Communication

All things related to communication in a very broad sense. Things posted in this category may be related to mass media but are certainly not related to it. In a more general meaning, communication is the process by which things come into relation with one another. It also has a lot to do with the concept of community, with the idea of gift and debt and, last but not least, with phenomena related to separation and destruction (as a side effect of the coming-together which is usually associated with communication).

Zoological sketches by Joseph Wolf and Philip Lutley Sclater, Vol. 2, London: Henry Graves, 1867, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56230234.

Decadenza by Giorgio Agamben, 1964

I couldn’t say how long we’ve been coming back here every evening. After having wandered over the sea in search of food, following the trail of the large ships or coasting the shores, we fall down tired upon this beach and, nestling on one side, we begin to brood. It is sweet at that hour […]

• By Philippe Theophanidis on December 16, 2020 ― Published in Art, Communication | Tagged: Agamben, Literature, science fiction

Fig. 1—Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, Sua Cuique Persona, c.1510. Oil on panel, 73 × 50 cm, Uffizi Galleries, Florence. Source.

Sua Cuique Persona: The Ambivalent Politics of Masks

This is an extended version (more than twice the size) of an peer-reviewed essay published in TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies: access the shorter version here (not open access). University of Toronto Press remains the copyright holder of the content. This essay was finalized on June 16, 2020. To quote the peer-reviewed version: Theophanidis, […]

• By Philippe Theophanidis on October 10, 2020 ― Published in Communication, Technology | Tagged: biopolitics, covid, face, mask, person, politics

“Diogenes and Plato” Mattia Preti, 1649; retrieved from Google Art & Culture

Diogenes washing vegetables: a parabole about philosophy and politics

Some authors affirm that the following also belongs to him: that Plato saw him washing lettuces, came up to him and quietly said to him, “Had you paid court to Dionysius, you wouldn’t now be washing lettuces,” and that he with equal calmness made answer, “If you had washed lettuces, you wouldn’t have paid court […]

• By Philippe Theophanidis on May 10, 2020 ― Published in Communication | Tagged: Diogene the Cynic, Diogenes Laertius, Heidegger, philosophy, Plato, politics

Giorgio Agamben and the coronavirus pandemic: interventions

☛ Una voce di Giorgio Agamben, Quodlibet (publisher). Una voce di Giorgio Agamben is a an online platform where Giorgio Agamben has been publishing short public interventions in Italian since March 2017. It is hosted and maintained by the Italian publisher Quodlibet, where many of Giorgio Agamben’s books have been published. On February 26, 2020, […]

• By Philippe Theophanidis on May 3, 2020 ― Published in Communication | Tagged: Agamben, biopolitics, coronavirus, pandemic