Who is “Fuck Theory”? Find Out, Sundays This Month

by Michael Anthony Farley on January 5, 2017 Blurb + Events

 

fuck-theory

We’re not exactly sure what to expect from Postmasters Gallery’s Lectures for the End of the World. The series features presentations from porn star/writer Stoya, artist/nightlife personality Juliana Huxtable, outspoken punk illustrator Molly Crabapple, and more. But none of these identity-centric artist/activist/writers will be speaking as themselves. They “will serve as live stand-ins” for “the pseudonymous philosopher FuckTheory.”

Who/what exactly is Fuck Theory? Fuck Theory is a Twitter account and Tumblr that complains about philosophers, with some anonymous personal kvetching thrown in for good measure. It’s hard to know how much of this is sincere and how much of it is ironic (is anyone really this mad about Henry David Thoreau?) and that’s an ambiguity that carries into the event’s press release. The general tone is something along the lines of THE WORLD IS A TERRIBLE PLACE. STOP LISTENING TO PEOPLE WHO TELL YOU THE WORLD IS A TERRIBLE PLACE AND LISTEN TO THIS INSTEAD. This pseudo-contradictory signaling carries into the language itself:

“The organizing thread of the lectures will be the insistence that the ways we think about and talk about the world are inseparable from the ways we live in it and the conditions under which we do so; that the dominant and hegemonic intellectual institutions push the epistemologies and ideologies they push for a reason; and that to think differently and to live differently are inseparable, parallel propositions.”

That chunk of text might seem indicative of a talk one really wouldn’t want to sit through, but the readings sound almost theatrical, and given the line-up of performers, should be thoroughly entertaining. I reached out to writer Sarah Nicole Prickett, who will be speaking this Sunday, January 8th at 4 p.m. for some info on what we should(n’t) expect:

“I do know that the lectures are written entirely by Fuck Theory, right down to the syntactical tics and stage directions, though since I have never followed anything to the letter in my life, I’ll probably improvise….

The lecture is about why critique needs negation; why critique is difficult within ‘dominant intellectual paradigms’ or institutions; and a bit about why we need critique. Don’t worry, I will not say “now more than ever.” If, like me, you sometimes wonder whether you’re being oppositional or contradictory or just contrarian, the lecture may be for you.”

Postmasters Gallery is located at 54 Franklin Street, Manhattan. Here’s the whole schedule for the upcoming lectures, all begin at 4 p.m.:

Jan. 08 – Sarah Nicole Prickett (@snpsnpsnp)
Jan. 15 – Stoya (@stoya)
Jan. 22 – No lecture – Women’s March on Washington, the proposed General Strike and general civil disobedience
Jan. 29 – Juliana Huxtable (@HUXTABLEJULIANA)
Feb. 05 – Christina Sharpe (@hystericalblkns)
Feb. 12 – Molly Crabapple (@mollycrapabble)

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