Description
On March 31, 2020, I was asked by Queer Asia, a London-based cultural and research group, to be in their summer panel to discuss queer politics and radical changes. This opportunity inspired me to rethink how a Buddhist understanding of media can help us address two questions: (1) How can we initiate radical changes when politics and humanity seem to be beyond reparation? (2) Why is it important to think about the cinema at this moment and what can it do in the process of reparation?Based on my forthcoming book Illuminating Reality (University of Minnesota Press), my presentation will address these two questions by using Zen Buddhism’s understanding of technicity-consciousness and the concept of here and now, and by establishing a conversation between these notions with Brian Massumi’s idea of ontopower. I am especially interested in examining how contemporary independent Chinese and Sinophone queer filmmakers mobilize similar thoughts and strategies as modes of political activism.
| Period | 25 Sept 2020 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Columbia University, United States, New York |
| Degree of Recognition | International |