CONFERENCE: Poetics of Anxiety and Security: the problem of speech and action in our time. Homi Bhabha on Auden and Arendt [Venue change and further seats available]

Homi Bhabha on Auden and Arendt

A two-day conference organised by Birkbeck and the Serpentine Gallery

[DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND THE VENUE FOR THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CHANGED AND FURTHER SEATS ARE NOW AVAILABLE]

Dates:
Friday 27 April 6.00-9.00 pm (Room B35 Malet Street) 
Saturday 28 April 10.00-7.00 (Room B35 Malet Street)
Venue: Jeffery Hall, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL 

Birkbeck School of Law, Birkbeck Institute of the Humanities and Serpentine Gallery are hosting a two-day conference exploring two key works by poet W.H. Auden and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Led by internationally-renowned Harvard academic Homi Bhabha, participants will investigate Auden’s The Age of Anxiety and Arendt’s prolific oeuvre, in particular the links between the works, the relevance of poetry and the wider issue of security. This multi-disciplinary event will include lectures, discussions, screenings, poetry readings and performances to examine essential questions about the relationship between poetry, politics and art.

Free event. All welcome.

To register click here

Provisional programme

DAY 1 – OPENING LECTURES  18.00-21.00

• 18.00-18.30 Introduction to the Conference (JPJ and Hans Ulrich Obrist for the Serpentine Gallery and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera for Birkbeck)
• 18.30-19.30 Performances and distribution of reading material / Eleanor Bron and (still TBC: Adrienne Rich, Geoffrey Hill, Michael Horovitz and Gill Johnson).
• 19.30-20.00 Break
• 20.00-20.30 Keynote lecture by Homi Bhabha
• 20.30-21.00 Questions from the audience
• 21.00-23.00 Speakers dinner

DAY 2 – STUDY DAY 10.00-19.00

• 10.00-10.30 Keynote lecture: Homi Bhabha
• 10.30-11.00 William Kentridge
• 11.00-11.30 Break
• 11.00-12.00 Panel Homi Bhabha, William Kentridge and Hans Ulrich Obrist, chaired by Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck) including questions from the audience.
• 12.00-13.00 Anish Kapoor (one work) discussed with Homi Bhabha, chaired by HUO
• 13.00-14.00 Lunch Break
• 14.00-15.00 Lecture 2: Costas Douzinas (Birkbeck) on Hannah Arendt 15:00-15.30 Break
• 15.30-16.15 Screening Andrea Geyer's film
• 16.15- 17.30 Panel Gustav Metzger, Andrea Geyer, and Maria Aristodemou, chaired by Patricia Tuitt (Birkbeck)
• 17.30-18.00 questions from the audience
• 18.00-19.00 Closing statements

N. B. This programme is provisional and subject to changes.