The recent phenomenon of object-invested experimental dance and performance echoes the resurgence of the object in recent philosophy (for instance, in Graham Harman's Tool Being and Guerrilla Metaphysics, Mario Perniola's The Sex Appeal of the Inorganic, or Silvia Benso's The Face of Things), literary studies (Barbara Johnson's Persons and Things), critical theory (Jane Bennet's Vibrant Matter), critical race studies (Fred Moten's In the Break); as well as in the renewed interest in the concept of the object in the visual arts (with the exhibitions Part Object Part Sculpture; or Not to Play with Dead Things).
This resurgence of the object also has implications for studies on subjectivity. If, as Deleuze once said, “the status of the object is changed, so is the subject's," it is crucial to investigate the contemporary nature of this phenomenon. The Objects in Performance Symposium will gather a group of renowned American, German, and international scholars and artists, from a variety of fields and perspectives, to present their most recent research on the matter. The environment will be such as to stimulate exchange and conversation between disciplines, and between artists and scholars.
With Barbara Browning, Franz Anton Cramer, Eleonora Fabião, George Ferrandi, Jenn Joy, Heather Kravas, Thomas Lehmen, André Lepecki, Eva Meyer-Keller, Sarah Michelson, Ann Pellegrini, Allen S. Weiss, Norah Zuniga Shaw.
New York City, NY; NYC