KIASH Visiting Expert Lecture Series on Sex in Art, Literature and Theory:
Professor Camilla Skovbjerg Paldam, Aarhus University, Denmark
26-29 May 2015
We are very pleased to invite you to a series of talks on ‘Sex in Art, Literature and Theory’ by the KIASH Visiting Expert, Professor Camilla Skovbjerg Paldam. Camilla is Associate Professor of Art History at Aarhus University, and leader of a research unit on ‘Sexuality Studies’. She is an art historian with a background in comparative literature, has published on sexuality studies and on avant-garde art and theory, especially Surrealism and its legacies. This series of talks ranges across sex in literature, the visual arts, and in intellectual history, with an emphasis on the early Twentieth Century. The lectures are presented with the support of KIASH, the School of English, SECL, the School of Arts, and the Centre for Gender, Sexuality and Writing. The lectures are followed by a workshop which will be an informal discussion about practical questions of inter-disciplinary research organization. Please do join us at the talks which take place at lunchtime, last about 45 minutes, with time for discussion. The workshop will last two hours and there will be catering.
There is something for everyone so please do join us for what we hope will be a very stimulating series.
Lecture 1 hosted by School of English on Tuesday 26 May 12.00-14.00 in DLT 3
Overcoming absence – The Rhetoric of the Love Letter
Love and desire feed on absence and longing, while they constantly and simultaneously try to diminish the distance by different means. According to German art historian and media theorist Hans Belting, media may be seen as technical or artificial bodies which serve to substitute for bodies through a symbolic procedure. This talk will suggest that love letters for people in love work as substitutes for bodies; that the lover in her/his burning desire for presence animates the letters, as Belting would say, and feels a presence both during writing, reading and in the indexical materiality of the actual letter. However, the wish for presence, immediacy and transparency in epistolary exchanges is (of course) illusive. Blanks in and between the love letters give room for projection; the image of the beloved provided by the letters is a construction rather than a transparent transfer.
Taking Franz Kafka’s letters to Milena and James Joyce’s letters to Nora as its main examples, this talk addresses the rhetoric of the love letter – its different purposes, modes of communication, and meta-reflections on writing, media, absence and presence. The talk will address how love and the beloved are mediated in the articulated desire and longing of love letters. Finally, it will reflect on what it means for the communication of love and desire that the media landscape has changed and that now, instead of traditional letters, internet technologies have taken over the role once fulfilled by letters.
Lecture 2 hosted by School of Arts on Wednesday 27 May 12.00-14.00in DLT 3
Erotic Utopia – Wilhelm Reich’s influence on Danish Surrealism
It is a well-known fact that French surrealism of the 1920s and 30s had a strong emphasis on eroticism, but the radical utopian turn surrealist eroticism got when it reached Denmark in the beginning of the 1930s warrants further investigation. Danish artist VilhelmBjerke-Petersen (1909-1957) was the first to write a comprehensive introduction to Surrealism in a Nordic language, namely the book Surrealismen. Livsanskuelse. Livsudfoldelse. Kunst (Surrealism. Outlook of life. Conduct of life. Art), 1934. In this talk I will investigate Bjerke-Petersen’s erotic utopia, focusing on the impact Wilhelm Reich’s psychoanalytical theory had on his ideas. My claim is that the inspiration from Reich informed Bjerke-Petersen’s focus on sexual liberation, in contrast to French surrealism which was more inspired by Freud. Where Freud saw a need for the Superego in culture, Reich suggested that a liberated, ‘natural’ sexuality would free mankind of any impulses to violence and suppression and lead to a classless society.
Lecture 3 hosted by SECL on Thursday 28 May 12.00-14.00in DLT 3
The Child as Catalyst for Change – Free Upbringing, Free Sex and Socialism in early 20th Century
In the beginning of the 20th century, new theories of children, upbringing and sexual education evolved in the wake of Sigmund Freud’s writings on children’s sexuality. Further, expressionist, dadaist and surrealist artists took an interest in the child, glorifying its unspoiled spontaneity and open-mindedness. Common to both theorists and artists of the period was a focus on liberation; this, however, could be understood in many ways and to different extents. German psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich held one of the most radical beliefs, which in brief encompassed that a sexually free upbringing would ultimately lead to a perfect socialist society. The aim of this talk is to investigate and contextualise the role of the child in some of the revolutionary utopias of the1930s.
Workshop Friday 29 May 12.00-14.00 in RX 11
How to Build and Run an Interdisciplinary Research Centre
This will be an informal discussion of the issues and problems in building and running an interdisciplinary research centre. It will be an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences, including such topics as collaboration within and outside of the Humanities; finding a common vocabulary; strategies for grant applications and publication; the European context. The emphasis will be on sharing experiences and the focus will be on the process of development, how to identify topics, and how to set aims and objectives.
If you would like to attend the workshop - or have any questions – please email David Ayers () to confirm catering numbers.