I recently met up with Darren Murphy the convenor of Not Too Critical - an inclusive and informal discussion group based in Manchester, relocating to Edinburgh for the next six weeks. I'm really looking forward to this series of events which use elected texts and media to inform conversations surrounding "creative matters" with emphasis on the notion of institutions and location and the attached social effects.
The first three meetings shall see us use Irit Rogoff's seminal text 'What is a Theorist?' as the catalyst of each conversation.
Irit Rogoff: What is a Theorist?
24/7/2013 - Undone
31/7/2013 - Without
07/8/2013 - Unfitting & Entangled
24/7/2013 - Undone
31/7/2013 - Without
07/8/2013 - Unfitting & Entangled
GARAGE (51a Northumberland Street)
24/7/2013
6:30-7:30pm
“A theorist is one who has been undone by theory.”
While previously our understandings of theory have surrounded ideas of criticism (the application of value judgements) and more recently critique (a progression of criticism which allows us to re-evaluate the assumptions and values applied during criticism), Rogoff argues that while these are valuable, we, as theorists, must enter into ‘criticality’ - the current phase of cultural theory. Criticality takes place in the present and exists in the duality of having both the ability to question, analyse and unveil that is present in critique, whilst at the same time existing within and fully inhabiting the very conditions one is analysing. This is the state of being ‘undone’ by theory: existing in the uncertainty of critiquing the very ground on which one stands.
Summary supplied by Naomi Cull, The full text is available here
“A theorist is one who has been undone by theory.”
While previously our understandings of theory have surrounded ideas of criticism (the application of value judgements) and more recently critique (a progression of criticism which allows us to re-evaluate the assumptions and values applied during criticism), Rogoff argues that while these are valuable, we, as theorists, must enter into ‘criticality’ - the current phase of cultural theory. Criticality takes place in the present and exists in the duality of having both the ability to question, analyse and unveil that is present in critique, whilst at the same time existing within and fully inhabiting the very conditions one is analysing. This is the state of being ‘undone’ by theory: existing in the uncertainty of critiquing the very ground on which one stands.
Summary supplied by Naomi Cull, The full text is available here
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