Nottingham Contemporary

Carl Lavery will consider the aesthetics and politics of Genet's late theatre following on from his publication The Politics of Jean Genet's Late Theatre: Spaces of Revolution (2010), which situate the politics of Genet's theatre within the social, spatial and political contexts of post-war France. He will do by this reflecting on Genet's dramaturgy and ideas of transversality and assemblage. He will also explore what it might mean to write critically about Genet's complex notion of aesthetic politics.

Dr Lavery has taught at several universities in the UK, and currently teaches in the department of Theatre, Film and Television at Aberystwyth University. Lavery has written Spaces of Revolution: The Politics of Jean Genet's Late Theatre, co-authored Sacred Theatre (2007) and co-edited Jean Genet: Performance and Politics (2006) and Contemporary French Theatre and Performance with Clare Finburgh (2011). He has also written for performance and collaborated with several contemporary companies and artists. He is co-author of Walking, Writing and Performance: Autobiographical Texts by Dee Heddon, Carl Lavery and Phil Smith (2009). His most recent publication is 'Good Luck Everybody'. Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances and Conversation (with David Williams, 2011). He is currently writing a book about location and performance.

Marc Camille Chaimowicz will be in conversation about his work and Jean Genet, with novelist and cultural historian Michael Bracewell. Bracewell’s most recent book is Re-make/Re-model (2007), about the formation of the group Roxy Music.

Jean Genet developed screenplays for several films, but in the end only made one short, Un Chant d’Amour (1950), a forerunner of queer cinema. A silent homoerotic fantasy set in prison, it recalls Genet’s early writing. Censored for many years, it became a cause celebre for gay rights.

Introduced by Enda McCaffrey, Reader in French Studies at Nottingham Trent University and author of the Gay Republic: Sexuality, Citizenship and Subversion in France (2005).

Jean Genet developed screenplays for several films, but in the end only made one short, Un Chant d’Amour (1950), a forerunner of queer cinema. A silent homoerotic fantasy set in prison, it recalls Genet’s early writing. Censored for many years, it became a cause celebre for gay rights.

Introduced by Enda McCaffrey, Reader in French Studies at Nottingham Trent University and author of the Gay Republic: Sexuality, Citizenship and Subversion in France (2005).

Leading art historian Sarah Wilson has written and curated extensively on the relationship of art and philosophy in France since the Second World War. Here she will reflect on her work on Genet, spanning Jean-Paul Sartre and Existentialism, Jacques Derrida and Deconstruction, and finally Tahar Ben Jelloun, North Africa and Post-Colonialism. Her most recent book is The Visual World of French Theory: Figures (2010).

Lydia Liu is Wu Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, New York. In this lecture Professor Liu will examine the psychic life of digital media, exploring digital writing and its ‘fateful’ entanglement with the Freudian unconscious.

Her new book The Freudian Robot: Digital Media and the Future of the Unconscious demonstrates how human-machine relationships can be re-thought at the level of the unconscious. This event is the keynote address of the Translating Culture symposium, held in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham on 15 July.

Writer Wayne Burrows traces this curious cultural journey, from Wu Cheng’s Journey to the West, written in 1590, and arguably the first road novel, through English poet Arthur Waley, the Japanese music scene of the 60s, the cult of martial arts master Bruce Lee – all the way to the global impact of the 70s TV series

Animal symbols appear throughout Huang Yong Ping’s exhibition, referencing Chinese cosmology, Daoist divines and the mysterious afterlife. Dr Kleutghen from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, will offer a particular slant on Huang Yong Ping’s work by revealing the significance of animal symbols in Chinese art.

Prolific critic and curator Hou Hanru will be in discussion with Nottingham Contemporary Director Alex Farquharson via a live skype link to discuss Huang Yong Ping’s work in the wider context of the Chinese art scene.

Born in 1963 in China, Hou Hanru is based in Paris and San Francisco. He is Director of Exhibitions and Public Programs and also Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. Hou Hanru has been a consultant for several cultural institutions internationally including the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Contemporary Art Museum in Kumamoto, Japan. He has taught and lectured at numerous educational institutions in Europe and is a correspondent for Flash Art International and a regular contributor to several other contemporary-art journals including ART iT, Artasiapacific and Yishu. He has curated many exhibitions including: “The Spectacle of the Everyday” Lyon Bienalle, 2009; "Trans(cient) City" and "Global Multitude", Luxembourg, 2007; 10th Istanbul Biennale, 2007; "Everyday Miracle, four woman artists in the Chinese Pavilion (Shen Yuan, Yin Xiuzhen, Kan Xuan, Cao Fei)", 52nd Venice Biennale, 2007; "Go Inside", 3rd Tirana Biennale, 2005; and exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, 2003, 2007; and Shanghai Biennale, 2000.

Poet and performer John Hegley will be joined by author Geoff Dyer for an evening of verse, music and discussions around the poetry and letters of Nottinghamshire’s legendary international author D.H. Lawrence. The event follows Hegley and Dyer’s appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives series where they started their investigation into Lawrence.

Geoff Dyer’s book Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D.H. Lawrence (1997) was shortlisted for the National Book Critics’ Circle Fiction Award in the USA. John Hegley has produced ten books of verse and prose pieces, two CDs and one mug. An Edinburgh Festival regular he explores topics as diverse as dog hair, potatoes, handkerchiefs and the general misery of human existence.