“Affective Capitalism”, 5 & 6 juin, 2014 à l’Université de Turku, Finland.

J’ai le plaisir de vous transmettre le programme et les abstracts du colloque intitulé “Affective Capitalism” qui aura lieu les 5 et 6 juin prochains à l’Université de Turku, Finland. The symposium is organised by two research groups (Capitalism and Affective labour) at the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies at the University of Turku.

Je présenterai une étude que je suis en train de mener intitulée “Selfies, Snapchat and Capital: Affect in the Age of Ephemeral Reproduction”

This symposium aims at describing and understanding a regime we call affective capitalism. In cultural theory, affect is considered to be a fruitful concept in analysing how something evokes our body and mind. Affect makes us act. Affect exceeds or precedes rationality. In our daily lives we are constantly affected by a plethora of things; our work, our friends, our surroundings, our technologies (Gregg & Seigworth 2010). Unsurprisingly perhaps, we are seeing attempts to capture affect in different fields of contemporary culture from labour to social networks and politics. In these contexts, affect and affection are in an extensive manner organised, produced, and maintained for the needs of capitalism. Affective capitalism is lucrative, tempting and even sneaky. It merges with established therapeutic discourses and blurs the limits of intimacy at work (Ross 2003; Illouz 2007; Gregg 2011). It is both cognitive and non-cognitive (Sampson 2012); we are being evoked to act in order for companies to make profits in a market economy. Affective capitalism transforms us into assets, goods and services by appealing to our desires, needs and social relationships, or by making us act on a mere gut-feeling. This two-day symposium brings together researchers, thinkers and artists to discuss different areas of affective capitalism. We want to challenge affective capitalism on its own ground. To do this we will analyse specific examples of affective capitalism at work and map its defining factors. We are seeking new ways to understand affective capitalism through its ambivalences and complexities. At the same time, we ask how we could resist it and develop alternatives for it.

THURSDAY 5.6.2014

9.00 – 9.30 Opening of the symposium: Affective Capitalism (Janus Auditorium)

9.30 – 10.30 Keynote: Alison Hearn - Affective Measures: klout, social scoring and the glamour of the analytic (Janus Auditorium)

10.30 – 11.00 Break (coffee & tea served at the lobby)

11.00 – 12.45 Panel 1: Soft Capitalism

12.45 – 14.15 Lunch

14.15 – 16.00 Panel 2: Networked Transactions

16.00 – 16.30 Break (coffee & tea served at the lobby)

16.30 – 18.15 Panel 3: Affects of Labour

19.00 Symposium dinner

FRIDAY 6.6.2014

10.00 – 11.45 Panel 4: Consuming Emotions