Marx Grundrisse Reading Group
Labour cannot become play, as Fourier would like, although it remains his
great contribution to have expressed the suspension not of distribution, but of
the mode of production itself, in a higher form, as the ultimate object. Free
time—which is both idle time and time for higher activity—has naturally
transformed its possessor into a different subject, [who] then enters into the
direct production process as this different subject. This process is then both
discipline, as regards the human being in the process of becoming; and, at the
same time, practice [Ausübung], experimental science, materially creative and
objectifying science, as regards the human being who has become, in whose
head exists the accumulated knowledge of society. For both, in so far as labour
requires practical use of the hands and free bodily movement, as in agriculture,
as the same time exercise.
Karl Marx, Grundrisse: Foundations of the critique of political economy (Rough
Draft), trans. by Martin Nicolaus (Harmondsworth/London: Penguin/New Left
Review, 1973), p. 712.
We cannot pretend, as yet, to have mastered the extremely complex
articulations which connect the scientific forms of historical materialism with
the revolutionary practice of a class in struggle. But we have been right to
assume that, the power, the historical significance, of Marx’s theories are
related, in some way we do not yet fully understand, precisely to this double
articulation of theory and practice. We are by now familiar with a kind of
‘reading’ of the more polemical texts—like the Manifesto—where the theory is
glimpsed, so to speak, refracted through a more ‘immediate’ political analysis
and rhetoric. But we are still easily confused when, in the later texts, the
movement of the classes in struggle is glimpsed, so to speak, refracted through
the theoretical constructs and arguments.
Stuart Hall, ‘A “reading” of Marx’s 1857 introduction to the Grundrisse’, in
Anne Gray, Jan Campbell, Mark Erickson, Stuart Hanson and Helen Wood
(eds) CCCS Selected Working Papers, Volume 1 (London: Routledge, 2007), p.
109.
Eric Hobsbawm has said of the Grundrisse notebooks that they are a ‘kind of
intellectual, personal and often indecipherable shorthand’. The pertinence of
this judgement is reaffirmed by Enzo Grillo in the introduction to his
remarkable Italian translation. There is no doubt that in so far as their reading
and their translation are concerned, we are led to this judgement: the
Grundrisse constitutes a very difficult work.
Antonio Negri, Marx Beyond Marx, Lessons on the Grundrisse, trans. by Harry
Cleaver, Michael Ryan and Maurizio Viano, ed. by Jim Fleming (New York:
Autonomedia, 1991), p. 1.
If you would like to participate in a reading group of Marx’s Grundrisse, please contact me (Nick Beech: beechnick@me.com) by 15 September 2011. Precise details have not been drawn up on the structuring of the reading group and its meetings, as I’m waiting to hear how many and who is interested in participating. Below is a sketch of the kind of programme I imagine.
Basics
Start Date: beginning of October 2011
Regular Meetings: fortnightly, mid-week (Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday), evening (c.6.30 pm—c.
8.00 pm)
Location: central London, semi-formal, easy access to refreshments
Approach to Sessions
The reading group will use the Martin Nicolaus 1973 Penguin/New Left Review edition. This edition may not necessarily be the best (for a discussion on the English translation of the Grundrisse, see chrisarthur.net/grundrisse.doc ) but it is the most economical—widely available and much cheaper than the MECW two-volume edition.
The Grundrisse is a collection of seven notebooks, produced by Marx between August 1857 and May 1858. It is not a systematic presentation (as Capital, Volume One, for example); nor is it an attempt by editors of such (as Engels attempted with Capital, Volumes Two and Three). My suggestion is that the reading group use the Analytical Contents List (Grundrisse, pp. 69–80), to develop manageable and meaningful ‘slices’ of the text for each fortnight, in the absence of definite sections and chapters. The Grundrisse is not a ‘small’ work—including the ‘Bastiat and Carey’ essay, the Nicolaus edition numbers 813 pages. At the same time, as the work is notational in places, dense in some instances, expansive in others, pacing will be difficult. I will work toward mid-September to finalise a timetable proposal for reading, my initial suggestion is 15 fortnightly sessions—roughly two academic terms: week beginning 3 October; 17 October; 31 October; 14 November; 28 November; 12 December; 9 January 2012; 23 January; 6 February; 20 February; 5 March; 19 March; 2 April; 16 April; 30 April. But these sessions will not be even ‘cuts’ of text, some sessions may include quantitatively greater material than others. As I have not read the Grundrisse in full, my division of sessions may be out of whack—suggestions are welcome.
