Event
Wyoming Evenings: What Is the Good of Work? (3/4)
What is the good of work? How and why did the future change from the sixties and seventies vision of a leisure society to an exhausting life of increasingly purposeless work? What are the implications of the shift from a Fordist model of production to a post-Fordist one? Why is work valorized in contemporary society? What happened to the critique of labor and its radical potential from the Middle Ages up through the strategies of the Situationists and others? As unemployment becomes an increasing reality, how might we think of unemployment as an artistic and philosophical category?
These questions will be examined during four events at the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building in the East Village. Each event will involve two guests-one artist and one cultural producer of another kind. Liam Gillick and Gianni Vattimo will be the guests at the third event on January 30.
Liam Gillick is an artist based in London and New York. He was selected to represent Germany for the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009. A major exhibition of his work opens at the Kunst und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (in Bonn, Germany) in April 2010. Liam Gillick has published a number of texts that function in parallel to his artwork. In addition he has contributed to many art magazines and journals including Parkett, Frieze, Art Monthly, October and Art Forum. He has taught at Columbia University in New York since 1997.
Gianni Vattimo is a philosopher who coined the term weak thought to describe strategies of post-modern thinking. His most recent research has focused on religion, law, and nihilism (After the Death of God, 2007; Nihilism and Emancipation, 2004). Since 2004 Vattimo has developed this weak thought from a more political perspective through reassessing Communism, searching for a new Marxist approach.
The series takes its starting point in the observation that today the artist-defined by creativity, unconventionality, and flexibility-appears to be the role model for contemporary workers. Bohemians in general and the artists in particular are the perfect entrepreneurs.
Wyoming Evenings is organized by the Goethe-Institut New York and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, and curated by Maria Lind and Simon Critchley. Maria Lind is a curator and critic, currently holding the position of director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. Prior to coming to Bard, she directed the Kunstverein in Munich (2002-4) and IASPIS in Stockholm (2005-7). This fall, Sternberg Press is publishing a book with her writings from the last 15 years.
Simon Critchley is a Chair of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. He works in the history of philosophy, Continental philosophy, ethics and political theory. He is the author of ten books, including "Very Little...Almost Nothing" (1997), "On Humor" (2002), "Infinitely Demanding" (2007) and "On Heidegger's Being and Time" (2008). "The Book of Dead Philosophers" was published by Vintage in 2009 and was a New York Times bestseller. It is alleged that he is Chief Philosopher of the International Necronautical Society.
Event to follow in this series: Saturday, March 13 (2010), with Carles Guerra and Michael Hardt. Download the Wyoming Evenings: What is the Good of Work? program brochure: http://www.goethe.de/mmo/priv/5196103-STANDARD.pdf (PDF, 150 KB).
Please make sure to arrive on time, seats will not be held for latecomers!
|
|
 |
LocationGoethe-Institut Wyoming Building
5 E 3rd Street
New York, NY 10003
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
|
Contact
|
