art,science & business/dialog: Catherine Perret

Catherine Perret
»Fetishism and Perversion«

Is fetishism a perversion? This question runs through Freudian analysis and divides it into two camps. By ultimately affirming the question, Freud finds himself in the enlightenment camp. He again confirms the traditional marginalization of the fetish, which he, like his predecessors, places outside the civilized world. In both theoretical and political terms, the price that must be paid for such ostracism is, however, immense. It refers to the fraction that we allocate to memory in the civilization process. Because – as Freud himself says – »the fetish is a monument.«

Can sensibility survive without monuments? This question leads our considerations since Freud and beyond. It also leads us to the exploration of the relationships between fetish and memory.

The lecture is in French with German translation.

Catherine Perret is a professor for philosophy at the University of Paris X-Nanterre and initiated the project »Fetish + Consumption«. From 1995 to 2001 she was program director of the Collège international de philosophie in Paris. Perret regularly writes articles on contemporary art for French newspapers and exhibition catalogues. Her book Walter Benjamin sans destin was reissued in 2006. She was a guest the Akademie in 2005/2006 in the context of an exchange with the Collège international de philosophie.

A cooperation with the Collège international de philosophie in Paris under the auspices of the »Fetish + Consumption« event series.

Admission free