140121 VO VM1 / VM7 - Critique / Contradiction / Resistance (2017W)

In this lecture series we will address the question of ´what is critique´ as well as issues regarding resistance and radical forms of subjectivity on a theoretical level, and link them, in a second step, to the level of practice and to lived forms of resistance. To that end, we want to provide a platform not only for speakers from the field of academia but also for activists and collectives alike.

Thus, we want to open up a space in which a critical engagement with resistance can take place and which allows us to reflect from different perspectives and approaches. Thereby, we also want to pursue the question of structure and agency in order to investigate which structures can be transformed through which actions and to identify spaces for resistance. Moreover, in this lecture series contradictions and differing perspectives (e.g. post-colonial, feminist, ideology critical perspectives) on resistant practices will be illuminated. With an additional focus on methods we also want to account for different possibilities for application, e.g. taking the form of a workshop or a performance.

Besides the theoretical reflection on terms such as critique, resistance and forms of subjectivity there will be discussions on emergent contradictions within our own daily practices, actions and thinking. There will be space to work on questions about identity, priviliges, normativity as well as violence which emerge in the course of dealing with the topics mentioned above. How can contradictions within societal structures offer possibilities for resistant practice? And how can spaces be imagined and transformed in order to allow reflecting upon contradictions which every individual faces so as to use these `rifts within the subject´ for emancipatory moments?

10.10. Criticise, analyse, contradict – a conceptual approach
lecture by Hans Pühretmayer (Vienna)

17.10. Feminist critique - Feminist resistance!
conversation with Fanny Müller-Uri (Vienna)

24.10. Postcolonial resistance – Resistant practices
lecture by Vlatka Frketic (Vienna)

31.10. Appropriation of space as a way of resistance?
panel with Project.Shelter (Frankfurt), Sylvi Kretschmar (Hamburg), HabiTAT (Linz)

7.11. (Inter)acting with, in or against the state
panel with Marion Löffler, Wolfram Schaffar, Elmar Flatschart (Vienna)

14.11. The neoliberally transformed university and struggles for knowledge
lecture by Alex Demirovic (Berlin)

21.11. Performance
by Stefanie-Lahya Aukongo (Berlin)

28.11. Everyday rebellion – creative forms of non-violent protest
film screening and talk with Arash Riahi (director)

05.12. Protest policing – in between protection and repression
lecture by Angelika Adensamer, Maria Sagmeister (Vienna)

12.12. Resistant workshops
t.b.a.

09.01. Affective labor – affective value?
lecture by Encarnación Gutiérrez-Rodríguez (Gieben)

16.01. Strategic essentialism – regarding the problem of collective identities in the left
lecture by Jens Kastner (Vienna)

23.01. Emancipatory education as resistance
panel with Netzwerk für Demokratie und Courage (D), Norina Müller (Wuppertal), Daniela Holzer (Graz)

30.01. Counter-expertise - Poulantzas‘ critique of the division of labor as contribution to a ‘new class politics‘
lecture by Alexander Gallas (Kassel)

(Most lectures will be held in German with the possibility of individual translation.)