Op-Eds and Short Essays
Excerpt from The Good-Enough Life (OECD Forum Network)
On why there is nothing better than good enough (The Philosopher)
On why being wise means working through both our common humanity and our differences (Aeon)
On the need for cooperative, just action for global climate solutions (with Dennis Snower, Project Syndicate)
On why academic hiring committees should consider using a lottery (Chronicle of Higher Education)
On the ethical and political potentials of modern ideas about reincarnation (Aeon)
On the Role of Zen Buddhism in the Stories of J.D. Salinger (Lit Hub)
On systemic racism in philosophical ideas (Aeon) (Chinese translation by Wu Wanwei)
On why “luck” is the wrong word for explaining meriting from inequality (the Washington Post)
On living a “good-enough life” (the New York Times)
On how peace activists can respond to violent acts by people who share their same cause (Truthout)
Public Discussions and Teaching
Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program
Co-founders: Meleko Mokgosi, Anthea Behm, and Avram Alpert. Current leadership: Miranda Samuels and Anna Strothart
Based in New York City, The Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program is designed to facilitate the examination of both dominant and under-recognized epistemological frameworks that inform the system of art, including its production, consumption, distribution, and exhibition. Grounded in the global tradition of critical theory, the Program is focused on questioning discursive frameworks through which notions of culture and politics are conceptualized. It is intended for practitioners across all fields related to the Fine Arts, including artists, critics, curators, and others. The Program has been conceived to help recent graduates to deepen and develop their understanding of the art institution, as well as its place in confronting the violences and inequalities of the present.
Every year, the program will be structured around a general theme or concept, which will be studied in more specific terms through readings and seminars hosted by seminar leaders and visiting faculty. Ten students will be selected to participate in the program each year.
From 2014-2021 I co-edited Shifter with its founder, Sreshta Rit Premnath. Shifter explores the intersection of contemporary art, theory and experimental writing. We convene public dialogues and produce publications.
My three main projects with Shifter were:
Waiting (2020-21)
Waiting is usually what we do between things. It is the space between two destinations, an empty and anxious time to fill with distractions. But when we look more closely, we see that waiting is also an activity in itself, bristling with energy, uncertainty, and inequality. What does the condition of waiting reveal about us, our world, and the natural environment that sustains it?
This series of eight sessions offer glimpses into the thought and practices of artists, architects, historians, and theorists who grapple with this question. In each hour-long session, participants will share their own research into an aspect of waiting while touching on some of its registers: enforced waiting, chronic waiting, natural waiting, existential waiting, and even those desirable modes of waiting that we long for. A brief moderated discussion and audience Q&A will follow.
Co-sponsored by MIT List Visual Arts Center and Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
Learning and Unlearning (2017-19)
Our first three events took place at Art in General in fall 2017 around Danilo Correale’s show At Work’s End. We led discussion on “unlearning work” with Abou Farman (on pleasure), Marina van Zuylen (on boredom) and Sandro Mezzadra (on refusal). More information is available here. The series continued with “Unlearning Dystopia” in Spring 2018 and in fall 2018-spring 2019 focused on the general theme of learning and unlearning. Premnath and I completed the edits for the book through 2019 and launched the new issue at the New York Arts Book Fair in September 2019.
Dictionary of the Possible (2014-16)
The Dictionary grew out of three semesters of public conversations co-hosted by myself and Sreshta Rit Premnath at the New School in New York. For each session, two presenters (an invited speaker or frequent participant in the conversations) would offer some readings, and then give a short, 10 minute set of thoughts about a keyword. These mini-presentations functioned as platforms to build on an open discussion about what words might mean. The project went against what William James reportedly spoke of as “the tyranny of the dictionary.” We wanted to show how words could mean many different things to different people across time and space, without falling into incoherency. We published a version of the dictionary that combined questions generated from these discussions with solicited entries from artists and writers. The final product was published as Volume 22 of Shifter and launched at the 2016 New York Arts Book Fair