SEMINAR ON TRANSCENDENCE AND MONSTERS: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTION
On Transcendence and Monsters
Call for contributions
[Organised by Postesecular Architecture Research Network and Space, Cultures and Politics (The University of Sheffield) research group, coordinated by Krzysztof Nawratek and Luis Hernan]
Ghosts are a fruitful figure in theory. Notions of ghosts, spectres and ghouls reminds us of a time that was enchanted, of a pre-enlightenment era where magical and religious thought had a wide and accepted role in culture and society. A time, that is, before our secular era that seems allergic to transcendence and has, instead, turned to immanence as the acceptable progressive, materialistic way of thinking. Spectres also reminds us of the Derridean understanding of presence: of entities which are not ‘present’ but are able to exert agency on us. It reminds us of haunting, of a time out of joint. It alludes to our current cultural anachronistic condition. Of the Future being cancelled.
On Transcendence and Monsters invites contributions that explore all things spectral, especially as it touches on notions of transcendence and religion as points of reference and/or the figure of the ghost, ghouls, spectres and monstrous figures in research. Papers and other forms of delivery will be organised around two tracks, as detailed below.
Track one — post-secular thought
It could be said that contemporary philosophy is allergic to transcendence. Immanence is the only perspective which is acceptable as a ‘proper’, progressive and materialistic way of thinking. Any reference to transcendence is seen as a backward, reactionary intellectual position.
In that context, even postsecularism, introduced at the beginning of the 21st century by Jurgen Habermas, as an attempt to allow religious languages and logics to be included into the public sphere (something that was rejected by post-enlightened European thought since the 18th century) operates mostly in an area of language and culture. For Habermas and his followers, religion is just a socio-cultural phenomenon, which could be analysed as any other subculture.
Could then transcendental intellectual reflection be accepted? Could it be used as a foundation for progressive thinking?
For architects and urbanists, thinking about something ‘out there’, thinking about the context is ‘natural’. This is the way how any architectural narrative is created. Is the process of contextualisation limited? Could transcendence as a reference be useful in the spatial reflection? If there is anything ‘out there’, what is it? Is it alien - ‘The Absolute Other’? Is it Cthulhu? Or these are also repressed human deeds? Isn’t the incoming ecological disaster our creation - even if we don’t really understand the ultimate consequences of our own actions? Frankenstein’s monster, Ghouls, Zombies, Vampires… they were humans. They were us.
Track two — Owing to lack of interest, tomorrow has been cancelled
We live in hauntological times. Mark Fisher points at the eerie feeling of the flow of cultural time seemingly stopping with the turn of the century. Fashion and musical styles, once considered cultural markers of time and progress, are caught up in a constant revival of the past, replaying, rehashing and remixing styles of bygone eras. A nostalgia for the past has infected our capacity to imagine the future as a better, more prosperous time. The future is cancelled, to echo the phrase of Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi.
In an anachronistic context, ghosts, ghouls and spectres emerge as a metaphor to speak of times out of joint. The ambiguous materiality of digital technologies chimes well with the ghost, neither present nor absent; its agency across generations a description of the way we seem to exist in multiple ‘realities’, virtual and actual, without committing to neither. Just as in Derrida’s original use of hauntology, the ghost remains a fruitful figure to diagnose established political and economic orthodoxies implode and disappear, unable to deal with an increasingly complex, multipolar reality. Spectral figures, however, are not only useful in diagnosing current conditions, but hold a creative potential to imagine new realities. Ghouls and other monstrous figures invite us to consider a reality that is beyond description. H.P. Lovecraft developed his weird fiction by describing slippery entities obliquely, recognising the possibility of a privileged way of grasping reality by admitting the inadequacy of human perception.
We would like you to prepare a 10 – 15 minutes presentation
Please send your proposals as a title and an abstract (max. 300 words) until 17th of January
Call for contributions
[Organised by Postesecular Architecture Research Network and Space, Cultures and Politics (The University of Sheffield) research group, coordinated by Krzysztof Nawratek and Luis Hernan]
Ghosts are a fruitful figure in theory. Notions of ghosts, spectres and ghouls reminds us of a time that was enchanted, of a pre-enlightenment era where magical and religious thought had a wide and accepted role in culture and society. A time, that is, before our secular era that seems allergic to transcendence and has, instead, turned to immanence as the acceptable progressive, materialistic way of thinking. Spectres also reminds us of the Derridean understanding of presence: of entities which are not ‘present’ but are able to exert agency on us. It reminds us of haunting, of a time out of joint. It alludes to our current cultural anachronistic condition. Of the Future being cancelled.
On Transcendence and Monsters invites contributions that explore all things spectral, especially as it touches on notions of transcendence and religion as points of reference and/or the figure of the ghost, ghouls, spectres and monstrous figures in research. Papers and other forms of delivery will be organised around two tracks, as detailed below.
Track one — post-secular thought
It could be said that contemporary philosophy is allergic to transcendence. Immanence is the only perspective which is acceptable as a ‘proper’, progressive and materialistic way of thinking. Any reference to transcendence is seen as a backward, reactionary intellectual position.
In that context, even postsecularism, introduced at the beginning of the 21st century by Jurgen Habermas, as an attempt to allow religious languages and logics to be included into the public sphere (something that was rejected by post-enlightened European thought since the 18th century) operates mostly in an area of language and culture. For Habermas and his followers, religion is just a socio-cultural phenomenon, which could be analysed as any other subculture.
Could then transcendental intellectual reflection be accepted? Could it be used as a foundation for progressive thinking?
For architects and urbanists, thinking about something ‘out there’, thinking about the context is ‘natural’. This is the way how any architectural narrative is created. Is the process of contextualisation limited? Could transcendence as a reference be useful in the spatial reflection? If there is anything ‘out there’, what is it? Is it alien - ‘The Absolute Other’? Is it Cthulhu? Or these are also repressed human deeds? Isn’t the incoming ecological disaster our creation - even if we don’t really understand the ultimate consequences of our own actions? Frankenstein’s monster, Ghouls, Zombies, Vampires… they were humans. They were us.
Track two — Owing to lack of interest, tomorrow has been cancelled
We live in hauntological times. Mark Fisher points at the eerie feeling of the flow of cultural time seemingly stopping with the turn of the century. Fashion and musical styles, once considered cultural markers of time and progress, are caught up in a constant revival of the past, replaying, rehashing and remixing styles of bygone eras. A nostalgia for the past has infected our capacity to imagine the future as a better, more prosperous time. The future is cancelled, to echo the phrase of Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi.
In an anachronistic context, ghosts, ghouls and spectres emerge as a metaphor to speak of times out of joint. The ambiguous materiality of digital technologies chimes well with the ghost, neither present nor absent; its agency across generations a description of the way we seem to exist in multiple ‘realities’, virtual and actual, without committing to neither. Just as in Derrida’s original use of hauntology, the ghost remains a fruitful figure to diagnose established political and economic orthodoxies implode and disappear, unable to deal with an increasingly complex, multipolar reality. Spectral figures, however, are not only useful in diagnosing current conditions, but hold a creative potential to imagine new realities. Ghouls and other monstrous figures invite us to consider a reality that is beyond description. H.P. Lovecraft developed his weird fiction by describing slippery entities obliquely, recognising the possibility of a privileged way of grasping reality by admitting the inadequacy of human perception.
We would like you to prepare a 10 – 15 minutes presentation
Please send your proposals as a title and an abstract (max. 300 words) until 17th of January