Violence is a complex and overdetermined term. More and more people are becoming aware of the de facto increase of violence and the brutalization of its practices. Openly racist, sexist and “classist” discrimination and attacks–but also various forms of symbolic violence–testify to its omnipresence. The violence we are currently experiencing has contributed to the emergence and politicization of a new public. Manifest in various forms of expression, that public creates new alliances and encourages subjects to lead different lives.

Taking place within the framework of the exhibitions Cady Noland and Because I live here, the symposium On Violence will examine structural violence and specific forms of violence in their multifarious dimensions. To what extent are different manifestations of violence interrelated, and is violence inherent to our society or (merely) the sign of an escalating crisis?

TO VIDEO DOCUMENTATION

Saturday, 2 March

11am–1pm
Susanne Pfeffer: Introduction

Daniel Loick: Anarchy or Barbarism? Thoughts on Violence

Alberto Toscano: Sadism to Solidarity—Notes on Art, Philosophy and the Algerian War

2.30–4.30pm
Sayak Valencia: Gore-Capitalism

Klaus Theweleit: The Fragmented Body. Feeling “free” through Violence

5–6pm

Victoria Sanford: The Disappeared of Guatemala

Sunday, 3 March

11am–1pm
Vanessa Eileen Thompson: The Policed of the Earth. On Conditions of Un-Breathing and the Possibilities of Abolitionist Horizons

Nina Power: Philosophy as Self-Defence

2.30–4.30pm
Geoffroy de Lagasnerie: Can We Be in Favour of Violence?

Patrisse Khan-Cullors: Black Lives Matter and Art

5–6pm
Closing discussion

Moderated by Tobi Müller
Concept: Susanne Pfeffer, Anna Sailer and Pascal Jurt