I suspect that the reading group will be constituted from a wide range of particular and general interests, there’s no reason why that won’t work well. It would be good to know, from the beginning, if there are sections of the text that individuals are interested in working on and presenting. It would also be good to know, from the start, if there are individuals who would like to participate in/discuss only certain sections, and not the text as a whole.
I would like to set a ‘three-part’ format to the reading group sessions:
First Part: one or two members of the reading group present an overview of the text read for that session —this to include key questions, areas for clarification, problematics, and developments from previous readings;
Second Part: reading group to address the presentation;
Third Part: less formal discussion—perhaps over some food/drink—centred on the text read, but on the usefulness of the text, relevance to particular concerns, wider implications, speculations, looser interpretations.
Alternative suggestions to this basic outline are welcome.
A blog may be valuable, for people to develop lines of enquiry/queries/propositions from the text. The sessions may be recorded and disseminated through the blog, for those who want to refer to in-session conversations/dialogues or who were unable to attend.
Interest
If you are interested in this reading group, could you let me (Nick Beech: beechnick@me.com) know before 15 September 2011, with the following details:
Name, e-mail address, postal address;
Preferred evenings (Tues–Thurs), preferred times, and evenings/times you cannot do;
Any definite periods of absence during the reading group programme as outlined above;
Any section of the Grundrisse of particular interest.
Suggestions: for format of sessions; for location of sessions (if anyone knows a good café or public
space); for appropriate division of text into 15 ‘slices’.
It would also be useful to know a little bit about why you would be interested in a reading group on the
Grundrisse.
AHRC Studentship opportunity
The Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster are inviting applications for an AHRC funded masters studentship in design/practice based research.
The School of Architecture and the Built Environment at Westminster (SABE) is widely recognised as an important centre for practice based research in architecture. Westminster is amongst the few architectural schools in Britain that has been actively developing a PhD by design route with expertise and the potential to support research in a wide range of areas.
Eligible candidates will hold a good first degree in architecture or a related discipline and will be able to demonstrate the intention to continue with their research at PhD.
For more details follow the following link: ahrc-research-preparation-masters-studentship
SCARCITY EXCHANGES with Lyla Mehta and Iain Boal on Concepts of Scarcity
Wednesday, 1 June 2011, 6.30 pm, University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus, Cayley Lecture Theatre, London
SCARCITY EXCHANGES with Lyla Mehta and Iain Boal on Concepts of Scarcity
Lyla Mehta is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and an Adjunct Professor at Noragric, Norwegian University of Life Sciences. She is a sociologist and her work focuses on the politics of scarcity, water and sanitation, gender, forced displacement and resistance, rights and access to resources and the politics of environment/ development and sustainability. Several of her publications have been concerned with scarcity including the recently edited work ‘The Limits to Scarcity: Contesting the Politics of Allocation’. Her talk is entitled ‘Taking the scare out of scarcity: Why ‘perfect storm’ narratives serve to keep the poor poor’.
Iain Boal is a social historian and co-founder of the Retort collective, an association of radical writers, artisans, and artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has taught at Harvard, Stanford, and the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz. He is presently Research Fellow of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London. In his remarks, “Scarcity and the necessities of life”, Boal will review the Reverend Malthus’ definition of economics as “decision under scarcity”, and asks whether another economics, indeed another world, is possible.
This event is free but registration is required.
Concepts of Scarcity is part of Scarcity Exchanges, a series of exchanges on and around the topic of scarcity, bringing together some of the leading thinkers in the field to expound on one of the most pressing, but often avoided, issues of the day.
Call for Papers: ARCHITECTURAL ECOLOGIES: A RELATIONAL HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
65th SAH Annual Meeting in Detroit, April 18-22, 2012
ARCHITECTURAL ECOLOGIES: A RELATIONAL HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
The past decade has seen the emergence of an increasingly sophisticated environmental debate in architecture. This discourse has been led by architectural theorists, commentators, practitioners, and representatives of professional bodies, but has developed with little input from architectural historians. This panel proposes that architectural history may both contribute to and gain from this debate.
