Tag Archives: music

Common Ground: Democracy & Collectivity in an Age of Individualism

We live in an epoch of personal choice, hyper-mobility, celebrity-worship and fiercely competitive labour markets. But this is also the age of networked communication, of global culture, of Occupy and the new politics of ‘the Commons’.

What are the connections and tensions between such apparently diverse tendencies, and do they help democracy to develop, or render it impossible?

This public seminar, marking the launch of Jeremy Gilbert’s book Common Ground (Pluto Press),  will discuss the relationship between collectivity, individuality, affect and agency today, asking whether personal freedom is the great achievement of our era — or if individualism is actually forced on us by capitalist culture, fatally limiting our capacity to solve the problems that we can only solve together.What forms of politics, culture and philosophy might take us beyond the limits of traditional conservatism or banal individualism?

At: Brilliant Corners, 470 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London, E8 4AE

Speakers: Anthony Barnett, Lisa Blackman, Mark Fisher, Jeremy Gilbert
Continue reading Common Ground: Democracy & Collectivity in an Age of Individualism

Vinyl Culture: A Seminar and a Party

L1230621Vinyl is the medium that won’t die. How do we explain it’s long-lasting appeal, its unique aesthetic qualities, and the strange sense that these questions are somehow important? This event will see a panel of expert commentators and practitioners discussing the issues in the ideal setting of Brilliant Corners, London’s only audiophile venue, before then hosting a party to put theory into practice.

 

Attendance is free and open to all – no need to register, just turn up.  Continue reading Vinyl Culture: A Seminar and a Party

Hold On To Your Dreams

CCSR committee member Tim Lawrence read from and spoke about his new biography of Arthur Russell, Hold On to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92, on 3 June at the Glasgow Film Theatre. Organised by the Modern Institute, the event began with a screening of Wild Combination and was followed by music from invited DJs. Tim also presented a keynote paper (on Arthur Russell and queer musicianship) at the Sounds Queer conference, King’s College London, on 4 June.