the italian effect

Posted on | September 16, 2004 |

while i would rather be talking about how overjoyed i am that six feet under has returned, it’s probably time i discussed all things italian, because it really was a conference worth talking about.

bifo’s thursday night lecture at UTS attracted a big crowd with good haircuts. outlining the inevitable collision between cybertime, the ‘infosphere’ and the ‘psychosphere’, i found his idea that ‘we no longer have time for caresses’ kinda charming. but i also wondered if we are still basically liberating sex and madness, and if so we haven’t really moved on much from foucault–just added the internet. then again, someone had to. and hearing more about the history of italian media activism was inspiring stuff.

after a debrief at the clare, with matt ford, sandy, will, k8 and bo, i rested up for the next day in preparation for brett neilson’s fantastic and really clever opening plenary. in the next session two great papers followed: tim rayner’s useful and important reading of the implications of hardt and negri’s work on sovereignty, then james arvanitakis with an engaging and optimistic reading of the multitude which incorporated his own activist experience. those boys are more of what i miss about sydney!

i then imposed a pre-emptive measure of non-italianness for the afternoon, just so i’d make the distance. i called in to my ol’ gender studies home to say hi and listen to catharine lumby give a paper on the girlcultures project she’s doing with elspeth probyn, and a postgrad paper looking at reality tv from a much different angle. later on there were some drinks before bifo’s next talk which i had to leave early for a prior and ultimately devastating commitment with the sydney swans.

one of the most powerful presentations for me was Ida Dominijanni’s keynote the next morning. Such a strong and inspiring woman, her paper demanded a level of theoretical sophistication and breadth beyond the political vocabulary and imagination preferred by a number of conference attendees. they missed out. Susanna Scarparo added some further history and context for Ida’s paper before Dave Trudinger gave a fascinating paper based on his PhD research on managerial and professional men in post-Second World War Australia. My own nerves were starting to kick in by then and I left before Ingrid Hoofd finished her fiesty critique of Agamben, but woah, that was one angry paper.

I think Ned managed to convert a few activists with his paper (overheard comment after session: ‘he’s much more radical than i’d thought’. ned, you’ve made it mate) and that session in particular showed some great case studies of contemporary activist tactics here and in Italy. In a haze of bad coffee and overtiredness I shook through my tirade frustrated by the timing but thankful for some good questions. there is no doubt angela mitropoulos and melinda cooper blew me outta the water completely and it felt SO GOOD to be presenting alongside such smart aussie women. thanks to both of them. a nice note to end on!

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