Blue Stocking Salon
In the 18th century, women were locked out of all intellectual and professional circles. What to do? Do it yourself! Certain elite wives began hosting gatherings in their homes to give other women a chance to share their talents, and to provide a venue for discussing important topics of the day. The men they invited were also locked out of elite circles. They famously could not afford the black silk stockings expected at formal events, hence the meetings became known as blue stocking salons.
Our own time is also home to educated people who are locked out. The internet, although astounding in its speed and breadth of reach, has not proven itself capable of hosting salons. Perhaps because of its speed and breadth of reach.
Join us in the Pizzalab house Friday evenings, 19:00, for 90 minutes of in-depth discussion and exploration.
22 July 2022
In the 1950s, we were promised a future in which automation would free us from the drudgery of repetitive labor. The resulting wealth would bring forth an era in which we were free to read and contribute to the development of civil society.
That automation did occur, but we have less leisure now than people had in the 1950s, not more. What happened? Pointless jobs. Jobs, which did not exist in the 1950s, were invented to divert us into an alternate future. The wealth from automation instead flowed to the top 1%. Jobs, important to that future, but not to a workable civilization, came to define our existence.
How did this happen? More importantly, why do we accept it? How can we get back on the promised time-line?
15 July 2022
We all know them. The self-assured statements of the sta-tus-quo politicians, parents and capitalists: that history has shown that this-and-that isn’t possible. History has become a way to limit our imagination and point us in the direction that nothing besides what we have now was ever possible.
The late anarchist anthropologist and activist David Graeber, together with the archaeologist David Wengrow in their latest book „The Dawn of Everything“, contested that: The ideas we tend to subscribe to ourselves as Westerners, aren’t actually western at all, but imported from America.
As an example of how history can manipulate reality, Andreas Grønkjær, a danish intellectual historian, will give an introduction to the book and discuss the Native American heritage in the most European of all ideas: The Enlightenment. After that, we will open up for a workshop on how to use history as a source for imagination instead of limitation.
We all know them. The self-assured statements of the sta-tus-quo politicians, parents and capitalists: that history has shown that this-and-that isn’t possible. History has become a way to limit our imagination and point us in the direction that nothing besides what we have now was ever possible.
The late anarchist anthropologist and activist David Graeber, together with the archaeologist David Wengrow in their latest book „The Dawn of Everything“, contested that: The ideas we tend to subscribe to ourselves as Westerners, aren’t actually western at all, but imported from America.
As an example of how history can manipulate reality, Andreas Grønkjær, a danish intellectual historian, will give an introduction to the book and discuss the Native American heritage in the most European of all ideas: The Enlightenment. After that, we will open up for a workshop on how to use history as a source for imagination instead of limitation.
We invite you to participate in the dialogue on the meaning of history, its uses, and the need for it. History doesn’t seem to go away, so let’s start writing it! We will start the Blue Stockings Salon series by casting new light on the Enlightenment.