Seville Enaction
University of Seville International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville 24-25 November 2006
Presentations by Gema Martín Muñoz, Osfa/José Pérez de Lama, Julian Reid, Pablo de Soto, Ana Valdés, Caleb Waldorf, and Eyal Weizman. Moderated by Jordan Crandall.
This Under Fire event generates multiple perspectives onto war and political violence -- deriving from the fields of political science, sociology, visual art, architecture, and media theory. What emerges is an assemblage of disciplinary approaches to the study of armed conflicts, functioning at the level of both practice and theory, anchored in several key sites of contention -- including Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Iraq, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The conference is divided into two sessions. The first session begins by making the case for a biopolitical understanding of war -- or violence understood in terms of the struggle over the political constitution of life. Next, it inquires into the (mis)representation of Islamic culture in the West, positioning the role that such representations play in the construction of otherness and the perpetuation of conflicts in the Middle East. And finally, it deconstructs the codes of suspicion, showing how a heightened sense of vigilance, generated by security culture, infiltrates contemporary ways of seeing. The second session inquires into the intersections of combat operations, urban space, and discourse -- delving into the Israeli military's appropriation of poststructuralist theory in urban warfare. Following from this event's geographical specificity in southern Spain, it then presents tactical mappings of the Strait of Gibraltar, positioning the Strait as representative of larger global transformations and exploring the possibilities of counter-reconnaissance. And finally, it looks at the reality of hardware and communications networks, deriving from western military apparatus, provoking understandings of military operations in terms of their media-technological infrastructures. SCHEDULE
*FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER* 11:00 am - 2:00 pm; 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm University of Seville Atula de Grados de la Facultad de Filologia Palos de la Frontera s/n Sevilla
SESSION I: REPRESENTATIONAL POLITICS
11:00 Introduction: JORDAN CRANDALL
11:15 JULIAN REID, Lecturer in International Relations, King's College, London "Biopolitics of the War on Terror"
12:00 GEMA MARTÍN MUÑOZ, Director of Casa Arabe and the International Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Madrid "Interpretations of Middle East Violence from Western Societies"
12:45 Respondent: ANA VALDÉS
1:00 Discussion
1:30 CALEB WALDORF "Ecologies of Suspicion"
SESSION II: THEORY, TACTICS, AND HARDWARE
5:00 EYAL WEIZMAN, Architect, Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths College, University of London "Tactics of Lesser Evil"
5:45 PABLO DE SOTO, collaborator, hackitectura.net OSFA/JOSÉ PÉREZ DE LAMA, collaborator, hackitectura.net; Associate Professor, University of Seville School of Architecture "Tactical Cartography of the Straits"
6:30 Respondent: ANA VALDÉS
6:45 Discussion
*SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER* 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Atarazanas International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville
Roundtable discussions:
JORDAN CRANDALL OSFA/JOSÉ PÉREZ DE LAMA JULIAN REID ANA VALDÉS CALEB WALDORF EYAL WEIZMAN
Presentations by Gema Martín Muñoz, Osfa/José Pérez de Lama, Julian Reid, Pablo de Soto, Ana Valdés, Caleb Waldorf, and Eyal Weizman. Moderated by Jordan Crandall.
This Under Fire event generates multiple perspectives onto war and political violence -- deriving from the fields of political science, sociology, visual art, architecture, and media theory. What emerges is an assemblage of disciplinary approaches to the study of armed conflicts, functioning at the level of both practice and theory, anchored in several key sites of contention -- including Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Iraq, and the Strait of Gibraltar.
The conference is divided into two sessions. The first session begins by making the case for a biopolitical understanding of war -- or violence understood in terms of the struggle over the political constitution of life. Next, it inquires into the (mis)representation of Islamic culture in the West, positioning the role that such representations play in the construction of otherness and the perpetuation of conflicts in the Middle East. And finally, it deconstructs the codes of suspicion, showing how a heightened sense of vigilance, generated by security culture, infiltrates contemporary ways of seeing. The second session inquires into the intersections of combat operations, urban space, and discourse -- delving into the Israeli military's appropriation of poststructuralist theory in urban warfare. Following from this event's geographical specificity in southern Spain, it then presents tactical mappings of the Strait of Gibraltar, positioning the Strait as representative of larger global transformations and exploring the possibilities of counter-reconnaissance. And finally, it looks at the reality of hardware and communications networks, deriving from western military apparatus, provoking understandings of military operations in terms of their media-technological infrastructures. SCHEDULE
*FRIDAY 24 NOVEMBER* 11:00 am - 2:00 pm; 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm University of Seville Atula de Grados de la Facultad de Filologia Palos de la Frontera s/n Sevilla
SESSION I: REPRESENTATIONAL POLITICS
11:00 Introduction: JORDAN CRANDALL
11:15 JULIAN REID, Lecturer in International Relations, King's College, London "Biopolitics of the War on Terror"
12:00 GEMA MARTÍN MUÑOZ, Director of Casa Arabe and the International Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Madrid "Interpretations of Middle East Violence from Western Societies"
12:45 Respondent: ANA VALDÉS
1:00 Discussion
1:30 CALEB WALDORF "Ecologies of Suspicion"
SESSION II: THEORY, TACTICS, AND HARDWARE
5:00 EYAL WEIZMAN, Architect, Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths College, University of London "Tactics of Lesser Evil"
5:45 PABLO DE SOTO, collaborator, hackitectura.net OSFA/JOSÉ PÉREZ DE LAMA, collaborator, hackitectura.net; Associate Professor, University of Seville School of Architecture "Tactical Cartography of the Straits"
6:30 Respondent: ANA VALDÉS
6:45 Discussion
*SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER* 11:00 am - 2:00 pm Atarazanas International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Seville
Roundtable discussions:
JORDAN CRANDALL OSFA/JOSÉ PÉREZ DE LAMA JULIAN REID ANA VALDÉS CALEB WALDORF EYAL WEIZMAN