I had the honor of being invited on the Scholars’ Circle to discuss my article, “The CIA Reads French Theory,” and its implications for understanding recent political and cultural history. Click here to listen.
I was very happy to have the opportunity to present my research on Nietzsche, Foucault, genealogy and counter-history at the annual conference of the North Texas Philosophical Association. A special thanks to Dale Wilkerson, Cynthia Nielsen, Charles Bambach, Michael Vendsel and the other organizers for coordinating such an excellent program.
The introduction to my book Counter-History of the Present: Untimely Interrogations into Globalization, Technology, Democracy, which is forthcoming in early May with Duke University Press, is now available online here. The original French version of the book was recently published by CNRS Éditions. Click here for details.
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A detailed review of Radical History & the Politics of Art by Ioana Vartolomei Pribiag was published here in SubStance 46:1 (2017).
Excerpt: “Radical History and the Politics of Art invites us to abandon many of the myths upon which debates on art and politics have relied for decades. The book successfully breaks with the binary logic behind the majority of studies on this subject and puts into question the widely accepted theory of aesthetic autonomy. Rockhill’s insightful critique of Jacques Rancière’s thought, his valuable reevaluation of the politics of avant-garde art, and his numerous concrete examples drawn from a variety of artistic traditions and commonly overlooked arts such as architecture, ensure that this work will quickly become a versatile reference. Overall this is a stimulating and forcefully argued book that clears the ground for future scholarship on the social politicity of art.”
A special thanks to Passa Palavra for publishing a Portuguese translation of my article “The CIA Reads French Theory.” Click here to read it.
Machete: Art in Times of Political Crisis
What can–or should be–the role of artistic practice in situations of political crisis? How are we to best understand and theoretically explicate the political contributions of the cultural world? To address these and related questions, the Machete Group proposes to explore a trans-cultural constellation of flashpoints in the global struggle of the arts:
-Participatory art in Latin America that merges with left social movements and works to denounce state and economic terrorism.
– The international political economy surrounding Guernica and the struggle against Nazism, which challenges the well-known critique of Picasso’s political impotence developed by Sartre and Adorno
– Omid Shekari’s paintings that embody an Iranian gaze that confronts Western viewers with the harsh realities of conflicts within the Middle East that have been sublimated and distorted by mainstream media.
Join Machete members David Dempewolf, Sebastien Derenoncourt, Jennifer Ponce de León, Gabriel Rockhill and Yuka Yokoyama for a challenging collective discussion concerning the role of cultural producers in the darkest of political times.
Friday, 10 March 2017, Marginal Utility Gallery, Philadelphia, 7:00-9:00pm. For more information, and to download the pre-circulated texts, click here.
A special thanks to Rubee Talal for publishing an arabic translation of significant parts of my article “The CIA Reads French Theory.” Click here to read it.
Update: a complete arabic translation of the article is now available here.
Muchas gracias a Héctor Meléndez por este texto sobre mi artículo “La CIA lee la teoría francesa.” Haga clic aquí para leer.
GABRIEL ROCKHILL 