Performing un-belonging

"DELEUZE + ART", Trinity College, Dublin.

​The conference went close to intellectual collapse, making me feel acutely the categories of time and anachronism in humanities. We are coming late, very late to anything that concerns Deleuze.
One of the highlights was the exposition of Francis Bacon's works in the Hugh Lane Gallery, accompanied by a keynote given by Dan Smith. The title of this post, in the meanwhile, is taken from Mieke Bal, whose presentation was undoubtedly the clue of the event. She was speaking on "Madame B", an art movie we saw in the Arts Technology Research Lab later on. In fact, her reflection on acculturation, inscribed in a free interpretation of Flaubert's Madame Bovary, went close to many things I might find useful for my own transcultural aspiration. And, in more personal terms, the conference as a social event was a great exercise of performing my un-belonging in a certain kind of academic life. As propaedeutics of wisdom and intellectual sovereignty - invaluable. 
And finally, my own presentation that literally ended up in a riot about universalism - unforgettable.

Bacon's atelier

Mieke Bal and Francis Bacon

Belonging and un-belonging