On Friday the 25th of June at 17:00 hrs the book launch of our most recent publication (Mis)reading Masquerades takes place at our headquarters at Westerdok 606-608 in Amsterdam.

On this occasion Prof. Sylvère Lotringer gives a lecture titled Capital Carnival: “Irony and grotesque no longer come from below, as popular release or political subversion, they now come from above. In a striking reversal, it is no longer the masses who identify with a hysterical leader (Hitler, Mussolini), but perverse leaders who identify with the masses (Berlusconi, Sarkozy) and with comparable results. Fragmented and disseminated throughout social networks, power itself has become carnivalesque.” The lecture of Prof. Lotringer is followed by a conversation hosted by researcher Steven Ten Thije.

Sylvère Lotringer, founder of Semiotext(e), is widely credited for introducing ‘French Theory’ in America. He is professor emeritus of French Philosophy at Columbia University, Jean Baudrillard professor at the European Graduate School, and visiting professor at SciArc in Los Angeles. His most recent publications are Fous d’Artaud (Paris: Sens et Tonka, 2003) and Overexposed (New York: Semiotext(e), 2007).

Steven Ten Thije is research curator at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and research fellow at the University of Hildesheim. He studied art history and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.

(Mis)reading Masquerades comprises a selection of theoretical texts drawn from different fields of knowledge that address questions such as transgression, gender identity and subversion, gesture, the carnivalesque, the construction of subjectivity, authorship, mimesis, and alterity. The publication features introductions to each text by the participants of our monthly reading group, newly commissioned essays by writers and curators from the field of contemporary art and contributions by artists from the Dutch Art Institute (Enschede) and Piet Zwart Institute (Rotterdam).

(Mis)reading Masquerades is co-published by Revolver Publishing, If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, the Dutch Art Institute, the Piet Zwart Institute and the Van Abbemuseum.

With texts by Giorgio Agamben, Mikhail Bakhtin, Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Homi K. Bhabha, Judith Butler, Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, Jacques Derrida, Frantz Fanon, Michel Foucault, Francoise Frontisi-Ducroux, René Girard, Philippe-Alain Michaud, Fernando Pessoa, Peggy Phelan, Beatriz Preciado, Joan Riviere, Dieter Roelstraete, Suely Rolnik, Peter Stallybrass & Allon White, Michael Taussig.

Newly commissioned essays by Lars Bang Larsen, Steven ten Thije, and Yann Chateigné Tytelman.

Introductions by Alena Alexandrova; Flora Lysen; Marianne Flotron; Yael Davids; Martine Neddam; Cecilia Pelaez; Mounira al Solh; Rebecca Sakoun; Vanessa Ohlraun i.c.w. Hadley & Maxwell; Wendelien van Oldenborgh and Steven ten Thije, and artist contributions by Giles Bailey, Diana Duta; Pricila Fernandes; Bitsy Knox; Rachel Koolen; Serena Lee; David Lehman; Anna Okrasko; Susana Pedrosa; Linda Quinlan; Marnie Slater; Timmy van Zoelen; Lee Welch; Camilla Willis and Annie Wu, and Barbara Phillip; Eva Schippers; Rana Hamadeh; Seda Manavoglu; Teresa Maria Diaz Nerio; Tzvika Gutter; Veridiana Zurita and Yen Yitzu.