Friday, 12 May 2023, and Monday, 15 May 2023, from 2pm to 6pm, in Porthania P545 (Faculty room).
After a few years of lockdowns and online events, the Helsinki Socio-Legal Initiative returns with a two-part annual main event welcoming you to seminars at which Renata Salecl (Ljubljana/Birkbeck), internationally renowned Slovenian philosopher and sociologist, presents in person aspects of her ongoing work. Both presentations are followed by q&a sessions as well as opportunities for postgraduate researchers to discuss and receive feedback on their own socio-legally relevant thesis projects.
Seminar 1 (Friday, 12 May 2023)
The Right to Apathy?: Ignorance and Emotional Disengagement in Neoliberal Times
The session begins with a presentation of Renata Salecl’s new project, ‘The Right to Apathy’, which includes a discussion of the controversial 1950s idea that democracy requires tolerance towards people’s unwillingness to participate in politics. This idea will be analysed in the context of the emotional attitudes that people today have regarding the political situation.
The lecture will address apathy related to the current war in Ukraine, the apathy that has been on the rise in Russia in the last two decades since the country turned to authoritarianism, and the types of indifference that neoliberalism is thriving on. Burnout and other psychological symptoms that are on the rise in the developed world will also be discussed.
Renata Salecl will also address some of the issues raised in the updated version of her last book, A Passion for Ignorance: What We Do Not Want to Know and Why (Princeton UP, 2022). Participants will be encouraged to discuss how law reacts to old and new traumatic knowledge that people often hope to ignore.
Seminar 2 (Monday, 15 May 2023)
Art and Human Rights in the Air
Renata Salecl is part of the ‘Airspace Tribunal’ initiative (together with British professors Shona Illingworth, Nick Grief and Andrew Hoskins), proposing to the UN a new human right to protect people from the psychological and physical damage related to the threats from the air. The initiative combines law with artistic practices since it wants to show how visualisation is an essential element in presenting the dangers coming from the air related to military attacks, surveillance and climate change.
The main point of the presentation is to show that art plays more than just the role of illustrating threats from the air. There is no denying that art can, through compelling images or videos, present people with the dangers of excessive surveillance, attacks, and climate change, all threatening their physical and mental well-being. Art also helps people deal with the trauma they experience from air threats. However, the presentation will show that, in an opaque way, the power mechanisms that promote increased surveillance and aerial attacks use their art practices. One version of art is thus opposed to another version of the art regarding the increased air threat. This is why the art we practice in galleries and museums must remember the political dimensions of its use.
PGR credits
The event is open to all interested, but for catering reasons, you are invited to register.
The event is also part of the OTT-917 Postgraduate Research Seminar in General Jurisprudential Studies series. Attending both seminars will count as four sessions in your study requirements. You may also use this opportunity to present your own work or act as commentator (‘opponent’) for a peer. In these latter cases, kindly contact the convenor for further information.
Provisional programme
Friday, 12 May 2023
- 2.15pm Opening words, Professor Panu Minkkinen (Helsinki)
- 2.30pm ‘The Right to Apathy’
Professor Renata Salecl (Ljubljana/Birkbeck) - 3.15pm Q&A
- 3.45pm Coffee break
- 4.00pm General discussion, presentations by postgraduate researchers
- 5.30pm End of seminar
Monday, 15 May 2023
- 2.15pm Opening words, Professor Panu Minkkinen (Helsinki)
- 2.30pm ‘Art and Human Rights in the Air’
Professor Renata Salecl (Ljubljana/Birkbeck) - 3.15pm Q&A
- 3.45pm Coffee break
- 4.00pm General discussion, presentations by postgraduate researchers
- 5.30pm End of seminar