[...] Event ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> paints a kind of national lanscape
="lsts lst1">•Life and Words ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> turn to an art of an ="trms">anthropological portraiture

...healing properties of the everyday
...everyday life generates its own forms of toxicity

(="ppl">Singh's) art of portraiture
of individuals, of milieu,

='strcls'>*singularity (of a portraiture) may express something both local and global='strcls'>*

="large lg2" stl="font-size:111%"> ="ppl">Veena ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how would we conceptualize the moments of potentially violent uncertainty='qstn'>?
="prgrph">-="ppl">Benjamin='lgc'>: invocations of the uncanny
="prgrph">-="ppl">Derrida='lgc'>: the spectral
="prgrph">-="ppl">Veena='lgc'>: eventedness of the everyday (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> skepticism)

Cavell (on Hollywood cinema and other sites where the drama of separation and union is played out) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how philosophers have typically focused on skepticism ='lgc'>[longstanding western philosophical ="trms">question and doubt about existence='lgc'>] with respect to ="trms">material objects and the external ="trms">world
...existence of the ="trms">finite neighbour (seemingly known other) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> may become unknowable

='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*="ppl">Veena discovers the concept of skepticism for ="trms">anthropology (as a discipline centrally concerned with the varying conditions of human relatedness and otherness)='strcls'>*

='lgc'>[i have been trying dicover skepticism un="trms">systematically in artistic practices those that have strong concerns of ="trms">social justice and suffering, but i never named it as such. ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Hoda, ="frds scrmbld">Xiri's emphasis on the threatening ="trms">nature of liminality (="trms">demand for equality or freedom) ='lgc'>=/= ='strcls'>**to take the possibility of unsettlement or chaos as founding concern='strcls'>**='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> skepticism (may) sug="trms">gests a differnt route of inquiry

(="ppl">Veena -2007='lgc'>:) “the intimacy between skepticism and the ordinary is revealed in the ="trms">present work on several sites, as in the panic ="trms">rumors that circulate and produce the picture of the other as phantasmal from whom all human subjectivity has been evacuated, or when violence in the register of ="trms">literary is seen as transfiguring life into something else, call it a form of death, or of making oneself, as it were, into a ghost”

='lgc'>[violence ='lgc'>==> ghosts='lgc'>]

skeptical problematic ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> shifting potency of words ='lgc'>: energies that words may gather, and the ways these energies may give or deny life

speech ='lgc'>=/= voice
='lgc'>==> ='strcls'>***silence is not necessarily life-denying or that it necessarily indicates a lack or an inability to mourn='strcls'>***

='lgc'>[victims of violence telling ="trms">stories='lgc'>]
words imbued with spectral quality (yet animated by some other voice)

there is a deep moral energy in the ='strcls'>*refusal to re="trms">present some violations of the human body='strcls'>* ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= forensic architecture project's imperative of detailed re="trms">presentation of violation, explicit acknowledging traumatic ="trms">memory='lgc'>]
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***living with poisonous knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge='strcls'>*** (a ="trms">different acknowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edgement of traumatic ="trms">memory) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> absorption exercises of remaking a ="trms">world

='lgc'>--='lgc'>{on ‘forensic architecture’ (an ="trms">aesthetics developed by Weizman)='lgc'>: ="ppl">Keenan asks='lgc'>: if the excruciating citizon videos (showing police violence for instance) could not convince a jury how can forms of ="trms">aesthetic critique based on research and visual evidence ='lgc'>[= post-conceptual art='lgc'>] be anymore effective on the general poblic='qstn'>? (='lgc'><== ‘evidence ='lgc'>=/= proof’)
="prgrph">-age of testimony (-public truth-)
="prgrph">-citizon photo journalism ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> “witnessing ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= action”
="prgrph">-the appearance of nonhuman objects as evidence (in forums and courts) as records of imperssions ='lgc'>[sense perception='lgc'>] ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> object='lgc'> = sensor (waiting to be ="trms">interpreted by justice-seekers) ='lgc'>='lgc'>~-> ='strcls'>***proxy for an absent victim='strcls'>***
='lgc'>[='strcls'>*='lgc'>]forensic='lgc'>: process of making claims of what the evidence is “saying” ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what is made evident remains in dispute='lgc'>]
“forensic production of evidence (in art) ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= radical rejection of re="trms">presentation” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*adjudication of information='strcls'>* ='at'>@="frds scrmbld"nttrm="Alice,Shariati">Ali
(="ppl">Keenan='lgc'>:) ideological and formal continuities that run from the ="trms">geometrically precise drawing of human cargo slave ships ='lgc'>[='lgc'>==> public delegitimization ='lgc'>==> collapse of slavery='lgc'>], or infrared images of boats carrying humans across the mediterranean today.
(artist's claim of) “the fai="trms"nttrm="failure,blur,plur,lurk,tallur,slur">lure to see” (or “how could they not see the injustice”) (='lgc'>==> “I make them see” ='lgc'>~ violence of slowing down brutality videos, ="trms">zooming, saturating, freeze-framing, obssesing with the visual details, etc.) ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what we “see” is structured by other factors (race, etc.)
="prgrph">-recourse اعاده
(we can always do aggressive) counter ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> counter forensic='lgc'>: the ="trms">technical ="trms">rhetorical work making evidence speek ='lgc'>: “voice ='lgc'>+ image='lgc'> = task of persuasion” ='lgc'>--claiming='lgc'>='lgc'>--> public truth and ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights
="lsts lst1">•(Thrall and ="ppl">Keenan='lgc'>:) alternative modes other than using images (visual evidence, fundamentally a peaceful way of wanting ‘change’)='lgc'>: using force(='qstn'>?)
="lsts lst1">•forensic ='lgc'>~ advocacy ='lgc'>='lgc'>~= con="trms">figuration of claims and evidence ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> claiming is always claiming ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights ='lgc'>[='lgc'>=/= commitments='lgc'>]='lgc'>}

