Philosophy

Review* of Emna Zghal’s solo exhibition, Plato/Pineapple at Miyako Yoshinaga art prospects, New York City, February 2 – March 10, 2012

*

On the series

My second foray into the Brooklyn Book Festival was the Walker in the City panel, where the venerable Edmund White coaxed writers to reveal the imaginary forces behind a common theme in their writing: the distance their main characters covered, both geographic and metaphysical.

Erik Sanner, an artist and a friend of mine, hosts a summer salon that brings together artists and thinkers for food and conversation about the roles of art and artists. The conversation revolves around questions, which are provided early so that we can prepare some thoughts before the (veggie) burgers hit the grill. I couldn't attend the latest round, unfortunately, but I also couldn't resist responding to the latest interrogation. Here's a taste of the questions and answers, Quick & Dirty style:

Eric Anthamatten is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the New School forSocial Research in New York City.

While I have gleefully immersed myself in his nonfiction and long-form essays, I have not read The Broom of the System, Infinite Jest, or The Pale King. Post-event discussions revealed that I wasn’t the only one in the audience at PEN World Voices Festival’s Everything and More panel who had not dipped his toes into David Foster Wallace’s fiction. Such is the draw of the deceased writer-philosopher genius.

For me, PEN’s World Voices Festival of International Literature began two hours before the “official” opening night event (discussed here and here). I kicked off my favorite annual event at The Public Intellectual panel, held in the svelte Standard Hotel.

Philosopher, lawyer, and professor Howard Engelskirchen speaks about participatory economics and how democracy informs this practice, as well as the Marxist underpinnings of this movement.

Engelskirchen formerly taught at Union College, Iowa State University, and Western State University, and is the author of Capital as a Social Kind (Routledge, 2010). Here's a little bit about that book: