Questions like “What does this mean?” are central to our encounters with art. “How are these signs connected?” or “how do all symbols fit into an unstated scheme?” are the foundational concerns of aesthetics. Yet, when the same concerns crop up regularly in almost any other part of life, we give a clinical, pathological name: paranoia.

These questions were the makings of ⁠Paranoia⁠, a symposium held at Verdurin in February 2025. 

This episode is a recording of a talk by Justin Smith-Ruiu. Justin reflects on how conspiracy-quashing slogans like ‘trust the science’ are, in fact, only functional under very specific conditions. The procedures invoked by fact-checkers and disinformation specialists may already be in the first phase of their obsolescence. 

Justin also touches on his recent dabblings in metafiction – in particular their experimentation with pseudonyms and heteronyms via his publication The Hinternet. This project proposes a way for writers to induce in readers a suspicion that the most basic anchors of a text, like the name of its author, might just be a lie.

Justin is a professor of the history and philosophy of science at the Université Paris Cité. He is the author of The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is and Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason.

He has authored monographs on Leibniz and Early Modern Philosophy. He is also a contributor to The New York Times, Harper’s, n+1, and The Point.

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⁠The Paranoia programme in full⁠.

⁠More events at Verdurin⁠.

Justin's Irrationality.

Questions like “What does this mean?” are central to our encounters with art. “How are these signs connected?” or “how do all symbols fit into an unstated scheme?” are the foundational concerns of aesthetics. Yet, when the same concerns crop up regularly in almost any other part of life, we give a clinical, pathological name: paranoia.

These questions were the makings of ⁠Paranoia⁠, a symposium held at Verdurin in February 2025. 

This episode is a recoding of A Long Thread, a talk by the writer Sam Jennigs.

Sam speaks about what is arguably the first conspiracy theory in Western intellectual history: Gnosticism. In particular, he considers how the doctrine of Gnosis arises through the growing belief that “interpretation” of scripture was a vital part of faith. 

This focus on interpretation breeds an ethos of seeking subtextual or hidden meaning. From Renaissance occultists to moderns like Pynchon, and Phillip K. Dick, writers have turned to Gnosticism as a secret undercurrent in the history of Western literature.

The Paranoia programme in full⁠.

⁠More events at Verdurin⁠.

Sam's Vita Contemplativa.

Questions like “What does this mean?” are central to our encounters with art. “How are these signs connected?” or “how do all symbols fit into an unstated scheme?” are the foundational concerns of aesthetics. Yet, when the same concerns crop up regularly in almost any other part of life, we give a clinical, pathological name: paranoia.

These questions were the makings of Paranoia, a symposium held at Verdurin in February 2025. 

This episode is a recording of Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Peermohamed Lambert. 

Since Paul Ricoeur, literary studies have been dominated by a ‘hermeneutics of suspicion.’ In his presentation, Thomas discusses the strange affinity between literary modernism and conspiracy theory. 

He makes example of the paranoia evident in the work of writers like Kafka and Borges.  

Thomas also considers the death the ‘inductive’ novel, and the question of whether readers have become rather too trusting of what they read.

Thomas is a writer and scholar. He co-organised the Paranoia event.

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The Paranoia programme in full.

More events at Verdurin.

Thomas' novel Shibboleth.

Liberal democracies don’t age gracefully. Established systems of governance like those of the UK and the US which once served as blueprints are today experiencing a profound crisis of legitimacy. In Britain, a landslide general election result was quickly followed by a catastrophic tumble in approval ratings. In the US presidential campaign, meanwhile, voters were told that democracy itself was on the ballot, with both candidates suggesting the election might well be the last one ever.

The consensus underpinning the world’s most powerful democracies is, indeed, waning. The populaces have developed a deep dissatisfaction with their governments’ political procedures, yet no credible alternatives have emerged. In his latest book Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies, Benjamin Studebaker argues that the kinds of disagreements which historically led to political violence today instead just linger throughout the state and society. Without alternatives, liberal democracy’s legitimation crisis leads to neither reform nor revolution. 

