Understanding Russian Space: An Essay in Structural Analysis
In the spirit of Claude Lévi-Strauss and Gilles Deleuze, Russian space is treated as an essentially dynamic phenomenon. This reading focuses on the oscillations of space between a properly chthonic—earthly—mythology and that which denies any figuration whatsoever. Hence the structural concept of viscosity, which allows one to understand both the superficial transformations and the deep resistance of the space in question. The proposed approach does not rule out a political reading in time of war, pointing to a fascination with the totality of space itself: it is “national grandeur” that speaks to the majority of the Russian population, undermining any sense of shared responsibility.
Helen Petrovsky is former head of the Department of Aesthetics at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She is currently employed by Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and supported by the PAUSE programme for exiled scholars. Her fields of interest are contemporary philosophy, visual studies, North American literature and culture. She has authored 10 books, including Vozmushchenie znaka: Kul’tura protiv transtsendentsii [Disturbance of the Sign: Culture against Transcendence] (Moscow, 2019, 2022) and Zhan-Liuk Nansi. Lektsii o Kante (po konspektam Eleny Petrovskoi) [Jean-Luc Nancy. Lectures on Kant (Based on Notes Taken by Helen Petrovsky)] (Moscow, 2023). Since 2002 she has been editor-in-chief of the philosophical and theoretical journal Sinii divan.
Her presentation will be discussed by Daria Petushkova, PhD candidate in Sociology and Russian Studies at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO, Paris).
The session will take place on Wednesday 27 November, 17:00-19:00 (CET), in room 2.001, 2nd floor, Recherche Nord building, campus Condorcet, Aubervilliers. Access to the building is restricted: please go to reception on the ground floor, and you will be given a day pass (ID required).
It will also be possible to attend the seminar online, at this link–though please be advised that it does not work on Safari browsers.