="ppl">Keenan='lgc'>: ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rights are something we claim (='lgc'>=/= something we have) ='lgc'>--through='lgc'>='lgc'>-->
="lstsrd">1. advocacy
="lstsrd">2. forensics


="large lg1" stl="font-size:138%"> (Spivak's ="trms">question='lgc'>: can the subaltern speak='qstn'>?) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (="ppl">Veena sug="trms">gests forms of attentiveness to) myriad fluctuations between yes and no (='lgc'>=/= ="ppl">Derrida's notion of absence of voice)

we come to recognize the expressiveness of our ="trms">interlocutor (in its ="trms">different and difficult forms)
='lgc'>[...working for the expressivity of others, and not yours='lgc'>]

(="ppl">Veena research in Sultanpuri='lgc'>:) ='strcls'>*theatrical performances of violence created a subjectivity that would not be carried forward in time='strcls'>*

="prgrph">-to what extent subjects posses the knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge they enact='qstn'>? (='lgc'>~ do we know what we do='qstn'>?) ='lgc'>--='qstn'>?='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">question of structure and cognition (='lgc'>~ the extent to which we know the structures that we are part of, and what vulnerabilities and events this leaves us open to)

="large lg3" stl="font-size:110%"> (let's stop throwing easy) political and moral posturing about neoliberalism

...there are only particular regions of the ="trms">past that we potentially or actually have access to. we do not know in advance which regions of the ="trms">past life might lead us to, or express through us ='lgc'>--="ppl">Veena='lgc'>='lgc'>--> we are not necessarily ='strcls'>*cognizant of the structure='strcls'>*, but may still express ='strcls'>*fragments of myth='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>***non="trms">agentive invocation of politics='strcls'>*** ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Hoda (="ppl">Veena example='lgc'>: ="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">right after Sultanpuri carnage, women were sitting in front of their burnt houses in a ="trms">position of stillness letting their body grow dirty, sorrowfully ="trms">embodying pollution and dirt, like Draupadi in Mahabharata proclaiming her violation through public expression of her pollution. but the women did not device a strategy to carry a tactic of everyday life into the realm of the political. it was as if the ="trms">past has turned this face towards them='lgc'>--not that they had ="trms">translated this ="trms">past ="trms">story into a ="trms">present tactic of resistance ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> living fragments of a myth)

more like a conceptual signpost ='lgc'>=/= extended argument


="large lg4" stl="font-size:111%"> two sig="trms">nature issues of politics='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•sovereignty ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the state
="lsts lst1">•as="trms">sociational life ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the ="trms">social contract

='lgc'>[the state is ="trms">supposed to be a proxy for people to appropriate power (of death='qstn'>?!), rather than laying absolute claim over it='lgc'>]
="prgrph">-how such claim is contested or re="trms">formulated in ="nms">iran='qstn'>?

the figure of the abducted and rescued woman ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> sign of ="trms">authority ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> sign of state

having a politics ='lgc'>=/=='qstn'>? do politics ='lgc'>~ political act
='strcls'>*agonistic impulse of politics='strcls'>* (often, if not prophetic, a heroic mode of action in terms of escaping the ordinary rather than descend into it ='lgc'>[='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Marx='lgc'>]. such as='lgc'>: Antigone's ="trms">spectacular defiant voice celebrated in philosophical and political thought, stable locus of redemption. usually a rebellion in some ="trms">sort, craving a ="trms">socially progressive agonistics ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> French Revolution)
='lgc'>--or='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (='lgc'>=/= possibility of an ethnographic) ="trms">integrity='lgc'>: ='strcls'>*attempt to attain a proximity to the vagaries of life='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>~='lgc'>~> ordinary works of repair in a life, such as Asha
='lgc'>--or='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='strcls'>*reparative impulse of politics='strcls'>* (='lgc'>=/= agonistic), Shahrzad's non-agonistic ="trms">socially progressive politics of working under “terror” animated by the ="trms">question of how we might continue to live together, how the ="trms">social fabric holds together
='lgc'>--or='lgc'>='lgc'>-->

(it is our/my imperative today) ='strcls'>***to give each other a more open-ended picture of ='lgc'>[our='lgc'>] bad objects (caste, capital, state, ="trms">modernity, etc.)='strcls'>***

="large lg5" stl="font-size:160%"> exchange, resettlement, fission, mythological replacement (='lgc'>~ friction and movement within the ="trms">system) ='lgc'>==> repartitioning of ="trms">categories ='lgc'>==> rearrangement of hierarchies ='lgc'>==> opposing and heretical sects and ="trms">religions

="prgrph">-art's (ethnographic='qstn'>?) proximity to life
="prgrph">-political postures and stands

(nobody has, neither state nor ="trms">communities) monopoly on ethical pronouncement ='lgc'>[='lgc'>~ declaration of good and evil='lgc'>]

(political) postures are not unimportant, they[...]