Studebaker depicts a legitimacy crisis rife with state capacity problems, in which citizens tell each other many conflicting legitimation stories as they search for ways to live with a dissatisfying political system they cannot replace. As different factions try to ‘save’ democracy in their own ways, they appear authoritarian to one another. Efforts to build legitimacy thus only spark greater inequality, pluralism, and ever-tighter gridlock. 

This conversation was recorded at Verdurin in December 2024.

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Legitimacy in Liberal Democracies by Benjamin Studebaker

is published by Edinburgh University Press

ISBN 9781399534680

Get the book: https://verdur.in/store/legitimacy-in-liberal-democracies-by-benjamin-studebaker/

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Pierre's interviews and writing: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Events, exhibitions, and more at Verdurin, London: ⁠https://verdur.in/⁠

Support this work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/support/

Not so long ago, comedy and laughter were a shared experience of relief, as Freud famously argued. At their best, ribbing, roasting, piss-taking and insulting were the foundation of a kind of universal culture from which friendship, camaraderie and solidarity could emerge.

Now, comedy is characterized by edgy humour and misplaced jokes that provoke personal and social anxiety, causing divisive cultural warfare in the media and among people. Our comedy is fraught with tension like never before, and so too is our social life. We often hear the claim that no one can take a joke anymore.  But what if we really can’t take jokes anymore?

This book argues that the spirit of comedy is the first step in the building of society, but that it has been lost in the era of divisive identity politics. Comedy flares up debates about censorship and cancellation, keeping us divided from one other. This goes against the true universalist spirit of comedy, which is becoming a thing of the past and must be recovered.

Alfie Bown is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Media at Kings College London. His research focuses on psychoanalysis, digital media and popular culture.

He has also worked as a journalist, writing for The Guardian, Paris Review, New Statesman, Tribune, and others. His books include The Playstation Dreamworld, Post-Memes, and Dream Lovers: The Gamification of Relationships. 

He is the founder of Everyday Analysis which publishes pamphlets and essay collections with contemporary social and political issues.

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Alfie Bown: Post-Comedy

Published by ⁠Polity, 2024

ISBN 9781509563395

Get the book: https://verdur.in/store/post-comedy-by-alfie-bown/

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Pierre's interviews and writing: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Events, exhibitions, and more at Verdurin, London: https://verdur.in/

Support my work: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/support/

A recording of the "What We May Also Do" written by Oliver Bennett in response to Anna Sebastian's exhibition of the same title. Staged at Verdurin in July 2024.

A woman approaches the gate of a walled city. Her admission depends on the depth of her moral liberation and embrace of boundless self-determination. A border guard assesses her character for its fit with the city’s society. In a series of interrogations, a charged relationship develops between the supplicant and her assessor. The process ultimately tests their belief in the system. 

Bennett’s play develops a theatrical language that responds to Sebastian’s work and engages with the psychoanalytic ‘Gloria’ films which also inspire the paintings. It challenges contemporary attitudes to sex, religion, and power by exposing liberal values upheld by flawed individuals.

Written and directed by Oliver Bennett

Performed by Oliver Bennett and Kristin Milward

Verdurin - exhibitions, events, store

Information about the play and cast

Anna Sebastian's exhibition at Verdurin

Recording: Cameron Lee and Aimee Armstrong

Who do you turn to at the brink of the apocalypse? What might help us to mitigate the financial, commercial, political, social, and cultural collapse for which we may be heading? 

Museums and Societal Collapse proposes an unlikely hero in this narrative. Robert Janes’ text explores the implications of societal collapse from a multidisciplinary perspective and considers the potential museums have to contribute to the reimagining and transitioning of a new society with the threat of collapse.

Arguing that societal collapse is underway, but that total collapse is not inevitable, Janes maintains that museums are well-positioned to mitigate and adapt to the disruptions of societal collapse. As institutions of the commons, belonging to and affecting the public at large, he contends that museums are both responsible and capable of contributing to the durability and well-being of individuals, families, and communities, and enhancing societal resilience in the face of critical issues confronting our species.

