The School of Critical Arts
offers courses, workshops, and seminars in art, philosophy, and culture and theory.
Upcoming Courses
You can enrol in any course for free, or by choosing a fee structure appropriate for your employment (waged or unwaged). The number of free places provided is dependent on paid enrollments and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Life, Death, and Meaning
Ľubica Učník
August 9–October 11, 2023, 6.30–8.30pm
Lawson Flats
$500 (standard), $250 (Lawson Flats members)
Free/unwaged enrolments not available
Given that modern thought has renounced the privileged position of God, and/or the Cosmos, as the explanatory horizon within which we make sense of our lives, Science seems to be the only criterion of our reality. Wonder and awe-inspiring nature becomes a collection of things that modern science can explain within its mathematical-scientific formula. In our technologically globalised world, the ancient question of the meaning of life becomes meaningless. Transcendence no longer conditions our lives. Rather, we are concerned with our finite individual projects, channelling our energies towards a greater accumulation of material possessions that are the only measure of our success in life. In this unit, we will attempt to think over the ancient question of the meaning of life. Is it possible to think about “the meaning of life” in our modern techno-scientific world?
Enrol via Lawson Flats
Ľubica Učník
August 9–October 11, 2023, 6.30–8.30pm
Lawson Flats
$500 (standard), $250 (Lawson Flats members)
Free/unwaged enrolments not available
Given that modern thought has renounced the privileged position of God, and/or the Cosmos, as the explanatory horizon within which we make sense of our lives, Science seems to be the only criterion of our reality. Wonder and awe-inspiring nature becomes a collection of things that modern science can explain within its mathematical-scientific formula. In our technologically globalised world, the ancient question of the meaning of life becomes meaningless. Transcendence no longer conditions our lives. Rather, we are concerned with our finite individual projects, channelling our energies towards a greater accumulation of material possessions that are the only measure of our success in life. In this unit, we will attempt to think over the ancient question of the meaning of life. Is it possible to think about “the meaning of life” in our modern techno-scientific world?
Enrol via Lawson Flats
William Blake, Ancient of Days (1794).
Instructor biography
Dr Ľubica Učník’s research is in the area of history of ideas, phenomenology, and the question of truth. She is specifically interested in the history of mathematisation and the modern impulse to reduce everything to algorithmic reasoning and datafication.
Past events
Courses
SCA Studio Crit Program 2023May 17–July 5, 2023
SCA Studio Crit Program 2022
October 6–November 24, 2022
African Philosophy: Perspectives and Trajectories
August 4–September 8, 2022
Worldbuilding Theory and Praxis
August 1–22, 2022
Re-Imagining Democracy: Theory and Practice of Radical Social Movements in Contemporary History
June 5–July 24, 2022
Drawing Imaginary Landscapes
July 6–July 20, 2022
Existentialism and Freedom
March 6–May 8, 2022
A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory
November 15–December 20, 2021
Workshop: Experimental Writing
November 5–7, 2021
The Neoliberal Life
October 1–3, 2021
Judith Butler: Genre Trouble
September 11 & 12, 2021
Plato: Why Now, Why Ever?
August 7 & 8, 2021
Lectures and one-day seminars
Roundtable Discussion: War, Literature, and HistoryMonday July 25, 2022
Re-Storying Precedent: Indigenous Legal Narratives
June 4, 2022
The Spirit of Our Times: “It’s the Pandemic, Stupid!”
November 6, 2021
Challenging State Failure? Art and Storytelling Initiatives to Address the 1965–66 Mass Violence in Indonesia
October 2, 2021
NFTs
September 11, 2021
“Those Who Have a Go, Get a Go”: Scott Morrison’s Pentecostal-Neoliberal Creed
August 7, 2021