Event

2 December: 7 p.m.
3 and 4 December: 7.30 p.m.

The Force of Anonymity

The changes that have occurred in mass society and the regime of visibility in the modern western world have entailed radical transformation of our experience of anonymity today.

With the participation of Marc Augé, Erik Bordelau, Santiago López Petit and Carles Guerra, among others.

 

 

In a society governed, on the one hand, by the identity-imposing logic of control and, on the other, by the differentiating logic of multiculturalism, being anonymous no longer means being simply a victim of the drive to uniformity and loss of a distinctive face. On many occasions, "learning anonymity" becomes a form of resistance, both individual and collective. Recent mobilisations of citizens have demonstrated this. Whether they have said "no to the war" in the pre-election demonstrations of March 2004, or called for decent housing, or spoken out over other issues, their strength lies in their anonymity. Hence, one might say that the success of these assemblies derives from the fact that they have been convened by an anonymous "we" that has declined to accept any label or identity in the arena of present-day politics. At a time in which social ties are fast being reformulated, it is essential to analyse and understand spaces of anonymity and how they function. This involves developing new categories that enable us to go beyond the bounds of modern political space and its leading figures. With this seminar we offer a debate that, on the basis of an alliance between theory and practice, aims to establish the coordinates of a new concern.

 

2 December

7 p.m.: Presentation by Marina Garcés, director of the debate and lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Zaragoza and at the Open University of Catalonia.

7.30 p.m.: Spaces of Anonymity or When Solitude Becomes a Shared Destination

Marc Augé, anthropologist and director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris
Anonymity, Identity and Freedom
Santiago López Petit, lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona
Spaces of Anonymity: a Bid for Wanting to Live

3 December

7.30 p.m.: Saying "We" ... When Neither God Nor Master Will Say It For Us

Marina Garcés, lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Zaragoza and at the Open University of Catalonia.
A World Among Ourselves
Wenceslao Galán, lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University of Catalonia.
We, the Politics, the Voice.
Erik Bordeleau, doctoral student in Comparative Literature (Montreal)
Radiohead's "Kid A". Anonymity as Landscape


4 December

7.30 p.m.: Nameless and Faceless. New Forms of Creativity and Politicisation

Carles Guerra, artist, art critic and lecturer at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona
A Regime of Induced, Intense and Profitable Expressivity
Amador Fernández Savater, publisher and Leónidas Martín, lecturer in Art and New Technologies at the University of Barcelona
Forms and Expressions of Connected Anonymity

Participants
Directed by: Marina Garcés
Themes
The Present Continuous, The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Open Science, Psi Particle, Art Now, Eco Factor, Emerging Culture, Cybersphere, New Activism
Space at the CCCB
The Mirador

Credits

Organizer
Centre de Cultura Contemporānia de Barcelona
With the collaboration of
Fundaciķ Espai en Blanc
Support
El País