1 Symposium: Speculations on Anonymous Materials - Introduction: Susanne Pfeffer, Armen Avanessian

Symposium: Speculations on Anonymous Materials Participants: Maurizio Ferraris, Markus Gabriel, Iain Hamilton Grant, Robin Mackay, Reza Negarestani The Speculations on Anonymous Materials symposium brings together different approaches in philosophy, which in their own way all aim to go beyond modern and postmodern thinking. The symposium is based on the following hypothesis: The fundamental technological, scientific and socio-political changes at the beginning of the 21st century have caused sharp caesuras in both philosophy and art. The exhibition Speculations on Anonymous Materials presents artistic practices that yet have to claim a place in art history and art theory -- just as the philosophical approaches brought together in this symposium cannot be grasped as a single homogenous movement. This merging of art and philosophy is grounded on the methodological assumption that contemporary art and speculative philosophy, perhaps without yet being aware of the fact and despite their different modes of existence, are driven by a common interest. The symposium's quest for a new terminology and a new grammar of thinking about contemporary art will focus on new meanings of materiality, matter and materialism. Conceived by Armen Avanessian, Tom Lamberty, Susanne Pfeffer, Nina Tabassomi