Event Date: 27 and 28 April 2012
Room B35
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street, Bloomsbury
London WC1E 7HX
Birkbeck School of Law and the Serpentine Gallery present
Poetics of Anxiety and Security: the problem of speech and action in our time. Homi Bhabha on Auden and Arendt
Birkbeck School of Law and Serpentine Gallery are hosting a two-day conference exploring two key works by poet W.H. Auden and political theorist Hannah Arendt. Led by internationally-renowned Harvard academic Homi Bhabha, participants will investigate Auden’s The Age of Anxiety and Arendt’s prolific oeuvre, in particular the links between the works, the relevance of poetry and the wider issue of security. This multi-disciplinary event will include lectures, discussions, screenings, poetry readings and performances to examine essential questions about the relationship between poetry, politics and art.
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PROGRAMME
Friday 27 April
Welcome by
Julia Peyton-Jones (Serpentine Gallery)
Introduction by
Oscar Guardiola-Rivera (Birkbeck)
Reading 1:
Eleanor Bron reads excerpts from W. H. Auden’s Age of Anxiety (1948)
Lecture:
Homi K. Bhabha – Poetics of Anxiety and Security: The Problem of Speech and Action in Our Time
[AUDIO HERE]
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Reading 2
Eleanor Bron reads excerpts from W. H. Auden’s Age of Anxiety (1948)
Open Classroom 1:
W. H. Auden – Open discussion of passages from Audenís work
with Oscar Guardiola-Rivera, Maria Aristodemou, Homi Bhabha, Costas Douzinas,Eleanor Bron, William Kentridge and the audience, chaired by Susannah Gottlieb
Screening:
Andrea Geyer – Criminal Case 40/61: Reverb
Trailer:
Saturday 28 April
Welcome and Introduction by
Julia Peyton-Jones (Serpentine Gallery)
Open Classroom 2 :
Hannah Arendt – open discussion of passages from Arendt’s work
with Maria Aristodemou, Patricia Tuitt, Homi Bhabha, chaired by Costas Douzinas
Lecture:
Introduction by Homi Bhabha
Susannah Gottlieb – Poetry in Times of Need
Closing comments by Homi Bhabha
[AUDIO HERE]
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William Kentridge in conversation
introduced by Homi Bhabha
Lecture:
Costas Douzinas – Unhappy Borders: History, Memory, Law
[AUDIO HERE]
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Clive Phillpot reading from Gustav Metzger’s notes ‘Headline: The Anxiety Machine’
[AUDIO HERE]
(images forthcoming)
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Final Panel:
Reading Trauma and Anxiety in Auden and Arendt with Maria Aristodemou, Andrea Geyer, the speakers and the audience, chaired by Patricia Tuitt
Closing comments .