Bitter Lizards Part 1: Truth and Lies in Adam Curtis’s Afghanistan
April 30, 2015
In the first of two posts, our own Max Bacharach (MA in Critical Theory and Cultural Studies) reflects on Adam Curtis’ latest documentary, Bitter Lake …. It is uncontentious, I think, to say that today, documentaries are ubiquitous, as too is hunger for the ‘truth(s)’ they apparently waste no time in serving up. Some resonate …
Isabelle Stengers talk at the Contemporary
February 23, 2015
For those of you who couldn’t make it to the talk by Isabelle Stengers (also in coversation with professor Sarah Whatmore from the University of Oxford) entitled ‘Provocations of Gaia’ which took place at the Nottingham Contemporary on the 17th of February, please find below the link to the video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-H1JgxE2mA Enjoy, and feel …
Syriza and the Global Minotaur
February 9, 2015
Abi Rhodes, taking our MA in Critical Theory and Politics, provides some much-needed perspective both on the situation in Greece and on a key text by Greece’s newly elected finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who now faces an enormous but crucial task in challenging the politics of autsterity in Europe …. Syriza and the Global Minotaur The beginning of …
Aesthetics of Crisis: A Lecture and Seminar with Brian Holmes (23/01/15)
January 13, 2015
Continuing in The Centre for Critical Theory’s ongoing series on ‘Neoliberalism, Crisis and Criticism’, we are pleased to announce ‘Aesthetics of Crisis’, a seminar which will take place 2-5pm in the Meeting Room of the Nottingham Contemporary on the 23rd of January 2015. All are very welcome to attend, but for the purposes of participation, it is expected …
Critical Autism Forum Launch Weekend Report
January 5, 2015
The 29 and 30 November saw the launch of the Critical Autism Forum with a special film screening and linked workshop. Tom Harding provides a brief report of the weekend’s events.
An Outline of Two of Tiqqun’s Concepts: ‘Civil War’ and ‘Bloom’
December 19, 2014
The following was just one of the presentations given during the ‘Anti-Market’ section of the Vital Theory symposium that took place at the Nottingham Contemporary on the 12th of December 2014. Our very own David Eckersley (former MA and now PhD student in the Centre for Critical Theory) offers a quick take on two key …
Vital Theory Paper: Re-membering, human rights and neoliberalism
The human rights project, ostensibly hegemonic since the collapse of communism, has gained most traction in so- called transitional societies, a term which does not describe an anomaly, so much as it does a practice designed to manage the global order of things. It describes the ever more frequent process in which the end of …
Call for Papers – Time Served: Discipline and Punish 40 years on (11-12 September 2015, Galleries of Justice, Nottingham, UK)
December 16, 2014
40 years after it was first published in French, the impact of Michel Foucault’s seminal text Discipline and Punish on theories of incarceration, discipline and power remains largely unchallenged. The aim of this conference is to revisit the text in light of the past four decades of penal developments, public debate and social consciousness on …
Debord is dead, long live Debord!
December 4, 2014
Twenty years ago, Guy Debord, the French thinker responsible for The Society of the Spectacle (a book, a ‘sequel’, and a film) and figurehead of the Situationist movement, took his own life. It seems an appropriate moment to reflect. Rather than sentimentally recalling his ‘finest moments’ and sycophantically inventorying his ‘greatest ideas’ – which would, …
Youtube Link for Stuart Elden’s Talk at the Nottingham Contemporary
November 16, 2014
For those of you who couldn’t make it, or for those of you who simply want to see it again, the Youtube link for Professor Stuart Elden’s talk at the Nottingham Contemporary last week is here: Happy Viewing! Best, Colin Wright