While there is clearly scope for identifying new areas of research (as in John Farmer’s Green Shift and Peder Anker’s From Bauhaus to Ecohouse), this panel seeks to explore architectural history’s role in the environmental debate from another vantage point, namely that of an ecological conception of architecture and, by extension, architectural historiography. It proposes that the key to a “green shift” in architectural history may be located at the level of epistemological, ontological, and methodological questions, rather than subject-matter, and that this, in turn, calls for a serious engagement with a range of relational theories, from process-philosophy and non-representational theory to recent enquiries at the intersections of phenomenology, ecology, and consciousness studies. This is not without conceptual challenges, but historical studies in other disciplines such as human geography, ethnography, and archaeology have already produced significant new insights by using relational approaches.
The panel asks what may be the theoretical implications of studying architectural history in relational terms; which methods of enquiry beyond conventional desk and archival study may become requisite in such a context; what new knowledges may be generated; and how this may inform the environmental debate in architecture and beyond. We invite papers that engage with these and related questions, in principle and/or practice. Session chair: Karin Jaschke, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Design, University of Brighton; (+)44 7944663121;k.jaschke@brighton.ac.uk.
Job Vacancy: PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE
PROFESSOR OF ARCHITECTURE
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
SALARY FROM £55K P.A.
The Department of Architecture at the University of Westminster is one of
Europe’s leading centres for architectural research and teaching. In the past
decade our students have achieved unparalleled success in the RIBA
President’s student awards, and the Department made a very strong entry
at the last Research Assessment Exercise, with 20% of its research being
graded as world leading. As a Department we celebrate our diversity of
approaches, and the breadth of our student intake, a combination that has
historically placed us in the forefront of architectural education.
We are looking to appoint a new Professor appointment to join a dynamic
and ambitious set of staff and students. This is a key position in the
development of Architecture at Westminster, and the person will be
expected to lead architectural research as well as making a strong
intellectual contribution to the Department and University. You will have an
international reputation for research in the field, and be able to make
connections to teaching within the Department and to the world of practice
beyond. You should have an established record in producing world leading
research outputs, which may include designs or artefacts. We are not
looking for a specific area of expertise, but rather the ability to lead by
example, and to be curious and generous enough to support and develop
other people’s architectural interests.
Closing Date: 1 June 2011
Candidates should apply via our website at: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/hrvacancies
A full job description and an online application form can be found under
the reference number 50001299. Please note CVs sent in isolation or
incomplete application forms will not be shortlisted.
SCARCITY EXCHANGES
SCARCITY EXCHANGES
A SERIES OF EXCHANGES ON AND AROUND
THE TOPIC OF SCARCITY, BRINGING TOGETHER
SOME OF THE LEADING THINKERS IN THE FIELD
TO EXPOUND ON ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING,
BUT OFTEN AVOIDED, ISSUES OF THE DAY
11 MAY: ECONOMIES OF SCARCITY
DOUGALD HINE AND ANDREW SIMMS
18 MAY: CITIES OF SCARCITY
ALFREDO BRILLEMBOURG AND DAVID SATTERTHWAITE
25 MAY: SCARCITY AND CONSUMPTION
ED VAN HINTE AND STEVE BROOME
1 JUNE: CONCEPTS OF SCARCITY
IAIN BOAL AND LYLA MEHTA
13 JUNE: FABRICATING SCARCITIES
SASKIA SASSEN
All talks start at 6.30pm at
University of Westminster
Marylebone Campus
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS
Tickets are free but please register at
scibe.eventbrite.com
For further details visit scibe.eu
Special Joe Banks Rorscach Audio Lecture
http://instituteformodern.co.uk/2011/special-joe-banks-rorscach-audio-lecture
The Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture (IMCC) invites you to:
Wednesday 9th March 2011, 1.15-2.45pm
Room 106, University of Westminster, 32-38 Wells Street, London W1T 3UW
Joe Banks (AHRC Research Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts)
Rorschach Audio: Art and Illusion for Sound – Lecture & demonstration
Visual and sound and artist Joe Banks, based as an AHRC Research Fellow in the Institute, discusses the Spiritualistic phenomena explored by his “Rorschach Audio” research project, exploring Jean Cocteau’s Orphée and Art and Illusion by EH Gombrich in relation to Electronic Voice Phenomena (ghost voice) recording. The presentation focuses on perceptual psychology aspects of its subject matter – including live demonstrations of audio illusions and of related psychoacoustic phenomena – with a second presentation focusing on related literary themes to follow this Autumn.
