Pataphysics

This course takes Alfred Jarry's utopian notion of
an 'imaginary science' as the model for just such
a vision. We begin with Jarry's invention of
'Pataphysics, a practice whose aim is to bring
exceptions into being. We start by focusing on the
three tropes of exceptionality - the anomolous,
the syzygia, and the clinamen - 'three events that
involve a monstrous encounter, be it in the form
of an excess, a chiasm or a swerve.' The course
aims to look at different models of knowledge, and
practices of knowing, and how these can be
interrupted, diverted or subverted into new mental
courses that cross many disciplinary boundaries.
Central concerns include the relationship between
the exceptional and the ordinary, the question of
Truth, what it might be, what methods might access
it, whether it can be known at all, and/or is it
something we must actively create. The seminar
introduces a range of critical frameworks, and
focuses on work that mixes traditional art media
with methodologies from science, myth, religion,
the occult and other non-aesthetic arenas of life.
Terms covered include-scientia, poesie, theoria,
truth; objectivity and subjectivity;
knowledge-regime, phenomenon, simulacra, episteme;
constructionism vs representation; revelation,
channeling and inspiration, etc. The main project
is to bring a new way of thinking into being by
inventing a complex and detailed
theory-of-your-own.