Past events of the current semester

Politics of Dis-Enclosure. Religion - Community - Violence: International Seminar with Achille Mbembe and other leading scholars, inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy's work

When: 26–27 April 2023

Where: 26 April: University of Vienna, Main Building, Dekanatssaal of the Faculty of Catholic Theology, 27 April: Abbey of Melk, Lower Austria

The seminar "Politics of Dis-enclosure" proposes to contribute to the task envoked by Jean-Luc Nancy’s notion of “dis-enclosure,” denoting an opening up of the world, by way of applying the motif of dis-enclosure to deconstruct the disconcerting race-religion-complex that takes shape in the maelstrom of globalization. As a matter of fact, the ways in which racialized and religious "others" are classified and dominated in similar ways today attest to the necessity to rethink political systems with regard to the logic of exclusion that they disavowedly entertain. This seminar is not intended as a memorial for Jean-Luc Nancy. It will be a thematic exchange of thoughts between several scholars (Achille Mbembe, Louise du Toit, Nabil Echchaibi, Anke Graneß, Petra Carlsson, Johann Schelkshorn), using Nancy’s notion of dis-enclosure, as an inspiration to think through and evoke this experience and its implications in a variety of contexts.

The notion thus invites us to think about the thematic of the opening up of the world in new ways, also beyond the limits of Nancy’s application thereof. In seeking to disentangle the resurgent race-religion constellation that thrives on this globalized double-bind, we propose to profit from an affinity displayed in the works of all those invited.

A detailed program can be found here.

In's Offene! Performance and Talk with Karlheinz Essl. (As part of the seminar „Die Frage nach dem Schönen“)

When: 24 April 2023, 18:30

Where: University of Vienna, Main Building, Sitzungssaal des Dekanats

Whether it is the examination of the work of art as an open work (Umberto Eco), or the necessity of constantly reflecting on and reinventing one's own work as a composer and performer, Hölderlin's invitation "Come! Into the Open!" is a leitmotif of Karlheinz Essl. In his work, he combines music with other art forms such as poetry, painting and dance, seeks to give artistic expression to new technical achievements (cf. project K.O.P.F.) and, above all, engages in an open-ended outcome of the artistic process, in which composition, performance and improvisation merge.

On April 24, 2023, we are pleased to welcome Karlheinz Essl as a guest in the seminar "The Question of the Beautiful." A sound performance by Coastlines will provide insight into his current work and interact with a conversation about current and fundamental questions of aesthetics.

Panel discussion: The Romanian Orthodox Diaspora in Italy in the Context of Religious Glocalization

When: April 24, 2023, 18:00-19:30 Uhr

Where: Department of Romance Studies, University of Vienna | ROM 14 (1st floor), Campus Court 8, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Wien

Starting with Marco Guglielmi's recently published dissertation The Romanian Orthodox Diaspora in Italy: Eastern Orthodoxy in a Western European Country (Palgrave Macmillan 2022), the reproduction of religious and national identity in the Orthodox diaspora, its relationship to the state and to its country of origin, Romania, and to the Roman Catholic Church is discussed. Italy, as a "Western European Orthodox stronghold" (Guglielmi), is home to the largest Orthodox minority in Western Europe and the largest Romanian Orthodox diaspora in the world.

Panel discussion with:

Marco Guglielmi (Università di Padova)
Cristian Sonea (Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai Cluj-Napoca)
Ioan Moga (Universität Wien)
Mădălina Diaconu (Universität Wien)

More information on the participants and the detailed program can be found here.