Robert R. Janes is an independent scholar whose work draws on his many year’s experience as a museum director. He is the editor emeritus of the Museum Management and Curatoriship journal, a visiting scholar at the School of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, and the founder of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice. He is the author of multiple books on the social role of museums.

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Museums and Societal Collapse
The Museum as LifeboatRobert R. Janes

Published by Routledge, 2023
ISBN 9781003344070

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can sign up for my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/newsletter/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Artists Remake the World puts forward an account of contemporary art’s political ambitions and potential. Surveying such innovations as evidence-driven art, socially engaged art, and ecological art, the book explores how artists have attempted to offer bold solutions to the world’s problems.

Simoniti systematises the perspectives of contemporary art as a force for political and social change. At its best, he argues, contemporary art allows us to imagine utopias and presents us with hard truths, which mainstream political discourse cannot yet articulate. Covering subjects such as climate change, social justice, and global inequality, Artists Remake the World offers a philosophy of contemporary art as an experimental branch of politics.

Vid Simoniti is a Lecturer in Philosophy of Art at the University of Liverpool. He is the co-editor, with James Fox, of Art and knowledge after 1900.

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Artists Remake the World
A Contemporary Art ManifestoVid Simoniti

Published by Yale University Press, 2023
ISBN 9780300266290

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠⁠

You can sign up for my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/newsletter/⁠⁠⁠⁠

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American democracy is in crisis. The economic system is slowly subjecting Americans of nearly all income levels and backgrounds to enormous amounts of stress. The United States lacks the state capacity required to alleviate this stress, and politicians increasingly find that if they promise to solve economic problems, they are likely to disappoint voters. Instead, they encourage voters to blame each other. 

The crisis cannot be solved, the economy cannot be set right, and democracy cannot be saved. But American democracy cannot be killed, either. Americans can’t imagine any compelling alternative political systems. And so, American democracy continues on, in a deeply unsatisfying way. Americans invent ever-more elaborate coping mechanisms in a desperate bid to go on. But it becomes increasingly clear that the way is shut. The American political system was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it.

Benjamin Studebaker speaks to Pierre d’Alancaisez about the runaway effects of globalisation, the false hope industry, cultural non-politics, and the very unlikely get-out scenarios. 

Benjamin Studebaker is a political theorist whose work focuses on notions of legitimacy. He hosts the podcasts Political Theory 101.

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The Chronic Crisis of American Democracy
Benjamin StudebakerThe Way is Shut

Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2023
ISBN 9783031282096

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠

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Then let the story really begin in 1968, though it has little to do with May. By chance it opens in January of that year, and it really concerns me rather than the world of political events, though these are always on my mind, as they were always on my mind. 

Future Imperfect, Adrian Rifkin’s short Bildungsroman sets beside each other the fault lines of events and moments recalled without a diary with the verification and sometimes undermining effects of new research of materials, the recovery of what was known, what might have been known, and what was merely probable, as if this were a history of the history of art.

Adrian Rifkin speaks to Pierre d’Alancaisez about the uses of radical pedagogy, dreams, art history, and the economy of memory. Wagner and the Teletubbies also feature.

Adrian Rifkin is a writer and art historian engaged in contemporary art, film, classical and popular music, canonical and mass imagery, literature and pornography. Until recently he was Professor of Art Writing at Goldsmiths. He is the author of Street Noises: Studies in Parisian Pleasure, 1900-40, and Ingres Then, and Now. His collected essays appeared as Communards and Other Cultural Histories and his work was the subject of the anthology Inter-disciplinary Encounters.

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Future Imperfect, The Past Between My Fingers

Adrian Rifkin

Published by Ma Bibliothèque, 2022
ISBN 9781910055885

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Find many more interviews, projects, and my writing at ⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/⁠⁠⁠

You can sign up for my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠https://petitpoi.net/newsletter/⁠⁠⁠

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