The I that writes: auto-theory as poetic attention

What does it mean to write what we perceive, as we perceive it? Who is this I that writes? How is this I written? Fournier argues that the autotheoretical turn signals the tenuousness of illusory separations between art and life, theory and practice, work and the self. (1)

Auto-theory, although the label is perhaps not the right one, can be understood as a way of returning our attention to the relationship of the self with ourself and the other around us. It requires a high degree of compassion and with-ness. (2) At its heart this type of attention is a religious practice: “it is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer. If we turn our mind towards the good, it is impossible that little by little the whole soul will not be attracted there to in spite of itself.” (3) This kind of attention and its phenomenological foundation is, according to Matisse, what makes something art: “All art worthy of the name is religious. Be it a creation of lines, or colours: if it is not religious, it does not exist. If it is not religious, it is only a matter of documentary art, anecdotal art … which is no longer art.” (4)

Another question we would like to explore is ‘what is the opposite of auto-theory?’ We expect the answer to this is… auto-theory, in the sense that Catharine Malabou expresses the following about gentleness: “The true enemy of gentleness is… gentleness. Fake gentleness, mawkishness, this passivity sold to us via every New Age commercial technique, of relaxation or of an overused meaning of ‘zen’. This gentleness that one does not feel and is another name for an indifference to authentic gentleness.” (5)

Invitation

In this symposium we invite participants to share their own work and explorations around these themes. 

We are actively welcoming proposals for workshops, proposals for collaborative and interactive sessions, which may be accompanied by presentations and theoretical framing. We welcome personal experiences and artistic practices. We discourage formal and purely academic presentations. If you would like to (in addition) propose a reading of a specific work, we welcome you to share your suggestions. 

Please send an email with your application, including a title of your workshop and a short description (2 paragraphs is sufficient) to: [email protected]

Please also include practical information as discussed below. 

Practical Information

We will be able to support some participants with funds for travel and accommodation. Please mention when sending in your application if you would like to make use of this, and also specify how much your travel costs will be (approximation). 

We will be reserving low-cost accommodation in Turku for participants, please inform us when you will arrive and leave so we can help you make a booking in shared accommodation. 

Participation fee: TBD.
This fee includes NSU membership fee, attendance of the symposium, all coffee breaks and some of the meals and/or accommodation costs. The precise fee and what it covers depends on some funding which we are still pursuing. 

About this Study Circle

This study circle explores feminist methods of collaboration in reading and writing, and returns again and again to several contemporary thinkers: Bracha Ettinger, Luce Irigaray,  Djamila Ribeiro, as well as Audre Lorde, Maggie Nelson, Clarice Lispector, bell hooks, Anne Dufourmantelle and Conceição Evaristo. 

Footnotes

1. Autotheory as Feminist Practice in Art, Writing, and Criticism, Lauren Fournier, MIT Press 2022.
2. See the work of Bracha Ettinger.
3. Simone Weil.
4. As paraphrased in Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood, Allen & Unwin 2023.
5. Catharine Malabou, in the introduction to The Power of Gentleness: Meditations on the Risk of Living by Anne Dufourmantelle, Fordham University Press, 2018.