Lecture #3: Justin CLemens, What do we talk about when we talk about contemporary art?

We are pleased to announce that the third lecture of the Gertrude Contemporary - Discipline: Contemporary Art Lecture Series will be given by Justin Clemens. His lecture What do we talk about when we talk about contemporary art? will coincide with the publication of his forthcoming book Psychoanalysis is an Antiphilosophy. 

This lecture surveys the most important theories of contemporary art – including those by Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, Boris Groys, Jacques Ranciere, various Octoberites and so-called Speculative Realists – in order to point out their strengths and weaknesses, and outline several possible new ways of talking about art. 

The Gertrude Contemporary - Discipline: Contemporary Art Lecture Series is a collaboration between Melbourne-based contemporary art journal Discipline and Gertrude Contemporary. The series presents lectures on key concerns, artists and theories of contemporary art. Throughout 2013 lecturers will speak from the perspective of a variety of different disciplines — including philosophy, cultural studies, art history and literary studies — as well as from academic and non-academic backgrounds. 

Justin Clemens writes extensively on contemporary Australian art and European philosophy. His books include Psychoanalysis is an Antiphilosophy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP 2013); Minimal Domination(Melbourne: Surpllus 2011), a collection of writings on art; and, with Dominic Pettman, Avoiding the Subject (Amsterdam: Amsterdam UP 2004). His creative works include the poetry chapbook Me ‘n’ me trumpet (Sydney: Vagabond 2011); the novella Black River (Melbourne: re.press 2007), with collages by Helen Johnson; and the mock-epic poem The Mundiad (Melbourne: Black Inc 2004). He is also the co-editor of collections on and by such major contemporary thinkers as Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, and Jacqueline Rose. He teaches at the University of Melbourne. 

Listen to Justin Clemens' lecture What do we talk about when we talk about contemporary art? here.