A Bell Tower for Michel Foucault
Registration Deadline: Thursday, Oct 1, 202611:44 PMEDT
Submission Deadline: Thursday, Oct 15, 202611:44 PMEDT
A BELL TOWER FOR MICHEL FOUCAULT
Michel Foucault was born in Poitiers, the city of 100 bell towers.
He was born 100 years ago.
So we invite you to imagine a bell tower for this seminal philosopher, the 101st bell tower in Poitiers.
This philosopher was also an activist, that is, he was not hiding, "philosophically," behind his desk. So he descended on the streets, sometimes.
A philosopher who descends on the street can only receive our admiration, so he certainly would deserve a commemorative bell tower.
We need more philosophers like him.
The professor who was also, somehow, an anti-professor.
The influence of Friedrich Nietzsche ? Yes, and it was acknowledged.
It was said that French culture tells one: "be like me," while the German culture tells one: "be yourself!"
So this is what Foucault did: he was himself.
He became himself.
He could have lived longer, but a life is not measured, perhaps, by the number of its years, but by its intensity.
Attracted by both sex and violence, Foucault was also attracted, earlier in his life, by the work of the Swiss psychologist Ludwig Binswanger. "In 1954, Foucault authored an introduction to Binswanger's paper "Dream and Existence", in which he argued that dreams constituted "the birth of the world" or "the heart laid bare", expressing the mind's deepest desires" (from the Wikipedia entry on Foucault).
But his interest and praise of sado-masochistic activity made him declare it ""the real creation of new possibilities of pleasure, which people had no idea about previously."
So how to negotiate between the "heart laid bare" of dreams and the violence of sado-masochism ?
Maybe this is the real question, although ethical, social concerns also animated Foucault, explicitly.
So how would a bell tower for Michel Foucault look like ? It would have to be "controversial," contorted, to an extent... a contorted tower ? Why not ? It would not be, without question, simplistically and in a self-assured way, straight. No straight tower in this case.
Please choose the most convenient, or even the most inconvenient site for your proposal, within the city of Poitiers. Wasn't he, after all, an "inconvenient" philosopher ? Don't be afraid of being unconventional and don't be afraid to imagine a most "controversial" tower.
As for the bell(s), what can we say ?... it is an issue worth exploring.
I C A R C H
Michel Foucault was born in Poitiers, the city of 100 bell towers.
He was born 100 years ago.
So we invite you to imagine a bell tower for this seminal philosopher, the 101st bell tower in Poitiers.
This philosopher was also an activist, that is, he was not hiding, "philosophically," behind his desk. So he descended on the streets, sometimes.
A philosopher who descends on the street can only receive our admiration, so he certainly would deserve a commemorative bell tower.
We need more philosophers like him.
The professor who was also, somehow, an anti-professor.
The influence of Friedrich Nietzsche ? Yes, and it was acknowledged.
It was said that French culture tells one: "be like me," while the German culture tells one: "be yourself!"
So this is what Foucault did: he was himself.
He became himself.
He could have lived longer, but a life is not measured, perhaps, by the number of its years, but by its intensity.
Attracted by both sex and violence, Foucault was also attracted, earlier in his life, by the work of the Swiss psychologist Ludwig Binswanger. "In 1954, Foucault authored an introduction to Binswanger's paper "Dream and Existence", in which he argued that dreams constituted "the birth of the world" or "the heart laid bare", expressing the mind's deepest desires" (from the Wikipedia entry on Foucault).
But his interest and praise of sado-masochistic activity made him declare it ""the real creation of new possibilities of pleasure, which people had no idea about previously."
So how to negotiate between the "heart laid bare" of dreams and the violence of sado-masochism ?
Maybe this is the real question, although ethical, social concerns also animated Foucault, explicitly.
So how would a bell tower for Michel Foucault look like ? It would have to be "controversial," contorted, to an extent... a contorted tower ? Why not ? It would not be, without question, simplistically and in a self-assured way, straight. No straight tower in this case.
Please choose the most convenient, or even the most inconvenient site for your proposal, within the city of Poitiers. Wasn't he, after all, an "inconvenient" philosopher ? Don't be afraid of being unconventional and don't be afraid to imagine a most "controversial" tower.
As for the bell(s), what can we say ?... it is an issue worth exploring.
Please send us your work digitally, to [email protected], by October 15th, when there will be 100 years since Foucault's birth. Please use two sheets format A1, oriented vertically. If you have any questions, please contact us. Please register through our website by October 1st. We will publish all the works received on our website and we also plan to have a traveling exhibition.
I C A R C H
Share
0 Comments
Comment as :