“It is the story of the signaller who misheard the urgent message ‘Send reinforcements, am going to advance’ as ‘Send three and four pence, am going to a dance’.” E.H. Gombrich
“Sometimes we see a cloud that’s dragonish; A vapour sometime like a bear or lion, A tower’d citadel, a pendant rock, A forked mountain, or blue promontory With trees upon’t, that nod unto the world, And mock our eyes with air.” Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra
Jeremy Till: Spatial Agency and The Ethics of Architecture UoW 17.2.11 6.30pm
Department of Architecture, University of Westminster
History & Theory open lecture series, 2010-11
6.30pm, Thursdays Room M421
University of Westminster,
35 Marylebone Road,
London NW1 5LS
Thursday 17th February 6.30 pm
Jeremy Till
Spatial Agency and The Ethics of Architecture
The most intemperate part of Jeremy Till’s book Architecture Depends focuses on architecture’s ineffective and sometimes immoral engagement with ethics. In this lecture he explains the cause of his ire, and suggests a view of ethics that goes beyond a consideration of building as object. This leads to an alternative version of architectural production called Spatial Agency, which offers numerous other ways of doing architecture.
Jeremy Till, Dean of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of Westminster since 2008, was previously Professor of Architecture and Head of the School at the University of Sheffield. He is a prize-winning author whose books include Architecture and Participation, Flexible Housing (with Tatjana Schneider), Architecture Depends, and most recently, Spatial Agency (with Nishat Awan and Tatjana Schneider). As an architect, he worked with Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, best known for their pioneering 9 Stock Orchard Street (The Straw House and Quilted Office). In 2006 he curated the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
Sustainable Matters: IMCC salon event at Whitechapel Gallery
Sustainable Matters
Thursday 10 February 2011, 7pm
Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1
Price: £8.00 (includes free glass of wine).
Speakers: Iain Boal, Kate Soper and Allan Stoekl
In collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery, the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at the University of Westminster is hosting the final discussion in this year’s ‘Matter Matters’ Salon at the gallery. Chaired by David Cunningham.
Iain Boal is a social historian and Fellow of the Institute for the Humanities at Birkbeck College, London. He is one of the founders of the Retort Collective, with whom he co-authored Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War, and co-author of Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information. He has just completed The Green Machine, a book on the world history of the bicycle.
Kate Soper is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at London Metropolitan University, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton. Her books include What Is Nature? and To Relish the Sublime: Culture and Self-Realisation in Postmodern Times (with Martin Ryle), as well as the co-edited collections The Politics and Pleasures of Consuming Differently and Citizenship and Consumption.
Allan Stoekl is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University. His books include Politics, Writing, Mutilation, Agonies of the Intellectual and Bataille’s Peak: Energy, Religion, and Postsustainability. He is also the translator of several texts by Georges Bataille and Maurice Blanchot, as well as of the book Need for the Bike by Paul Fournel.
Book your ticket at:
http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/shop/index.php/fuseaction/shop.product/product_id/815?
IMCC: http://instituteformodern.co.uk/
The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.
POLYARK SUPER MEGA CRIT in P3, University of Westminster 28-29th Jan 2011
This event should be excellent, not least because the first item on the programme is to ‘break for lunch’!
POLYARK SUPER MEGA CRIT
Friday 28th January to Saturday 29th January 2011
At the University of Westminster P3
The overall aim of this event is to:
summarise and showcase the work produced by the students of each school that participated in Polyark II;
celebrate and publicise the schools’ early participation in a highly successful project;
review Cedric Price’s contribution to architects’ thinking over the last 50 years and his enthusiasm for the UK railway system including its potential to provide valuable brownfield sites;
consider Cedric’s ambition for a National School of Architecture & provide a forum for debate about architecture education;
provide a forum for debate about the Polyark ll project and develop, on a preliminary basis, the themes for Polyark lll;
inaugurate and publicise Polyark lll.
