I am a big fan of talks. Seriously, can’t get enough of them, so I felt like it was Christmas Day when I found out that LSE (London School of Economics) organises a wide variety of talks and that being a LSE student is not a requirement to be an attendee. Being these talks organised by LSE one could think that they’d only be about politics and economy, which, anyway, doesn’t sound terrible to me, but the thing is that this is not the case – environment history, art, law, philosophy, human rights, anthropology and creative writing are among the topics of these talks.
As you can imagine, I browsed and I decided to sign up for three talks: Branching Out: the life and work of Denis Diderot, Art in Conflict and Between Curatorial and Urban Practice.
Branching Out: the life and work of Denis Diderot by Russell Goulbourne, Tim Hochstrasser and Paul Keenan
This was, in fact, a very interesting talk that explored the work and influence of the French Enlightenment philosopher, art critic, and writer Denis Diderot, best known for being the co-founder and editor of the Encyclopedie.
Art in Conflict by Pat Barker
Art in Conflict. © Me
I really didn’t know what to expect from this talk and I’m glad I was open-minded about it because it turned out to be about war, injured soldiers, the representation of wounds of these soldiers and the taboo that it was, and still is, plastic surgery as a new form of art and the role that the media plays in the broadcast of the conflicts. It was quite broad as you can see and quite amusing too.
One of the speakers recommended us to watch the BBC Documentary called Wounded, which should be interesting.
And some of the quotes I found worth taking note of were:
“Looking at the suffering of other people is contaminating, the only possible way to look at it is with a medical gaze, knowing that you are able to relief their suffering.”
Or
“The passivity of not being able to do anything wears your compassion out and compassion is so rare that it shouldn’t be worn out.”
There were also some references to how cynical and bored are people becoming because of the constant exposure to disturbing war images.
Injured soldiers in toy workshops. © Me
Drawings of injured soldiers after being operated on. © Me
Between Curatorial and Urban Practice by Clémentine Deliss, Elke Krasny, Maria Lind and Justin McGuirk
Between Curatorial and Urban Practice. © Me
I don’t really know how to feel about this talk. Don’t get me wrong, it was interesting, but it wasn’t a life changing experience. For me, the most relevant topic that was brought up was the activist architecture movement that is taking place in South America at the moment by architects such as Teddy Cruz.
Clémentine Deliss, Elke Krasny, Maria Lind and Justin McGuirk. © Me
So, what have you done this weekend? Do you agree with the statements that were made in the Art in Conflict talk? What do you think about the constant exposure to disturbing images? Do they make us immune to suffering?
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He de confesar que soy un gran fan de las charlas y conferencias. En serio, no me canso de ellas, así que básicamente me sentí como el día de Reyes cuando descubrí que LSE (London School of Economics) organiza una gran variedad de charlas y que ser alumno de la Universidad no es requisito para asistir. Uno podría pensar que si las charlas las organiza la Escuela de Económicas de Londres los temas que se tratarán son política y economía, que, para ser sinceros, no me echa para atrás en absoluto, pero no, entre los temas de los que van las charlas podemos encontrar historia medioambiental, arte, derecho, filosofía, los derechos humanos, antropología y escritura creativa, entre muchos otros.
Como ya habrán podido imaginar, les eché un vistazo y decidí registrarme para tres charlas: Expandirse: vida y obra de Denis Diderot, Arte en Conflicto y Entre la Práctica Curatorial y la Urbanística.
Expandirse: obra y vida de Denis Diderot por Russell Goulbourne, Tim Hochstrasser and Paul Keenan
Esta fue, de hecho, una conferencia bastante interesante que exploraba la obra y la influencia del filósofo francés de la Ilustración, crítico de arte, y escritor Denis Diderot, mejor conocido por ser el co-fundador y editor de la Encyclopedie.
Arte en Conflicto por Pat Barker
Art in Conflict. © Yo
Realmente no sabía qué esperar de esta conferencia, y me alegro de no haber ido con una idea preconcebida porque resultó ser sobre la guerra, los soldados heridos, la representación de las heridas de los soldados y el tabú que esto suponía y supone, la cirugía plástica como nueva práctica artística y el papel de los medios de comunicación a la hora de retransmitir los conflictos bélicos. Fue bastante amplia como han podido ver y bastante entretenida a su vez.
Una de las conferenciantes recomendó el documental de la BBC Wounded, que debería ser relevante.
Algunas de las citas que pensé merecían la pena anotar fueron:
“Mirar al sufrimiento de las otras personas es contaminante, el único modo posible de mirarlo es con una mirada médica, sabiendo que puedes ser capaz de aliviar el sufrimiento.”
O
“La pasividad de no ser capaz de hacer nada desgasta tu compasión y la compasión es algo tan escaso que no debería ser desgastado.”
También hubo referencias a cuán cínica y pasiva se está convirtiendo la gente debido a la constante exposición a imágines de guerra perturbadoras.
Injured soldiers in toy workshops. © Yo
Drawings of injured soldiers after being operated on. © Yo
Entre la Práctica Curatorial y la Urbana por Clémentine Deliss, Elke Krasny, Maria Lind and Justin McGuirk
Between Curatorial and Urban Practice. © Yo
No sé muy bien qué pensar sobre esta charla. No me malinterpreten, fue interesante, pero no fue una experiencia religiosa, como quien dice. Para mí, el tema más importante que se debatió fue el del movimiento arquitectónico activista que se empieza a desarrollar en Sudamérica en estos momentos por arquitectos como Teddy Cruz.
Clémentine Deliss, Elke Krasny, Maria Lind and Justin McGuirk. © Yo
¿Qué han hecho ustedes este fin de semana? ¿Están de acuerdo con las afirmaciones que se dijeron en la charla Arte en Conflicto? ¿Qué piensan de la constante exposición a imágenes perturbadoras? ¿Nos hacen inmunes a la compasión?
I do think that we are becoming immune to suffering and that’s quite sad. I also hate how the suffering of some is put before the suffering of others (the coverage of Hurricane Sandy talked more about the 30 ich victims in NYC and New Jersey than about the hundreds of victim in Haiti) . But how to raise awareness? And if we actually get depressed for everything happening around the world, would the world be a better place? I couldn’t go on with my life if I was constantly thinking about the atrocities happening in Middle East…
Those talks in are indeed really interesting, I went to one two years back, I should go to some regularly.