Epidemic Subjects - Radical Ontology

Lecturers: Elisabeth von Samsonow (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), Boyan Manchev (UDK Berlin, New Bulgarian University), Johanna Braun (Author, Artist), Karin Ferrari (Author, Artist)

Modern philosophy continues to grapple with the idea of subjectivity―and, as the concept of subjectivity has been refined and redefined, the struggle has spread to the ways we conceive of sovereignty, collectivity, nationality, and identity. Yet, in the absence of an authoritative account of these concepts, new ways of thinking have emerged which continue to evolve.

Epidemic Subjects―Radical Ontology brings together a team of contributors who forge a radically inclusive definition of subjectivity. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of the “girl” as a heuristic device for examining modern society, they tie together recent trends in philosophy and offer a concrete way forward from the conception of the “thing” or “object” privileged by new materialism, speculative realism, and other theories of subjectivity.

With contributions by Arantzazu Saratxaga Arregi, Johanna Braun, Levi R. Bryant, Francesca Coin, Karin Ferrari, Boyan Manchev, Angela Melitopoulos, Suzana Milevska, Peter Sloterdijk and Elisabeth von Samsonow.

This publication was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien and the Gesellschaft der Freunde der bildenden Künste.