19 – 29 of November, 2019

Late last year Thesis Eleven had the good fortune of spending a week with Agnes Heller at events hosted by Sichuan University and co-sponsored by Thesis Eleven in Chengdu, China. This was a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on our relationship which resulted in plans for a series of events in Melbourne and Sydney with Agnes as the guest of honour this November coming.

With Agnes’ unexpected death earlier this year we have reorganised these events into a celebration of her life and work. The events will take place from the 19th to the 21st of November in Melbourne and an additional event on the 29th of November in Sydney featuring local and international guests.

We will continue conversations begun in the Modernity and Civilisation workshop held at Sichuan University last year with conferences in both Melbourne and Sydney. These programs will include a day dedicated to Agnes’ teacher Georg Lukács (Melbourne) and a day focusing on Agnes’ contemporary and interlocutor Cornelius Castoriadis (Sydney) alongside a two day conference in Melbourne (Modernity and Civilisation 2.0) featuring a series of panels and keynote speakers.  There will also be a special event featuring Emily Floyd and Nikos Papastergiardis examining art in the context of Agnes’ philosophy and Sociology at La Trobe University will present the annual Agnes Heller lecture as a part of the conference proceedings.

These events are presented by Thesis Eleven journal, the Thesis Eleven Forum for Social and Political Theory and cosponsored by La Trobe Asia, the College of Literature and Journalism, Sichuan University and The Department of Modern Greek and Byzantine Studies, University of Sydney.

All are welcome and we will provide more details for each of the events over the coming weeks.

Tuesday 19 November (Melbourne)

Conference: Modernity and Civilisation 2.0

10am – 5pm at the Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Keynote – Professor Fu Qilin – Heller in China

Wednesday 20 November (Melbourne)

Conference: Modernity and Civilisation 2.0 (continued)
10am – 5pm at the Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Keynote – Professor Peter Murphy – Renaissance and contingency

Special event:  Emily Floyd and Nikos Papastergiardis in Conversation – Generosity in the Age of Precarity: Heller and Art
5.30pm – 7pm at the Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Thursday 21 November  (Melbourne)

Special day event: Georg Lukács: philosophy of praxis and aesthetics
10 am – 4pm at the Greek Centre for Contemporary Culture, 168 Lonsdale Street

Agnes Heller Annual Lecture – Panel to present: Peter Murphy, David Roberts, John Carroll; Sian Supski, Qin Jiayang and Deng FengMing
5 pm – 7 pm  at the La Trobe City Campus, 360 Collins Street

Friday 29 November (Sydney)

Symposium: 12th Annual Cornelius Castoriadis in the Antipodes Symposium
10am – 4pm at the University of Sydney