Saturday, September 8, 2012
Carnival to Commons: Pussy Riot Punk Protest and the Exercise of Democratic Culture
by Claire Tancons
[…]
4. Return of the Balagan
Pussy Riot have already garnered a wide following around the
world, albeit more so in Europe than anywhere else, and they are under
discussion to copyright their name. On the day of or in the days immediately
following their trial, balaclava-clad copycats, sometimes armed with guitars,
attacked cathedrals and churches and other Christian religious symbols, which
seem to have been their main target. A small group managed to climb up the
Grossmuenster Cathedral in Zurich to tie up a monumental Pussy Riot Banner on
the façade. On Sunday 19, two male Germans and a female Austrian were reported
to have interrupted a church service at Cologne’s cathedral. The most
carnivalesque aspect of these acts, in the absence of a coherent target, was
their spontaneous solidarity. As for the members of the topless feminist
activist group FEMEN, who assailed Patriarch Kirill on a visit to Kiev and used
a chainsaw to cut down a cross, they missed the mark altogether with
spectacular but uncarnivalesque actions devoid of the identificatory and
counter-identificatory tensions that can provoke reversals of roles or
functions like the symbolic decrowning of Putin and defrocking of Kirill.
“Russia takes to the streets to say goodbye to the regime,”
says one free member of Pussy Riot in the latest released song, “Putin sets the
Fires to Revolution.” Russia has been a country of revolutions before, and
Pussy Riot has lit and extinguished their own fires in prior performances. Of
the good intentions paving the road to democracy, Hardt and Negri joke about
“[…] the Soviets who battling capitalist domination thought they were headed
for a new democracy but ended up in a bureaucratic state machine.”21 There
is little hope that an old-style communism or a nominal democracy will
inaugurate a new era of cultural revolution. At the very least, Pussy Riot is
well on its way to consolidating Russia’s democratic culture. “Russia takes to
the streets to say goodbye to the regime./ Russia takes to the streets to say
goodbye to the regime.” The refrain might well take Pussy Riot and their
growing mass of supporters to the top charts, and the balagan then
will make a full comeback to save the world.
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The author welcomes any comments on this essay at carnivalagainstcapital@gmail.com
Friday, September 7, 2012
Panel discussion on Aloni’s What Does a Jew Want?: On Binationalism and Other Specters
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 7:00pm Miller Theatre
Notes
This event is free and open to the public.
No tickets or registration necessary.
Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
Co-Sponsors
School of the Arts
Heyman Center for the Humanities
This panel discussion is part of the series,
"Theory-Art-Action: On Binationalism and Other Specters,"
co-sponsored by the School of the Arts and the Heyman Center for the
Humanities.
The topic for tonight's event will be Udi Aloni's newly
published book, What Does a Jew Want?: On Binationalism and Other Specters (CU
Press, 2011). The panel includes Udi Aloni, Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek,
and Alisa Solomon; the moderator will be James Schamus.
Participants
Featured Speakers
Filmmaker
Associate Professor of Journalism
Columbia University
Rene Descartes Chair
European Graduate School
Cultural Critic and Professor of Philosophy and
Psychoanalysis
The European Graduate School
Moderator
Professor of Professional Practice
Columbia University
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Queen Elizabeth Hall, 24 November
SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK
Saturday 24 November 2012
After his sold out appearance in Royal Festival Hall in
2010, Slavoj Žižek returns to Southbank Centre to discuss 'The Year of Dreaming
Dangerously', his analysis of the riots and revolutions that swept the world
last year.
As part of our series on Modernism, Žižek discusses how
these events augur a new political reality - fragments of a utopian future
lying dormant in the present.
He considers the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street within
the rapidly shifting world order before taking questions from the audience.
'The thinker of choice for Europe's young intellectual
vanguard.' (Observer)
Book Tickets Now
Select your preferred date and time below. If a performance
is no longer available it will not be clickable.
[…]
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Irish Co-Production ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’ Secures Doc & Film Distribution
Irish co-production ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’ has
been picked up by French distribution company Doc & Film International in a
deal negotiated by Blinder Films’ Katie Holly and Doc & Films’ Daniela
Elstner.
The Paris-based sales house is expected to release the
documentary Europe-wide following its world premiere at this week’s Toronto
International Film Festival.
The documentary is a co-production between Dublin’s Blinder
Films and P Guide Productions in the UK. It is a sequel to director Sophie
Fiennes’ ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema’, released in 2006.
‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’ sees Slovenian philosopher
and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek explore different ideologies through the use of
classic film clips, using ‘A Clockwork Orange’, ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘The Sound of
Music’ as examples.
Fiennes directed, with Blinder’s Holly producing. James
Wilson, Martin Rosenbaum and Sophie Fiennes co-produced for P Guide
Productions. Žižek wrote the script and presented.
Speaking of the deal with Doc & Film, which previously
distributed Fiennes’ ‘Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow’, the director said:
“I’m thrilled to be working again with Daniela and the team at Doc & Film.
I really appreciate her continued commitment to the film and the audience for
it.”
The 134 minute-long film was shot mainly in Ardmore
Studios in Wicklow in 2011, before moving on to locations in LA. Dun
Laoghaire-based EMC Ltd looked after post-production, with Ardmore Sound
looking after sound.
The documentary was funded by the Irish Film Board, the BFI
Film Fund, Film 4, Channel 4 and Rooks Nest Entertainment.
‘The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology’ will screen at TIFF on
September 7, joining seven other Irish-attached productions, including
‘Byzantium’; ‘The Sapphires’; ‘Jump’; ‘Men at Lunch’; ‘Call Girl’; ‘Anna
Karenina’ and ‘Seven Psychopaths’.
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