[Commlist] CfA: Pausing Time/Timing the Pause: sayability in the arts, philosophy, and politics

In his acceptance speech for the Nobel prize in literature Jon Fosse 
only half jokingly referred to himself as the master of silence: how 
else, he asked, can we bring the unsayable out in language than through 
“long pause, short pause, or, simply, pause.”

This year’s Ereignis conference seeks to bring the relation between 
speech and silence into further focus. Our key questions are:

* What kind of speech, or speech event, enables the silent to come forward?
* How can that which cannot be said be alluded or referred to in speech?
* How is the relation between speech and silence challenged by the an 
increasing awareness of non-human speech?
* What are the socio-political ramifications of these relations?

The 4th interdisciplinary Ereignis conference will take place in Gdynia, 
Poland, on August 10 and 11, 2024, with a hybrid option for those unable 
to attend in person.

Theme
-----

In his acceptance speech for the Nobel prize in literature Jon Fosse 
only half jokingly referred to himself as the master of silence: how 
else, he asked, can we bring the unsayable out in language than through 
pauses “long and short”? Thus, what at first appears as a paradox (the 
impossibility of saying what cannot be said) emerges as a philosophical, 
literary, artistic and political question: What are the conditions under 
which that which has hitherto remained silent may be brought out – 
literally or by implication – in speech, writing, media, and the visual 
arts? How is the relation between speech and silence challenged by the 
an increasing awareness of non-human speech?

This is a question that has a significant history of reflection in 
philosophical and literary studies. Key interventions include Emmanuel 
Levinas’ Totality and Infinity, which is among the first to pose the 
issue of sayability. The topic was further, and famously, developed by 
Jacques Derrida, for instance in his notion of différance: the elision 
of sense that can only be brought out in writing, which is to say that 
there is a difference that only the written word can bring out, and that 
difference is what is specific to writing. It was this sense of 
sayability that Fosse brought out in his acceptance speech for the Nobel 
when he noted that his writing began with the realisation that “talking 
about things” can cover over and serve to mute rather than bring out 
that which has not yet found a voice. Only in literary language, Fosse 
noted, can the kind of silence – pauses short and long – be made to be 
meaningful in a novel sense. A key question for this conference is the 
extent to which this sense also extends to the political.

A few additional domains can be mentioned: In The Powers of Horror Julia 
Kristeva notes how a Real that escapes normative language may yet be 
brought our in a pre-Oedipal tongue, what she referred to a “the 
semiotic.” To Kristeva, we can surmise, the unsayable could be 
articulated aporetically only through the subversion of the normative 
language pertaining to the symbolic frame that represses and controls 
the Real. Traumatic memories, such as those associated with the 
Holocaust, can only be brought our by way of subversion, metaphor, and 
even forgetfulness (as Jean-François Lyotard proposes in “Heidegger and 
the ‘Jews’”). The caesurae – or pause – then, can be intimately linked 
to witness and testimony. Nevertheless, we ask whether the silent also 
has a part to play in our conception of the future. We can find one 
instance of such thought in Theodor Adorno’s “negative dialectic”: a 
future that is entirely new can only be brought out through negation; 
our imagination of such a future is limited to our articulation of what 
it is not.

Finally, then, there is perhaps an oblique reference to what Giorgio 
Agamben has referred to as sabbatism (1993; 2011). In his “community to 
come” we arrive at a ground that is prior to both truth and good; what 
he have instead is an inoperativity characterised by rest, passivity and 
glorification, a community that cannot be uttered but merely indicated.

Topics
------

Relevant questions include, but are not limited to:

* How can we make pause and silence in philosophy, literature, and art 
speak to us?
* What kind of speech or speech event enable the silent to come forward, 
and how can that which cannot be said nonetheless be alluded or referred 
to in speech?
* In what ways and in what manner are silence and sayability relevant to 
us in our present situation?
* What are the socio-political implications of relations between silence 
and speech?
* How can silence and memory work together and against each other in 
philosophical though and artistic work?
* How is the relation between speech and silence challenged by the an 
increasing awareness of non-human speech?
* What place does silence have in the constitution of the coming community?

Invitation
----------

We invite papers from all traditions and schools of philosophy and 
comparative literature, as well as adjoining disciplines, to address any 
of the topics and questions above. Submissions should be structured, 
well-argued, and show evidence of rigorous scholarship. Include an 
abstract (max. 300 words) and a short author bio (max. 50 words) along 
with the author’s or authors current affiliation.

Submit abstracts by June 1, 2024 through our online submission engine at 
ereignis.no. We will return by mid June with a notification on acceptance.

Hybrid format
-------------

The conference will be held on-site in Gdynia, Poland, on August 10 and 
11, 2024, and on-line on the Zoom videoconferencing platform for those 
unable to attend in person. More information about travel and 
accommodation is available on the conference page. For accepted papers 
registration will be required by July 1, 2024.

Scholastic committee
--------------------

* Prof. Rick Dolphijn, Utrecht University and the University of Gdańsk
* Dr. Torgeir Fjeld, Ereignis Center for Philosophy and the Arts (chair)
* Dr Jytte Holmqvist, University of Melbourne
* Prof. Lucy Huskinson, Bangor University, UK
* Prof. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, Wild Studios Consulting and University of 
Hong Kong
* Prof. Dror Pimentel, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem

Publishing opportunities
------------------------

All presenters are invited to submit their papers to the Pausing 
Time/Timing the Pause Conference Proceedings, a specially dedicated 
volume to be published by Tankebanen forlag. Additionally, authors are 
encouraged to submit full-text essays to our peer-reviewed journal, 
Inscriptions. Note that this journal has its own criteria for 
submission, review and publication. For more information, see the 
journal's about page.


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Ereignis Center for Philosophy and the Arts
ereignis.no/ <https://www.ereignis.no/>

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