Brian Massumi - Lectures / Workshops / Seminars
EMERGENT SPACE (-TIMES): Process Philosophy
Erin Manning, Ph.D., and Brian Massumi, Ph.D.
Description: This course is taught by both Erin Manning and Brian Massumi. While officially the course is divided into two sections and it is possible for students to take just Erin Manning or just Brian Massumi for ultimate appreciation it is strongly recommended to take the course together. This course explores the works of Alfred North Whitehead, Gilles Deleuze and William James. Through examinig emergence and the relationship between space and time this course examines philosophy as a process. In Deleuze’s immanent philosophy, old concepts of hierarchy make way for concepts like interdependability, with major technical, artistic and political ramifications. The students and the teacher, the body politic and the politician, the subject and the artist, all have mutually dependant relationships. "Pure feeling" in Massumi’s thought emphasizes this "thinking-with", which, as the course progresses, will inform all manners of perception, from the aesthetic to the technical.
Objectives: This course aims to exapnd students philosophical investigations. This class combines intensive readings with workshops and exercises that emphasize the relationship between philosophy and movement. We will examine micro-political possibilities. With the works of Whitehead, James, Bergson, Deleuze, Manning and Massumi buttressing class discussions, as well as audiovisual support, students not only become versed in some of the most powerful modern philosophical thought, where transcendental presuppositions give way to immanent thinking, they are also given new tools with which to engage the world.
Learning Outcomes:As the old dichotomous worldview crumbles, this transformative way of engaging the world inspires new artistic and political impulses. After the roundtable discussions of current events, personal projects and different modes of applying this philosophy, students will have new information and inspiration to use in their own creative endeavors.
Class Schedule:
Module One:
Whitehead, Science and the Modern World, chap. 1-2 - James, "The Perception of Space" and Robert Irwin.
Module Two:
Whitehead, "Subjects and Objects" Whitehead, "Propositions" (extracts) Robert Irwin cont’d
Module Three:
James, "The Thing and Its Relations" A.N. Whitehead, "Forms of Process" Lars Spuybroek, "The Structure of Vagueness"
Module Four:
Forsythe"The Choreographic Object" Manning "Propositions for the Verge: William Forsythe’s Choreographic Objects" William Forsythe
Module Five:
Whitehead, Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect - Amanda Baggs
Module Six:
Massumi "The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens" - Whitehead "Feelings" (extracts) Amanda Baggs cont’d
Module Seven:
Deleuze, "The Exhausted" - Bergson, "The Memory of the Present and False Recognition" - Arakawa/Gins
Module Eight:
Manning, "A Dance of Attention: Choreography as Mobile Architecture" - Arakawa/Gins cont’d
Module Nine:
Bergson, "The Body and the Soul" - Arakawa/Gins, cont’d
Module Ten:
Deleuze/Guattari "Affect, Percept, Concept" - Turrell
Required Readings for both Brian Massumi and Erin Manning:
Whitehead, A.N. "Chapters 3 & 4." in: Science and the Modern World. Free Press. 1997. Paperback, 224 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0684836394. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. "The Bifurcation of Nature (Chapter 3)." in: Concept of Nature. Cambridge University Press. 1920. Paperback, 216 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0521092450. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. "Forms of Process (Chapter 5)." in: Modes of Thought. Fireside. 1968. Paperback, 179 pages, Language English, ISBN: 002935210X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect. 1927.
Whitehead, A.N. "Subjects and Objects (Chapter 11)." in: Adventures of Ideas. Free Press. 1967. Paperback, 320 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0029351707. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Irwin, Robert. "Chapters 6-9." in: Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees. University of California Press. 1982. Paperback, 215 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0520049209. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Spuybroek, Lars. "The Structure of Vagueness." in: NOX: Machining Architecture. Thames & Hudson. 2004. Paperback, 392 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0500285195. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Arakawa, Shusaku and Madelin Gins. "Chapters 1-5." in: The Architectural Body. University Alabama Press. 2002. Hardcover, 120 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0817311688. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Forsythe, William. Synchronous Objects Website.
Massumi, Brian. "The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens." in: Inflexions: A Journal for Research-Creation. Vol. 1, No. 1, 2008. (English).
Required Readings for Brian Massumi:
James, William. "The Perception of Space (extract)." in: Principles of Psychology Vol. 2. Dover Publications. 1950. Paperback, 708 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0486203824. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
James, William. "The Thing and its Relations (Chapter 5)." in: Essays in Radical Empiricism. Nabu. 2010. Paperback, 308 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1176597671. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Deleuze, Gilles. "The Exhausted Chapter 13." in: Essays Clinical and Critical. University of Minnesota. 1997. Paperback, 280 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816625697. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Bergson, Henri. "The Memory of the Present and False Recognition (Chapter 5)." in: Mind-Energy. Palgrave. 2007. Hardcover, 256 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0230517250. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Bergson, Henri. "The Body and the Soul (Chapter 2)." in: Mind-Energy. Palgrave. 2007. Hardcover, 256 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0230517250. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Required Readings for Erin Manning:
Deleuze, Gilles. "Immanence … a life." in: Pure Immanence: Essays on A Life. Zone Books. 2001. Hardcover, 100 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1890951242. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Deleuze, Gilles. "Perception in the Folds (Chapter 7)." in: The Fold. Continuum. 2006. Paperback, 196 pages, Language English, ISBN: 082649076X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. "Concept, Percept, Affect (Chapter 7)." in: What is Philosophy? Columbia University Press. Paperback, 186 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0231079893. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
James, William. "How Two Minds Can Know One Thing (Chapter 6)." in: Essays in Radical Empiricism. Nabu. 2010. Paperback, 308 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1176597671. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Forsythe, William. "The Choreographic Object." in: Suspense. JRP|Ringier. 2008. Paperback, 148 pages, Language English, ISBN: 3905829754. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Manning, Erin. "Propositions for the Verge: William Forsythe’s Choreographic Objects." in: Inflexions: A Journal for Research-Creation. Vol. 2, January 2009.
