I was doing some research for a forums course (i.e., a course w/ a full roster of guest speakers) that M. Simon Levin and I are scheduled to teach in the fall at ECU: AHIS 333: Ding. The title is based on Bruno Latour’s notion of ding, which he links etymologically not only to thing but also to assembly as gathering space and connection or network.
I was turned onto Latour’s idea of ding/thing by Simon, who sent me a link to a ZKM exhibition co-curated by Latour and Peter Weibel, called “Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy” The catalogue from this exhibition was published by MIT Press in 2005 and includes a useful introduction from the curators, “From Realpolitik to Dingpolitik — or How to Make Things Public”
While there is considerably more to say about Latour’s multifaceted thinking about the philosophy of science, ecology, and the social as they relate to assembly or things as concern rather than object, not to mention a lot more that needs to be said about how Simon and I propose to develop the framework of our forums course (stay tuned), I wanted to draw attention to Latour’s comprehensive website or portal: http://www.bruno-latour.fr
It seems to me that, while the design might a bit clunky, this is a good model for the type of site we (academics, artists, anyone interested in sharing ideas and research publicly) should be developing. The sheer depth of information, in part a testament to Latour’s apparently superhuman capacity for articulation and publication, provides a wonderful way inside a network of thinking/s.
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Tags: ding, bruno.latour, sociology
