produce Market, the Grand Central Station of Broccoli,”Jonathan Zalman
“Depleting Legitimacy: North Korean Propaganda and the Great Famine,” Stephanie Llamas
12:30 — Lunch
1:30 — Panel: Europe in Collapse
“Politics of Fiction in Antoine Volodine’s Work,” Claire Richard
“Out of the Rubble Comes Glorious Noise: Artistic Responses to Collapse in Ireland,” Yvonne Garrett
“Youth in the Not-Good-Enough Society: Postwar Balkans & Youth Politics,”
Adnan Selimovic
Moderator: Rodney Benson, Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
2:45 — Break
3:00 — Keynote | FULL VIDEO
“Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit,” Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School
3:30 — Keynote Discussion
Moderator: Nicholas Mirzoeff, Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
4:00 — Roundtable: Art, Politics, and Critical Engagement Today
Kouross Esmaeli, Jessica Feldman, Carlin Wing
Moderators: Lily Chumley, Assistant Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication Martin Scherzinger, Associate Professor, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication
5:15 — Closing Remarks
5:30 — Reception