Grammar of the Multitude Seminar NYC 9/11
16Beaver Street, 4th Floor
Marking 9 years of renewed war and a declining Empire. Marking a year since our last intensive seminar, which was with Bifo and many other friends, and the upcoming conference at Cornell on Contemporary Italian Political Thought, we would like to dedicate a day to the concept of the 'Multitude' as developed by Paolo Virno in his 'Grammar of the Multitude.'
Although the lectures upon which the book is based took place in 2001 and the book was published in 2004, 'A Grammar of the Multitude' remains an important reference for many in the last years. And one of the interesting moments of this summer's reading group was our brief detour into Virno's concept. So we thought it would be interesting to take up that detour into a full day's inquiry into his book. We have invited some friends who are interested or familiar with Virno's writings to introduce and/or be involved in the discussions and we hope to use this day to walk through the text and address questions or points which each of us may think are interesting, important, or to be interrogated further.
One of the key passages of the book focuses on the question of (general) intellect as referred to in Marx and its public-ity. In our own efforts at 16Beaver, this question of an intellectuality that could be held in common or existing, developing between us has been an important feature. So what better book to foreground and inquire into this question than Virno's equally helpful, equally elusive text.
We will begin the day with a light breakfast and take some breaks, so it would be great if each person can bring a small contribution towards food or drink.
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2. Outline of Schedule*
10:30 - 11:00 - Light Breakfast / Coffee / Tea & Introductions - Collective
11:00 - 11:45 - Introduction of the Book - Ayreen Anastas
11:45 - 12:45 - Day 1 - Forms of Dread & Refuge - Stevphen Shukaitis
Pause
13:00 - 14:00 - Day 2 - Labor, Action, Intellect - Paige Sarlin
14:00 - 15:00 - Day 3 - Multitude as Subjectivity - Anastasiya Osipova
Pause
15:15 - 16:00 Day 4 - Ten Theses on the Multitude and Post-Fordist Capitalism - Malav Kanuga
16:00 - 17:00 Day 5 - Closing Discussion - Collective
*please note that this is a speculative schedule and will be deliberated upon and adjusted by the group who arrives in the morning
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3. For 'A Grammar of the Multitude'
There are two ways of accessing the book and both links come compliments of people interested in 'common places.'
a. Available in its pdf format, though the length of time this file will remain at this location is not foreseeable.
http://ifile.it/9zcsgkm
b. In addition to a very interesting texts by and interviews with Virno, Generation Online has the full text of the book in HTML form.
http://www.generation-online.org/c/fcmultitude3.htm
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4. Useful References
Edited Readings by 16 Beaver
Dreamers of a Successful Life
http://sduk.us/beaver/PDF/virno_semiotext(e)_autonomia_dreamers.pdf
Three Remarks Regarding the Multitude's Subjectivity and Its Aesthetic Component
http://sduk.us/beaver/PDF/virno_sternberg_under_pressure.pdf
Interview with Paolo Virno
http://sduk.us/beaver/PDF/virno_joseph_interview.pdf
Anthropology and Theory of Institutions
http://sduk.us/beaver/PDF/virno_reinventing_institutional_critique.pdf
Review of 'Multitude: Between Innovation and Negation'
http://sduk.us/beaver/PDF/virno_jack_review.pdf
Additional Texts by Virno on Generation Online:
http://www.generation-online.org/t/translations.htm
Virtuosity and Revolution
http://www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/000941.php
General intellect, exodus, multitude
http://www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/001475.php
Misadventures of Universality by Jacques Ranciere
http://www.16beavergroup.org/mtarchive/archives/002292.php
The Limits of Multitude by Malcolm Bull
http://www.16beavergroup.org/drift/readings/mb_limitsofmultitude.pdf
