The Commons = X:
Inventing The Non-Given Commons

Instructor: Anne-Françoise Schmid Date & Time: Sundays, September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8 14:00 - 16:30 ET

Enroll – 375 USD

DESCRIPTION: This Seminar focuses on understanding the non-given form of the commons. We will posit that this common = X. The common = X will not be given, but would be constructed from the heterogeneity of our knowledges. This is therefore a seminar on invention, philosophical and non-philosophical. We will look for an X in contemporary art, in ethics, in the sciences, in mysticism, and we will do this, especially through the lens of their ‘impossibilities’. It is within the designation of the impossible that these domains of thought find their epistemic limitations, our task will be to transform these philosophical, mathematical (etc.) impossibilities in order to use them to treat the problems of our actual world. We will call this the rethinking of integrative objects. At the practical level, this Seminar will use practice-based workshops to explore and develop new languages and methodologies, new names and forms, and work through concepts pertaining to the unknown and the impossible. The workshops will create new ways of thinking and seeing beyond theory and practice, which leaves room for both contingency and experimentation in developing the situated knowledge that will be indigenous to all working groups. This will open up practices for translation and application as methodologies in dealing with non-given forms of the commons and our ‘impossibilities’ as conduits for inventing non-given commons. At the theoretical level, through these workshops and seminars, we aim to develop a new use-conception of language. This language will not be conceptually isolated (i.e., as gramma-text), but rather one that possesses an idea of forcing and a transformation of metaphoras (i.e., as tele-phore) leading to a mutation and operative use of language. We will thus not develop a language for language’s sake. We will start from invention, which is often understood mono-disciplinarily in philosophy, art, science, etc. We will, however, broaden the subject by adding fiction as a distinguished operator to our domain of invention. We explore how fiction prepares for the diversification of various disciplines, and finally, how creation touches more closely the forms of reality, being indifferent to disciplines while making use of them.

Logistics
We will be reading selections from the latest book written by Francois Laruelle Tetralogos (rough translations of selections into English will be provided). Other articles, essays, and media will be provided in advance of discussions. as a group, we will be collectively constructing a glossary, each will participate in leading discussions, acting as respondents, and presenting Our unique perspective throughout the Seminar. The final output will be a culmination of the workshops, presentations, and a short reflection. The eight-week Seminar is split into four thematics: (1) INTRODUCTION (2) ARCHITECTONICS (3) FICTIONS & THE REAL (4) METHODOLOGY

INTRODUCTION – Common = X & The Impossible
Session 1: The Common = X
Session 2: Impossibilities, ARCHITECTONICS – The Interdisciplinary Device for Inventing & Discovering the Commons
Session 3: Tetralogos
Session 4: Schemas & Framing: what is to be born under X? FICTIONS & THE REAL – The identity of constructing and discovering
Session 5: Generic & the Construction of the Commons
Session 6: Philosophy without Foundation, METHODOLOGY – Impossibility as Method
Session 7: Ethics as Orchestration: from without to with & the multiplicity of right
Session 8: Impossible as Method

IMAGE: Wade Guyton, Untitled (detail), 2006

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Enroll – 375 USD