The term queer has entered the language and shapes the experiences of millions of people. Among those interested in the concept, everyone agrees that queer cannot be an identity, since its very essence is anti-identity.

Unlike ontologies of purity, queer embraces the troubled and the bizarre, the oblique and the twisted, the fallible and the uncertain. Queer modes of existence rely on crossing boundaries, radical hospitality (what we call inclusion), and transformative affects. Despite this, queer is primarily identified as a field of academic study: the famous queer studies. To reconnect with the existential dimension of queerness, Romain Noël proposes to consider it not as an identity or an academic field, but as a mystical practice in its own right, which is often ignored but always returns, since ecstasy is its business.
Between theological revolution and wild mysticism, this too often overlooked dimension of queerness reconnects with the invisible and reimagines the possibility of a shared faith.

This conference explores the utopian and aesthetic dimensions of certain social movements since the fall of the Berlin Wall. From activist rave parties to festive demonstrations, riots, and protest camps, the languages of left-wing dissent have evolved significantly over the past few decades. Although we are currently immersed in a reactionary historical moment, we will invoke the ghosts of past rebellions and their aesthetic forms: we will recall here the ways in which public space was occupied by Reclaim the Streets groups, the anti-globalization movement, and the global Occupy camps, considering them as precedents for more recent insurrections.

Why did we go to the ends of the earth to find spices? Why is nothing on our plates today native to this region? Why don’t you mow the lawn? While enjoying herbal tea and wild plant cookies, Thomas introduces you to the unwanted plants that grow among us and lets you smell some local spices. Some wild plants are full of flavor and virtues. Some are excellent vegetables that are overlooked. Some have tropical flavors of mango and pineapple. All of them invite reflection and can give meaning to our troubled lives. Politics, colonialism, gastronomy: no domain escapes the reign of plants.

Diane Chéry’s practice takes the form of performances that combine painting, textiles, song, poetic actions, and dance. An invitation between the horizon and the cliffs of Dieppe.