Occult Philosophy and Other Cursed Ideas
Presented by SAM Resident Agent Sha Sharif in collaboration with Sean Francis Han, Occult Philosophy is a three-volume series of seminar-performances that combines philosophy with non-philosophical tools to explore the unique and too-long disprivileged strand of western philosophy and bring thought into contact with the outside.
Occult Philosophy seeks to define and clarify the field of western philosophy attuned towards occult experiments in thought and art. It is an exploration and exegesis on this unique and too-long dispriviledged strand of philosophy, combining philosophy with non-philosophical tools, productions, and creations to bring thought properly into contract with the outside. Featuring a selection of theoretical readings and philosophies with showcasing artists and their practice, the series of 3 performance-seminars aim to tease out the occult threads in each artist’s work in the fields of sound art, visual art, and literature.
Schedule
Click (+) for more information about the three-volume series
Trauma & Torture with goneMune
Trauma & Torture with goneMune
Trauma & Torture with goneMune
Sat, 29 April 2023 | 7:30 PM
Against the grain of a naïve positivity, how does Occult Philosophy take up trauma and suffering as a force not to be exorcised but rather as concomitant with the whole of Being to be harnessed – a dark power which ceaseless fascinates us beyond the pleasure principle?
This seminar features a live performance by goneMune – participants are encouraged to dance, move, and interact during the performance.
The Occult & the Other with Marylyn Tan
The Occult & the Other with Marylyn Tan
The Occult & the Other with Marylyn Tan
Sat, 13 May 2023 | 7:30 PM
The figure of the woman is often associated with the ephemeral and mystical, and in the ghosts of folklore, the cursed. The figure of the minority is associated with magic, superstition and vodou. How then does Occult Philosophy recuperate and repurpose the Other and the Occult? How does the Other gaze back at the gazer?
This seminar features a poetry reading by Marylyn Tan from her collection Gaze Back.
Body Horror, Batik Horror with Joaen
Body Horror, Batik Horror with Joaen
Body Horror, Batik Horror with Joaen
Sat, 27 May 2023 | 7:30 PM
Against the wishes of philosophy, the body carries on, operating through codifications, markings, and its bare bodily facticity, to constitute the operating through codifications, markings, and completely than the rational ever does. What would it mean to free the body from the mind, and to free it to exist freely in its own irrational right?
This seminar features a showcase of four Batik pieces by Joaen, exploring the conjunctions between her fascination with the body and batik.