Manning, Erin. "A Dance of Attention: Choreography as Mobile Architecture."
Whitehead, A.N "(extracts on feeling)." in: Process and Reality. Freepress. 1979. Paperback, 413 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0029345707. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
CRITIQUE OF PURE FEELING (3 Credits)
Brian Massumi, Ph.D.
Description: This course takes part in the critique of pure feeling. This course is complementary to Erin Manning’s course and should be an excellent adventure in thinking for our time together in Saas-Fee. This is not to say that you’ll be missing key elements should you attend only one of the classes, but rather to emphasize the complementary nature of the two. Brian Massumi and Erin Manning emphasize the ’thinking-with’ in their work.
Objectives: Students shall leave this course with an understanding of the relationship between affect and critique. As we begin to reopen the field of affect of critical inquiry we begin the process of thinking with and beyond emotion. This course aims to inform the contemporary augmentations surrounding, aesthetic perception and new media structures.
Required Readings:
Whitehead, A.N. "Chap. 3 & 4." in: Science and the Modern World. Free Press. 1997. Paperback, 254 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0684836394. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. "The Bifurcation of Nature." in: Concept of Nature. General Books LLC. 2010. Paperback, 110 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1926683919. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. "Forms of Process." chap. 5, in: Modes of Thought. Fireside. 1968. Paperback, 178 pages, Language English, ISBN: 002935210X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. Symbolism: Its Meaning and Effect. Fordham University Press. 1985. Paperback, 88 pages, Language English, ISBN: 082321138X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Whitehead, A.N. "Subjects and Objects," chap. 11 in: Adventures of Ideas. Free Press. 1967. Paperback, 320 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0029351707. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Weshler, Lawrence. Robert Irwin, chapters 6-9, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees. University of California Press. 1982. Paperback, 215 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0520049209. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Spuybroek, Lars. "The Structure of Vagueness." in: NOX: Machining Architecture. Thames & Hudson. 2004. Paperback, 392 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0500285195. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Arakawa and Gins. "Chapters 1-5." in: The Architectural Body.University Alabama Press. 2002. Paperback, 202 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0817311696. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Forsythe, William. Synchronous Objects Website.
Massumi, Brian. "The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens." in: Inflexions: A Journal for Research-Creation. Number 1. 2008.
James, William. "The Perception of Space." in: Principles of Psychology, Vol. 2. Cosimo Classics. 2007. Paperback, 712 pages, Language English, ISBN: 1602063133. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
James, William. "The Thing and its Relations." chap. 5, in: Essays in Radical Empiricism. University of Nebraska Press. 1996. Paperback, 283 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0803275897. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Deleuze, Gilles. "The Exhausted," chapter 13. in: Deleuze, Gilles and Daniel W. Smith (Translator) and Michael A. Greco (Translator). Essays Critical And Clinical. University Of Minnesota Press. November 5, 1997. Paperback, 280 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816625697. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Begson, Henri. "The Memory of the Present and False Recognition," chap. 5, in: Mind-Energy. Palgrave Macmillan. 2007. Hardcover, 256 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0230517250. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Begson, Henri. "The Body and the Soul," chap. 2, in: Mind-Energy. Palgrave Macmillan. 2007. Hardcover, 256 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0230517250. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Recommended Readings:
Massumi, Brian, Detlef Mertins, Lars Spuybroek and Moortje Marres. Interact or Die: There Is Drama In The Networks. NAi Publishers. July 1, 2007. Paperback, 208 pages, Language English, ISBN: 9056625772. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Massumi, Brian (Editor) and Bracha Ettinger. The Matrixial Borderspace. Univ Of Minnesota Press. October 2006. Paperback, 208 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0816635870. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Massumi, Brian, Stanley Fish (Editor) and Fredric Jameson (Editor). Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation. Duke University Press. June 2002. Hardcover, 336 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0822328828. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Paperback, ISBN: 0822328976. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Massumi, Brian. A Shock to Thought: Expression after Deleuze and Guattari. Routledge. June 7, 2002. Hardcover, 296 pages, Language English, ISBN: 041523803X. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Paperback, ISBN: 0415238048. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Massumi, Brian, Rosi Huhn and Griselda Pollock. Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger: Artworking: 1985-1999. Ludion. October 2, 2000. Paperback, 128 pages, Language English, ISBN: 9055442836. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.
Massumi, Brian. A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Deviations from Deleuze and Guattari. The MIT Press. March 6, 1992. Paperback, 235 pages, Language English, ISBN: 0262631431. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr. Hardcover, ISBN: 0262132826. Buy it at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.fr.