PLASMA presents Laura U. Marks February 18, 2019

February 18, 2019 @ 6:00pm , Center for the Arts 112, University at Buffalo

The Department of Media Study’s PLASMA Series Presents: 

LAURA U. MARKS: "Talisman-images: From your Body to the Cosmos"

As practiced in medieval Islamic and European cultures, talismans are “apps” that appealed to the planets and other powers to intercede into precise earthly problems. They were applied to the body--Catherine de’ Medici wore her talisman for the last 30 years of her life. In a cosmos believed to be densely interconnected, talismans intervene in the order of the universe by re-folding it. In our seemingly disenchanted times it is still possible to re-fold the universe, grasping the points of disparate histories and places, drawing them together, and pressing them close to us. My example is Steve Reinke’s queer, nihilist, and surprisingly cosmological 2014 video Rib Gets in the Way, whose affective zeal thrillingly connects the body to the cosmos.

About Dr. Marks:

Laura U. Marks works on media art and philosophy with an intercultural focus. Her most recent books are Hanan al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image (MIT, 2015) and Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art (MIT, 2010). With Dr. Azadeh Emadi she is a founding member of the Substantial Motion Research network, substantialmotion.org. Dr. Marks is Grant Strate Professor in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. http://www.sfu.ca/~lmarks

Books:

The Skin of the Film: Intercultural Cinema, Embodiment, and the Senses

Hanan al-Cinema: Affections for the Moving Image

Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art

Touch: Sensuous Theory And Multisensory Media