Perspectives on the Commons, Counter-Monumentality and the Decolonisation of Liberty

PERSPECTIVES ON THE COMMONS, COUNTER-MONUMENTALITY AND THE DECOLONISATION OF LIBERTY

25 SEPT. 2015
10:00 – 20:00
Université du Québec en Outaouais
Pavillon Brault, room A0200 (entrance door 11)
101 Saint-Jean-Bosco street, Gatineau

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Entrepreneurs du commun is proposing a critical reflection on the Memorial to the Victims of Communism that is planned to be built in Ottawa. The aim is to open a space of reflection regarding the commemorative gesture and its relation to contemporary conceptions of the commons. Organized jointly with the opening of the exhibition "Monuments to the victims of Liberty" at the artist-run centre AXENÉO7 (Gatineau), this symposium questions the ideological instrumentalization of liberty by resituating it in the neoliberal context, Western imperialism and Canadian colonial history. “Nazism, Marxist-Leninism, today, terrorism – they all have one thing in common: the destruction, the end of human liberty,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated during a Tribute to Liberty dinner evening. The obsession with security that underlies this unsound interpretation functions like an incantation to ward off the exploration of other progressive and radical political avenues.

Faced with this plethora of gross historical confusions and ideological simplifications, we propose to open a space for in-depth and convivial reflection and to discuss the issues raised as part of the controversy surrounding the monument’s construction. The symposium is structured by three blocks: 1. The Transindividual and the Question of the Commons; 2. Post-communist Monumentality; 3. Decolonizing (Canadian) Liberty. At the crossroads of the various conceptual, aesthetic and political approaches that will be mobilized as part of this conference day, we hope the encounter will prompt renewed collective thought around the impact of commemorative actions and their relationship to contemporary conceptions of the commons.

Coordination :
Erik Bordeleau, Nathalie Casemajor, Dalie Giroux.
Collaboration: Peter Hodgins and François Lemieux.

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PROGRAMME

10:00 – 10:15
Introduction

10:15 – 11:45
PANEL 1 – LA TRANSINDIVIDUALITÉ ET LE COMMUN
> Frédéric Neyrat, « Prologue au communisme planétaire »
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Comparative Literature
> Erik Bordeleau, « Prises et entre-prises du commun »
SenseLab, Université Concordia
Discutant : Émilie Bernier
Université d’Ottawa, Département de sciences politiques

11:45 – 13:00
Pause repas
(Offert aux conférenciers et partenaires)

13:00 – 14:30
PANEL 2 – POST/COMMUNIST MONUMENTALITY
> Yevgeniy Fiks, « Monument to Cold War Victory »
Artist
> Maria Silina, « (Cold)War and (Anti)Communist Agenda in Canadian and Russian Contemporary Public Art »
UQAM, Département d’histoire de l’art
Discutant : Peter Hodgins
Carleton University, Département d’études canadiennes

14:30 – 14:45
Pause

14:45 – 16:15
PANEL 3 – DECOLONIZING (CANADIAN) FREEDOM – ROUND TABLE
> Darren O’Toole (Ottawa University, Faculty of Law)
> Stacy Douglas (Carleton University, Department of Law and Legal Studies)
Discutant : Dalie Giroux
Université d’Ottawa, Département de sciences politiques

16:15 – 16:45
Pause

16:45 – 17:45
PANEL 4 – TABLE RONDE AVEC LES ARTISTES DE L’EXPOSITION MONUMENTS AUX VICTIMES DE LA LIBERTE

18h00 – 20h
RÉCEPTION et aperçu de l’exposition « S’endormir près du monument pendant la révolution »
Galerie UQO, Pavillon Brault, UQO, Local A-0115