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Destituent Power Lab

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Venue: Birkbeck Central

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The subject of destituent power is adopted as a critical framework for thinking together around forms of political subjectivity today. Following Giorgio Agamben’s theories of the destituent, as grounded in acts or positions of withdrawal, dispersal and exit, we’re interested to consider in what ways the destituent may lend input to reconceptualizing forms of agency and self-determination. What becomes of political subjectivity, and understandings of activism or citizenship, by way of the destituent, which is more aligned with evasion? If the destituent aims at “deactivating” the operations of constituent power, staggering today’s biopolitical systems (as built upon fundamental exclusions), what becomes of the quest for visibilization central to participation? And in what sense can it offer entry points for engaging current challenges, from educational to environmental?

The Destituent Lab is posed as a collective space for investigating together Agamben’s destituent theories. This includes sharing indvidual knowledges and practices, and utilizing the destituent as a trigger for speculating as to its effects on current research and shared concerns. As Agamben suggests, the destituent is posed as another way of thinking politics. The Lab is part of a series being organized as part of the artistic research project, Communities in Movement.

DAY 1 Reading LaB: Tuesday 16 May 2023 14:00 to 17:00: Birkbeck Central, BCB 206

Reading List: 

(a) 'For a theory of Destituent Power' Giorgio Agamben

(b) 'The Exhausted- Deleuze' (pp.1-12)  Gilles Deleuze

(c) ' The shiny, High-Tech Wolf in Sheeps's Clothing' Ruha Benjamin

(d)'Revolution and Destituent Power' Anonymous

For readings without a link email: e.loizidou@bbk.ac.uk to find out how you can access them.

 

DAY 2 Presentations and Discussion Lab: Wednesday 17 May 2023 10:00 to 17:00: Birkbeck Central, BCB 206

 9.45:-10.00: Coffee

 19.00-10.45:  Introduction: Elena Loizidou and Brandon Labelle

10.45- 11.15: Saul Newman 'What is an Insurrection? Destituent Power and and Ontological Anarchy in Agamben and Stirner'

11.15- 11.45: Clelia Bartoli 'Destituent Practices in Educational Institutions'

11.45-12.30: participants bring to the lab their reflections of their work using the presentation as a prompt the presentation

12:30-13:45 : We can walk to The Building Centre on store street and grab lunch.

14.00- 14.30 Nathan Moore 'Impersonation Depersonation/Agamben/Deleuze'.

14.30-15.00 Elin Eyborg Lund ' Performance and Destituent Power' 

15.00- 16.30: participants bring to the lab their reflections of their work using the presentation as a prompt the presentation.
15.30: 17:00 Concluding thoughts

DAY 3 Performance: Thursday 18 May 2023 10:00 to 13:00: Birkbeck Central, BCB 311
TBC

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