Thursday 27th January - P3 will be available for pinning up from ????
Friday 28th January
Between 9.00 and 13.00 - Arrivals, registration and pin-up
13.00 – 13.45 Break for Lunch
13.45 – 14.00 Welcome and Introductions
14.00 - 14.30 The original Polyark - Peter Murray
In the early 1070s the Polyark double decker bus set off from the Architectural Association filled with architectural students and visited other schools of architecture at Cambridge, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bath and Edinburgh. This was the brainchild of Cedric Price to promote collaboration and his dream of a National School of Architecture. Peter Murray was there and will share some of his experiences of the original Polyark project.
14.30 – 15.30 Crit One: Strathclyde
15.30 – 16.00 Railways and Cedric – Bernard Gambrill
Cedric Price was involved with High Speed One The strategy and implementation of the Crossrail project will be outlined, with an assessment of how this will affect urban patterns in the future. Comments will be offered on the connections that can be made between Crossrail and Price’s fascination for networks, particularly focusing on the impact of railways as shapers of cities, suburbs, and the transmission of ideas.
16.00 – 17.00 Crit Two: Birmingham
17.00 – 17.30 Cedric Price – Paul Finch and Samantha Hardingham
Cedric Price was the architect of the Potteries Thinkbelt, the Fun Palace, the Kentish Town Generator, and the aviary at London Zoo among many other highly polemical, realised and unrealised projects. Cedric made a highly significant contribution to architects’ thinking over the last 50 years and his legacy is kept alive by his many friends, colleagues and his partner the actress Eleanor Bron.
17.30 – 18.30 Crit Three: South Bank
19.00 Drinks and party
Saturday 29th January
09.30 – 10.00 Polyark II - John Lyall
During the academic year 2009-10, 8 schools of architecture worked collaboratively as paired schools and exchanged sites, data, locations, and ideas to develop their design proposals. Reflecting Cedric Price’s lifelong enthusiasm for railways and high speed transport connections the theme for Polyark II was the redevelopment of the UK’s railway backlands.
10.00 – 11.00 Crit 4: Architectural Association
11.00 – 11.30 Railways and Urbanisation – John Worthington
The establishment of the permanent way in 19th century societies transformed the connectivity of global cities, creating new social relations through the spread of industrialisation. The railway also defined the nature and vocabulary of modern engineering projects, consolidating engineers as key actors in contemporary design process and implementation. The subterranean and subaqueous tunnel, the cutting, viaduct, and long span bridge were all products of the railway, contributing an entirely new synthetic geology to previously unmanaged landscapes.
11.30 – 12.30 Crit 5:Lincoln
12.30 – 13.00 The National Plan by Cedric Price – John Lyall and David Gloster
All architectural schools in the UK should be co-ordinated to produce a range of architectural educational investigation far more comprehensive than that now offered by any single school and students should be enabled to move from one school to the other during their course. This was Cedric Price’s dream and the advantages he envisaged included the ability for schools to specialise within architecture and share that centre of excellence with other schools. John Lyall and David Gloster will expand on the principles and possibilities of the National Plan in this session.
14.00 15.00 Crit 6: Liverpool Break for Lunch
15.00 – 15.30 The Future of UK Architectural Schools – David Gloster
Cedric Price proposed a National School of Architecture. With developments in the education system, architectural education and communications & media, the dream as realised could look very different but achieve the same aims. David Gloster will give a brief overview of the current situation and the possibilities for more integration of syllabus and course content to enable more flexible learning and sharing of ideas.
15.30 – 16.30 Crit 7: DeMontfort
16.30 – 17.30 Crit 8: Canterbury
17.30 – 18.30 Close with “PIII at P3” The next Polyark project – John Lyall, David Gloster, Will McLean and Kate Heron?
The first Polyark revival was a resounding success. The railway theme has put the project firmly on track and we now look to the next tranche of schools to embrace and develop Polyark III in the next academic year. Who will join? What should the theme be? John Lyall, David Gloster, Will McLean and Kate Heron will debate the questions and coordinate discussions from the floor.
