Curated by Lauren Pearson, Across Histories is a free monthly series centered on developing an ongoing critical discussion of artistic practices in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and their diasporas. Debuted at the Elizabeth Foundation Gallery in Manhattan in September 2008 and now housed at Brooklyn's Cabinet Magazine Space, Across Histories provides a compelling platform for artists, designers, curators and art critics to present and discuss their work, oeuvres, historical moments, theories, writings and exhibitions that have had the most impact on their professional practices. Past speakers include Shirin Neshat, Rania Matar, Murtaza Vali, Emily Jacir, Wafaa Bilal, Michael Rakowitz, Leeza Ahmady, Annabel Dou, Hakan Topal and others.




Upcoming on the Accross Histories Talk Series:

Only the Criminal Can Solve the Crime

by Eyal Weizman
followed by a Q&A with Thomas Keenan

Friday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Auditorium, Sheila C. Johnson Design Center
Parsons The New School for Design
66 5th Avenue at 13th Street

In this talk, Eyal Weizman will present Only the Criminal Can Solve the Crime, case three of a trilogy concerned with the political and theological question of the lesser evil. (Case one, Ardent in Ethiopia, and case two, The Best of All Possible Walls, will be on display in advance of the lecture.)

The problem of the lesser evil is famously concerned with a necessity for a choice of action in situations where the available options are or seem to be limited. The condition by which this choice is articulated affirms an economic model embedded at the heart of ethics – according to which various form of misfortune can be calculated (as if they were algorithms or mathematical minimum problems), evaluated an acted upon. The problem has its origin in the classical philosophy of ethics and in early Christian theology, and still casts a long shadow on the politics of the present. The question of the lesser evil has recently been invoked in the state's effort to govern the economics of violence in the context of the 'war on terror', and in private organizations' attempts to maneuver through the paradoxes and complicities of oppositionary action and humanitarian aid.

This project seeks to investigate the politics of the lesser evil through probes into three intense controversies involving conflicts of space. Only the Criminal Can Solve the Crime delves into the interfaces between conflict, the urban and the laws of war. As the rubble of 20,000 destroyed and damaged buildings is still scattered through the streets and camps of Gaza, the battle of forensics has began: who can speak in the name of this rubble? And what new reality can emerge in its stead? Has the chaos, death and destruction been actually instigated with the terrible force of the law?

To view cases 1 and 2, which will be on display prior to the lecture, please click here.

Eyal Weizman is an architect based in London, where he is the director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College, University of London. His books include The Lesser Evil (Nottetempo, 2009), Hollow Land (Verso, 2007) and A Civilian Occupation (Verso, 2003).

Thomas Keenan is the director of Human Right Project and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Bard College. He is the author of Fables of Responsibility (1997).