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Losing It: Families, Chaos, and the Arts of Attention

Thursday, November 3, 2011, 10:30am-6:30pm

Franke Institute for the Humanities
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Hailing from anthropology, literature, and media studies, the participating artists/writers in this two-day event are radically experimental in the ways they account for the circulation of control and affective disruption within families. The case is: ill or disabled parents, and the ripple effects of the chaotic present that illness induces–both on the memory of being intimately reliable in the family and on speculative capacity. Illness here is a case of immediate/structural crisis. It is as though the event of the loved ones out of control forces new genres into being.

Part One of this event is a conference involving talks/performances by Lauren Berlant (UChicago), Carl Bogner (Wisconsin), Jennifer Montgomery (Independent Filmmaker), Susan Lepselter (Indiana), Susan Schultz (Hawaii), and Kathleen Stewart (UT Austin).

Part Two of this event is a writing workshop led by Kathleen Stewart that will focus on experimental critical attention.

10:00-10:30am — Breakfast

10:30-11:00am — Introduction
Lauren Berlant

11:00am-12:30pm — Writing Alzheimer’s: It Must Be Experimental
Susan Schultz
response by Lauren Berlant

12:30-1:30pm — Lunch

1:30-3:00pm — Unworlding
Kathleen Stewart
response by Susan Lepselter

3:00-3:30pm — Coffee Break

3:30-5:30pm — The Agonal Phase screening and discussion
Jennifer Montgomery
response by Carl Bogner

5:30-6:30pm — Reception and Audience Discussion