Jassem Hindi
Manipulating Concepts

Manipulating Concepts Stutter and structure: how does language host an idiotic body? The general idea of this workshop is to introduce "non-specialists" to the manipulation of concepts - specifically the ones generated by western philosophy, commonly known as metaphysics - and its post, pop, pseudo-scientific fringes. The main effort here is to address a dance / performing population which will be pressured by concept related questions and practices all along their career, whether to justify their work, or as "choreographic" tools. We will proceed through both a historical perspective (to give names and context to these concepts) and a thematic one - the tension between language and body in its articulation to the notion of truth. Concepts come with strategies. As a practice, we will share those devices and use them. The point is, at least in an amateur way, to share some knowledge about some of the conceptual displays that one might encounter - their historical and ideological backgrounds. The purpose is to consider theory as a practice by itself. This is also an open research. We will attempt this workshop by questioning the relation between body and language, and how the tension between those two elements is articulated to the notion of truth. This problem will be exposed in the perspective of a stuttering body, symptom of this tension. Not a glorious, achieved being, but rather a collection of hesitations. What does an idiotic body, autistic and opaque, tell us about a concept related practice? How do concepts make us stutter? The workshop will be organised as follows: - Elements of ideology / History of philosophy in 150 min: We will navigate swiftly through the history of concepts, guided by our problem of body, language and truth. The other three folds will vary in length depending on what we feel we need in order to pursue a consistent research: - Tales and stories: We will walk around a few conceptual lands and philosophical tales (for example: "There is no sexual relation" "The laws of hospitality" "The master of knowledge" "How to build a bridge?" "Thinking in fragments" "The four great mistakes of humanity" "Sainte Victoire"). We will not cover them all. The idea is to give a perspective on how some concepts have been used or invented, in our recent history, and to practice our questioning skills. We will be able to unveil various ways of how the presence of a body is treated in those conceptual displays, and its possible consequences. - Elements of ideology / the myth of humanism: While holding on to the relation between body and language, I will attempt the impossible task to introduce the arcane of contemporary philosophy, and to make us familiar with the problem of a "talking body", as introduced by the structuralist movement. You will hear about the infamous names of Lacan, Wittig, Derrida, Levi-Strauss, Foucault, Farge, Deleuze, Veil, Cixous, Agamben, Althusser, Saussure, Kristeva... This is an impossible and superficial unification of heterogenous characters, bound to failure. But we will see what kind of ideologies and conceptual displays have prevailed in recent history. - Strategies: A critical examination of conceptual practice in performance The main idea here will be to confront your own practice to these problematics and to show each other how to recognise a concept / an apparel of concepts in the midst of a body based practice, and what we can do about those theoretical objects. We will also share knowledge about how other people have dealt with it in their own work. The task at hand is unending, but we can at least try to unveil a few objects and deconstruct the charm of meaningless words.