The Matter of Contradiction: Ungrounding the Object is the second event in a series of four focusing on the relationships between art and new forms of contemporary philosophy. The first event, Art Without Aesthetics, held in Rosascape, Paris in December 2011 introduced the series, attending to questions of the artwork beyond anthropocentrism. This second event, Ungrounding the Object focuses its attention on the renewal of the object as conceived outside of human access and the shattering of the ‘space of critique’. It attempts to understand how art, philosophy, mathemat- ics, geology and physics can collide, not just as a procedure of transdisciplinarity but through the intersection of their independent dynamics and collusion of their materials. Articulated as the disruption or collapsing of the ground on which we stand, we claim ungrounding is a cogni- tive and material process of evisceration. To this end, the correlation between thought and the object should be revised. We wish to explore the impact of objective reality within the realm of art practice, contending that we must understand the capacity of the (art)object to unground through its contingent materiality.

Ungrounding the Object is split in two parts. From Saturday 1st to Friday the 7th, Treignac Projet will host a private workshop with a group of 15 participants (now fully booked). On the week- end of 8th and 9th September Le centre international d’art et du paysage de l’île de Vassivière will host a two day conference addressing the issues raised during the workshop.

List of speakers during the conference:
Bertrand Prevost
Graham Harman
Gabriel Catren (TBC)
Levi Bryant
Nick Srnicek
Patricia Falguières
Paul J Ennis
Reza Negarestani (via skype) Tim Morton

The conference is free. But booking is recommended. Please email thematterofcontradictiongmail.com to book
More information can be found at lamatiere.tumblr.com
Information for Vassivière can be found here: www.ciapiledevassiviere.com

The Matter of Contradiction is a conference series organised by Sam Basu, Fabien Giraud, Ida Soulard and Tom Trevatt