In support of the UCU Industrial Action, we have rearranged two of our forthcoming sessions as Teach-Outs. This means that these sessions will now be held in different locations to what was previously advertised.
Non-Places, Simulacra and Simulation (March 3rd, The Bristol Pear)
The first of our sessions will follow a break-out format, and will focus on extracts from Marc Augé’s Non-Places, alongside Jean Baudrillard’s writing on Disneyland and the Watergate Scandal in Simulacra and Simulation. In Non-Places, Marc Augé considers spaces symptomatic of modernity; locations where we spend large portions of our time, but with only a partial awareness of their affects, such as: supermarkets, shopping centres, motorways, airports, and hotels. In the second work, and in slight contrast to the first, Baudrillard reads Disneyland as the “real” America. That is to say as a sort of fantasy waste-plant that allows the rest of America (explicitly Los Angeles) to present itself as if it were the “real” America, when it is no less imaginary than Disneyland itself.
There will be no preparatory reading for this session. Instead, a handout will be provided and we invite participants to think about their own encounters with Non-Places. As this is a strike themed teach-out, we are particularly interested in considering University space as both a non-place, and an environment that acts as a microcosm for the “reality” of the workspace, and the “outer world”. There is also room for wider discussion, which may be instigated through the relation Baudrillard’s writing has to recent Tweets made by Donald Trump about the Russian interference with the Democratic Primaries.
- When? March 3rd, 3-4pm,
- Where? The Bristol Pear
- Who? Anyone is Welcome
Mark Fisher – DIY Lecture Screening (March 10th, The Guild (room TBC))
Following the success of our previous teach-out, we will also be screening Mark Fisher’s DIY Lecture. Performing at the Tillburg Music Festival in 2012, Fisher speaks about DIY culture with his usual high-quality improvisation, and politically prescient riffs and digressions. This screening will be followed by an open discussion of the Lecture, and how it relates to the strikes (sort of like a seminar).
- When? March 10th, 3-5pm
- Where? The Guild of Students (Room TBC)
- Who? All Welcome!
For updates about future session, and access to reading, please request to join our mailing list by contacting contemptheoryuob@gmail.com
A full list of Teach Out sessions can be found here.
In Solidarity,
The Contemporary Theory Reading Group