Lecture “Climate Crises and Theatre”
Some of the most vivid questions posed by the ecological crisis are matters for playwrights and artists. Why is this? Because we have the greatest difficulty in collectively representing where we are, who we are, which protagonists are in conflict, and, above all, what role we should play in this adventure for which we were not prepared. As always in times of deep crisis, the theater seems particularly suited to capture the ongoing climatic upheaval. When we are not able to think together, we have to stage in front of an audience.
Over the last twelve years, the philosopher and sociologist of science Bruno Latour and the scholar and theatre director Frédérique Aït-Touati have been experimenting with the anthropological, aesthetic, and political consequences of entering the new climate regime. In this lecture, Frédérique Aït-Touati will present these stage experiments which borrow from theatre, the history of science, politics, and anthropology, to test, each time, how these disciplines are able to absorb the shock of the new earth sciences.
Between philosophy and art, this talk will explore the hypothesis that the major cosmological upheaval that is sweeping us away cannot do without a new character, Earth, or Gaia, introduced onto the world stage. Frédérique Aït-Touati is a theatre director and a historian of science. Her theatre production and books focus on the relationship between fiction and knowledge, ecology and politics. She has collaborated with Bruno Latour for ten years on theatrical ways to test new hypotheses, especially for questioning the irruption of the controversial new figure of Gaia.
Her work has been presented in France and around the world (Nanterre-Amandiers, Théâtre de l’Odéon, Berliner Festspiele, The Kitchen in New York, Boca Festival in Portugal, Taipei Biennale, etc.) Her latest collaborative project with Bruno Latour, The Terrestrial Trilogy, A Performance in Three Parts: Inside, Moving Earths and Viral being performed on October 27 and 28 at the French Institute Alliance Française as part of their Crossing the Lines Festival.
This lecture is organized by Columbia Maison Française, with additional support provided by The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities.
Time: 6:00 PM — 7:30 PM EDT
Free!
