Fall of Theory 1

In 2024, the seventh annual Summer of Theory has been temporarily moved to the 2nd of November. It is therefore called the “Fall of Theory.”

The Summer of Theory brings together artists, artist-researchers, researchers and others interested in research-creation, experimental theory and creative activities more generally. In the past, members of the University community, the greater region of the Pacific Northwest and participants from all over the world have become a part of a broad group of “Summer Theorists.” The spirit of SOT has always been to gather as friends, to experience the event as a celebration in its own right and not something extrinsic. Like the things the idea of summer evokes. The purpose of the event is the event. Participants are encouraged to bring their weirdest ideas, ones they wouldn’t present at the usual congresses. The SOT has taken place in theaters, in galleries, by the lake, and never on campus — though it has received the generous support of various departments and faculties.

In 2024, for various reasons, the SOT could not happen in summer, so instead a “Fall of Theory” (FOT) will take place. The theme is the eponymous “FOT,” or “fot” (“thought”), synonym of theory: theory is always already fallen, insofar as it assures the conditions of its impossibility. That is, the fall is at once the end and the goal. What is the “fall” in the FOT? For twenty years, theory has lost significant ground in some areas while it has grown in others. Has theory “fallen,” or is it just “French Theory” that fell? What is the place of “theory” in the modern academy, which is increasingly being stripped of its intellectual value in favour of utilitarian and industrial imperatives? Are we at the end of theory, and if so, will the winter lead to a new season?

Participants are encouraged to think about these problems in transversal and generative ways.

Schedule

Saturday, November 2, 10:30 to 16:30, Ministry of Casual Living

Here is the full schedule