Distant Intimacies

The 26th Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference (AGIC) presents the second installment of the Con-tact virtual lecture series: DISTANT INTIMACIES.

The use of "con-tact" as a mode of exploration arrives at the heels of current (and unevenly felt) social conditions. As possibilities of encounter and movement – both personal and political – have rapidly altered in form, and as questions of touch and proximity have been thrown into sharp, frictive and, often violent, relief, we are urgently called to consider: What does it mean to be in relation to an-other across axes of feeling and being, time and space; in absence of physical contact, or, alternatively, in suffocating and immobilizing excess of it? Traversing and unraveling these boundaries, we hope to facilitate, or, borrowing from Erin Manning, "reach-toward" new modes of ethical inter-action.

DISTANT INTIMACIES traces contact in three overlapping ways: vertically, horizontally and digitally. The panel centres both absence and connectivity as key locus’ of inquiry in our current moment. The program combines lecture and performance styles, and will conclude with a public Q&A segment.

Presentations

• Arwa Hussain (Concordia, Religions and Cultures)
  Staying Connected: The Dawoodi Bohra Community During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Alex Grabiner (McGill, Religion)
  Points of Contact: A Project in Comparative Theology
• Respondent: Lucie Robathan (McGill)
• Participatory Performance by Jad Orphée Chami (EUR ArTec; Research-creation)
• INTER-SILENCE: Sharing silence through sonic presence in times of global pandemic

Accessibility

• The event will be conducted in English.
• Attendance is free, but requires registration via Zoom.
• The presentations will consist of lecture, PowerPoint and audio-video components. ASL interpretation will be available for all users, and PowerPoint texts will be manually copy-pasted into the chatbox.
• Attendees are invited to participate in Jad Chami’s presentation by (1) turning their cameras on, and (2) bringing an instrument. More information on this component will be distributed closer to date.
• We are committed to ensuring that this event is as accessible as possible. If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please email us at agic.concordia@gmail.com.

Donation drive

As this event is free, we are asking all attendees to consider making a donation to First Peoples Justice Center of Montreal. Learn more about their work.

Sponsors

This event is sponsored by the Department of Religions and Cultures and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Concordia University, and the Concordia Council on Student Life’s Special Projects Fund.