Ephemeral condition: body - eroticism - architecture
Faculty "Artes Liberales", University of Warsaw, 10-11.06.2016.
It has always been a dream of the humanity to transgress the mortal condition of our bodies, to resist ageing and decay. In no other epoch this resistance focused more attention than in ours. Yet ephemerality, not eternity is the essence of the human condition, as it was genially resumed in the image of a “weathered skeleton in windy fields of memory” contained in a 17th century haiku by Matsuo Bashō.
Against the fragility of our bodies, there is the apparent solidity of things. We expect the results of our productive work might last forever. Yet this hope is equally frustrated, because things decay as much as we do. This is why Georges Bataille formulated his alternative principles of “general economy”, in which expenditure is more fundamental than production. His model is that of a sun that freely expands its energy without asking anything in return. In this anti-utilitarian vision of life, a special place is reserved to eroticism as a dimension in which the human being becomes truly sovereign. Jean Baudrillard opposed his own concept of “symbolic exchange” and “symbolic society” to the predominant, post-Marxian philosophy of productivist societies. His book On Seduction is a consequence of such a vision, in which eroticism epitomizes overflow and prodigality of symbolic exchange. On the other hand, Agata Bielik-Robson proposed her own concept of Erros, synthesising the vitalist principle of erotic energy and that of creative error.
The main aim of this conference is to analyse the ephemeral, and yet sovereign condition of man understood as a being of excess, giving away his or her exorbitant creative energy, overflowing the boundaries of the body.
We invite the submission of original papers in English or Polish, related to the theme of the conference. They may be related to the following issues:
cultural codifications of the body
eroticism as a key notion in cultural criticism
digitalized corporeality in the new media
body and architecture
The event is dedicated especially, although not exclusively, to undergraduate and postgraduate students and younger researchers. Its program will contain two workshop sessions. The first one will be dedicated to reading and interpretation of the classical book by Roland Barthes, A Lover's Discourse: Fragments. We will thus analyse the literary and philosophical vision of the body “abducted by the image”. During the second workshop session we will explore the intertextual relationship between another two foundational texts: 17th century Letters of the Portuguese Nun and the 20th century New Portuguese Letters. The rest of the program will be filled with the presentation of the conference papers, discussion, as well as the key-notes of our national and international guests. A special panel will deal with the problems of architecture understood as a materialization of the expenditure that persists after the disappearance of constructors and inhabitants, survives the broken link with the ephemeral bodies.
Faculty "Artes Liberales", University of Warsaw, 10-11.06.2016.
It has always been a dream of the humanity to transgress the mortal condition of our bodies, to resist ageing and decay. In no other epoch this resistance focused more attention than in ours. Yet ephemerality, not eternity is the essence of the human condition, as it was genially resumed in the image of a “weathered skeleton in windy fields of memory” contained in a 17th century haiku by Matsuo Bashō.
Against the fragility of our bodies, there is the apparent solidity of things. We expect the results of our productive work might last forever. Yet this hope is equally frustrated, because things decay as much as we do. This is why Georges Bataille formulated his alternative principles of “general economy”, in which expenditure is more fundamental than production. His model is that of a sun that freely expands its energy without asking anything in return. In this anti-utilitarian vision of life, a special place is reserved to eroticism as a dimension in which the human being becomes truly sovereign. Jean Baudrillard opposed his own concept of “symbolic exchange” and “symbolic society” to the predominant, post-Marxian philosophy of productivist societies. His book On Seduction is a consequence of such a vision, in which eroticism epitomizes overflow and prodigality of symbolic exchange. On the other hand, Agata Bielik-Robson proposed her own concept of Erros, synthesising the vitalist principle of erotic energy and that of creative error.
The main aim of this conference is to analyse the ephemeral, and yet sovereign condition of man understood as a being of excess, giving away his or her exorbitant creative energy, overflowing the boundaries of the body.
We invite the submission of original papers in English or Polish, related to the theme of the conference. They may be related to the following issues:
cultural codifications of the body
eroticism as a key notion in cultural criticism
digitalized corporeality in the new media
body and architecture
The event is dedicated especially, although not exclusively, to undergraduate and postgraduate students and younger researchers. Its program will contain two workshop sessions. The first one will be dedicated to reading and interpretation of the classical book by Roland Barthes, A Lover's Discourse: Fragments. We will thus analyse the literary and philosophical vision of the body “abducted by the image”. During the second workshop session we will explore the intertextual relationship between another two foundational texts: 17th century Letters of the Portuguese Nun and the 20th century New Portuguese Letters. The rest of the program will be filled with the presentation of the conference papers, discussion, as well as the key-notes of our national and international guests. A special panel will deal with the problems of architecture understood as a materialization of the expenditure that persists after the disappearance of constructors and inhabitants, survives the broken link with the ephemeral bodies.
Poza własnym językiem. Twórczość pisarzy posługujących się językiem wyuczonym
Sesja Międzywydziałowego Zespołu Komparatystyki przy Wydziale „Artes Liberales” UW, 10.06.2015
The materials will be collected for publication soon.
Sesja Międzywydziałowego Zespołu Komparatystyki przy Wydziale „Artes Liberales” UW, 10.06.2015
The materials will be collected for publication soon.
| pozawłasnymjęzykiem-2.pdf |
