Oliver Bennett: What We May Also Do

11/29/24 • 46 min

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

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.

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

Previous Episode

Robert R. Janes: Museums and Societal Collapse

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.

The Museum COP at Tate
Museum pressure groups: The Empathetic Museum, Museum as Progress, Museum Human.
The Australian Museum’s mission statement
Phipps Conservatory, Pittsburgh
Museum of Homelessness
Horniman Museum

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.

*****

Museums and Societal Collapse
The Museum as LifeboatRobert R. Janes

Published by Routledge, 2023
ISBN 9781003344070

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Next Episode

Alfie Bown: Post-Comedy

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.

*****

Alfie Bown: Post-Comedy

Published by ⁠Polity, 2024

ISBN 9781509563395

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

******

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

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

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