Saturday, April 30, 2016 (2:00 pm to 4:00 pm)
A/cephalic Discontents: Session II NYC
SESSION #2 / NYC
date/ april 30, 2-4pm
http://acephalicdiscontents.tumblr.com
“If there is an image which could represent for us the Freudian notion of the unconscious, it is indeed that of the acephalic subject, a subject who no longer has an ego, who doesn’t belong to the ego. And yet he is the subject who speaks…” (Lacan, Seminar II, p. 167)
Das Unbehagen sprouted from discontent with the atmosphere of conventional institutions, training procedures, and theoretical allegiances, and from a corresponding desire for different kinds of associations and events. The problems of community and communication sounded by Das Unbehagen are echoed, today as in the past, by many other experimental organizations and groups involved in the arts, in thought, in politics, education and other practices. How is it possible for such communities, driven by discontent and desire, to maintain the impossible situation, akin to the imperative of free association, of both having and not having agency, of both believing and not believing in structure, authority and leadership, of both intervening in and withdrawing from the public sphere? These problems call for reflection on ‘community,’ ‘commmunication,’ and the common. a/cephalic discontents organizes a series of tex-based discussions, alternating between NYC and Philadelphia, thematizing the problems and possibilities of “headless” — acephalic — community. Through these readings we will explore the problem of acephale, a figure of experimentation and of the negotiations between discontent with what is and the desire that opens onto something different. Texts will include psychoanalytic, philosophic, political and aesthetic works sourced from the tradition related to the experiments in community often associated with Georges Bataille, who founded the Acéphale group in the 1920’s. Following our conjecture that many other contemporary organizations have an interest in what we call acephale, these readings and discussion will be co-curated with other discontented and desiring communities. The readings aim to give all participants the time and resources to engage carefully with these questions in preparation for a conference in the Spring of 2017 that will bring together writers, artists, analysts and scholars, as well as the various groups who have participated in the discussions. By refusing to presuppose that we know what we mean when we say “community,” we hope to explore alternatives to efforts new and old to consolidate the identity of group ideals.
Space is limited; please contact Patricia Gherovici at pgherovici@aol.com to register and for pdfs / Transportation will be facilitated between NYC and Philadelphia, and some hosted accommodations are available / if you are involved in a group that would like to collaborate or co-curate, please contact Scott Jenkins at scttjnkns@gmail.com
texts/ denis hollier, “Introduction” to The College of Sociology; georges bataille: “program relative to acéphale”; “what we have undertaken”; “unkowing and rebellion”; “letter to kojève”; “inner experience”
location/ 30 charlton street, suite 1. (1 train houston, C & E spring)
co-curator/ BROKEN TONGUE COMMITTEE
constraints/ registrants will receive specific, particular instructions regarding discursive arrangement.