Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
Special Event: Terry Eagleton Talk
Celebrating the 11th year of Theory Tuesdays, the renown British literary theorist Terry Eagleton paid a visit and gave an informal talk about “Humor” at Reseda Lochergut.
Theory Tuesdays was a nonacademic platform for theoretical discussion founded, organized and coordinated by artist Philip Matesic from 2009 until 2022 in Zürich, Switzerland.
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
Celebrating the 11th year of Theory Tuesdays, the renown British literary theorist Terry Eagleton paid a visit and gave an informal talk about “Humor” at Reseda Lochergut.
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
LOCATION: Atelier Hermann Haller (Höschgasse 6, 8008 Zürich)
For this session, Melanie Gruetter selected a chapter from the book Lonely: Learning to Live with Solitude by Emily White (Harper Perennial, 2011).
The Canadian author, Emily White, explores the theme of loneliness in her book of the same name. White points to the issue by bringing together a spectrum of theories, extending them around her own story of (s.c. chronic) loneliness. The author shows that it is not possible for a lonely person to get out of the condition of loneliness without the help of others. Due to the growing individualism and alienation in Western culture, loneliness (and all behavior that follows out of it) is often stigmatized and help is not available.
Participants: 8
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Daniel Morgenthaler selected the essay “A Brief Glossary of Social Sadism” by Ana Teixeira Pinto and Kerstin Stakemeier from Texte Zur Kunst Issue No. 116 / December 2019, themed “Evil”.
Participants: 17 (including Terry Eagleton)
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Philip Matesic selected a chapter from the book Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton (Yale University Press, 2011).
“In this combative, controversial book, Terry Eagleton takes issue with the prejudice that Marxism is dead and done with. Taking ten of the most common objections to Marxism—that it leads to political tyranny, that it reduces everything to the economic, that it is a form of historical determinism, and so on—he demonstrates in each case what a woeful travesty of Marx’s own thought these assumptions are. In a world in which capitalism has been shaken to its roots by some major crises, Why Marx Was Right is as urgent and timely as it is brave and candid.” -Back Cover
Participants: 10
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Sabine Hagmann selected the chapter “Living with Ghosts – From Appropriation to Invocation” from the book Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want by Jan Verwoert (Sternberg Press, 2010).
Appropriation, first of all, is a common technique. People appropriate when they make things their own and integrate them into their way of life, by buying or stealing commodities, acquiring knowledge, claiming places as theirs and so on. Artists appropriate when they adopt imagery, concepts and ways of making art other artists have used at other times to adapt these artistic means to their own interests, or when they take objects, images or practices from popular (or foreign) cultures and restage them within the context of their work to either enrich or erode conventional definitions of what an artwork can be.
Participants: 10
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
During this 2020 spring planning session, anyone was invited to propose a future Theory Tuesdays session or Practical Fridays workshop in German or English. Everyone briefly presented their text selection(s) and/or workshop idea(s), then we will collectively filled in a calender.
Theory Tuesdays Guidelines – Texts selected and discussed are about contemporary art, architecture, design, critical and literary theory. A typical session is two hours in length, with a PDF (to be read beforehand) no longer than 20, A4 PAGES. For inspiration, documentation of all 227 Theory Tuesdays sessions can be found HERE.
Practical Fridays Guidelines – A non-professional conducts a hands-on, practical workshop. The workshop should be no longer than three hours in length and everyone in attendance should be able to participate. The location is determined by the person running the workshop. For inspiration, documentation of all 31 Practical Fridays workshops can be found HERE.
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Vera Mühlebach selected excerpts from the book Arts in Place: The Arts, the Urban and Social Practice by Cara Courage (Routledge, 2017).
“This interdisciplinary book explores the role of art in placemaking in urban environments, analysing how artists and communities use arts to improve their quality of life. It explores the concept of social practice placemaking, where artists and community members are seen as equal experts in the process. Drawing on examples of local level projects from the USA and Europe, the book explores the impact of these projects on the people involved, on their relationship to the place around them, and on city policy and planning practice.” -Book cover
Participants: 5
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Tanja Luchsinger selected the essay “Feminist Theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Egyptian Islamic Revival” by Saba Mahmood (Cultural Anthropology, Vol.16, May 2001).
In this essay, Mahmood explores the complicated relationship between feminist scholarship and women involved in what they would label as “patriarchal religious traditions” such as Islam. She sheds light on a specific (secular-liberal/western) notion of “human agency” applied in a lot of feminist work which according to her limits the ability to understand the actions of women whose lives and desires have been shaped by non-liberal traditions. This essay offers an opportunity to question the concept of agency, the desire for freedom and look at the dilemma some issues of cultural specificity poses for secular-liberal politics today.
Participants: 8
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
For this session, Leila Peacock selected two chapters from the book Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher (Zero Books, 2009) to discuss.
“After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system – a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The book analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework. Using examples from politics, films, fiction, work and education, it argues that capitalist realism colours all areas of contemporary experience. But it will also show that, because of a number of inconsistencies and glitches internal to the capitalist reality program capitalism in fact is anything but realistic.” -Book Cover
Participants: 16
Thursday 1st January 1970, 12:00am
Für diese Runde hat Max Zeckau das Essay “Brücke und Tür” von Georg Simmel (Wagenbach, 1984) ausgewählt. Georg Simmel überlegt in seinem 1909 erschienenen Text “Brücke und Tür,” was eine Brücke verbindet oder was eine Tür trennt, und wie beide mit dem Bild zusammenhängen, das wir uns von der Welt machen.
Teilnehmer: 8