Philosophical salon: Érotique Cosmique
Two lectures and a musical performance on Georges Bataille’s erotic and ecological vision of the cosmos.
In collaboration with the Eksistensfilosofisk Akademi and Center for Applied Ecological Thinking, Sort/Hvid invites you to the philosophical salon: Érotique Cosmique. Two presentations and a musical performance will explore Georges Bataille’s radical erotic cosmology. Bataille scholars Stuart Kendall and Jon Auring Grimm will guide us through Bataille’s radical, erotic, and cosmic vision, while the acclaimed electronic musician SØS Gunver Ryberg will make this cosmic vision sensuously tangible.
All life is the result of the free play of solar energy on the surface of the Earth. Life is a cosmic phenomenon — a chance occurrence within the vast cosmic exchange of forces. The diversity of life is the outcome of a cosmic intercourse between Earth and Sun. Thus, we may describe the erotic and cosmic vision of the radical French thinker and writer Georges Bataille — a vision that evokes both ecstatic wonder and boundless terror. Humanity is no longer at the centre of creation but is a limited being standing at the threshold of the monstrous cosmic sea of life and death.
Bataille’s vision forces us to rethink our values — our notions of utility, productivity, labour, rationality, and morality — as well as our privileged position as nature’s supposed stewards. It implies a radical ecological and existential revaluation of humanity’s place within nature.
Stuart Kendall and Jon Auring Grimm will each give a presentation exploring different aspects of Bataille’s erotic and ecological cosmology. SØS Gunver Ryberg will, through her music, explore our connectedness to the world. In an interview with the online journal Passive/Aggressive, SØS has stated: “I see listening not only as an aesthetic experience but as an existential practice — a way of re-establishing connection with our own bodies, with nature, and with that which is greater than ourselves.”
Afterwards, the three will participate in a conversation moderated by literary scholar, PhD and mag.art Mia Rendix.
Georges Bataille (1897–1962) was a radical French writer and philosopher whose work spans literature, philosophy, anthropology, and mysticism. He explored themes such as transgression, eroticism, death, and the sacred, pushing thought to its outermost limits — beyond rationality and utility. He is best known for his deeply transgressive erotic novel Story of the Eye and his more theoretical works The Accursed Share and Eroticism. His influence on Danish poets such as Inger Christensen and Per Højholt has been significant, and in 2016, the Danish theatre collective LOGEN created a sensuous performative interpretation of Story of the Eye.
Stuart Kendall
Stuart Kendall is a recognised Bataille expert — an independent scholar, writer, translator, and editor specialising in twentieth-century French philosophy, literature, and avant-garde thought. He has translated several of Bataille’s major works and written extensively on his philosophy and literature, as well as on the avant-garde more broadly. His works include the biography Georges Bataille, The Ends of Art and Design, and translations of Bataille’s On Nietzsche, Inner Experience, Guilty, and many others.
Stuart Kendall
Stuart Kendall is a recognised Bataille expert — an independent scholar, writer, translator, and editor specialising in twentieth-century French philosophy, literature, and avant-garde thought. He has translated several of Bataille’s major works and written extensively on his philosophy and literature, as well as on the avant-garde more broadly. His works include the biography Georges Bataille, The Ends of Art and Design, and translations of Bataille’s On Nietzsche, Inner Experience, Guilty, and many others.
Jon Auring Grimm
Jon Auring Grimm wrote his doctoral dissertation on Bataille’s cosmic vision, titled Celestial Bodies – A movement toward a general ecology and a new existential and cosmic outlook on nature in accord with the moving thought of Georges Bataille. He co-organised the international conference BatailleNow in 2023 in Athens and has written several articles on Bataille, ecology, eroticism, and poetry.
SØS Gunver Ryberg
SØS Gunver Ryberg is an electronic composer and sound artist. She performs on some of the world’s most prestigious stages and festivals — from concert halls, art galleries, and museums to underground clubs. Her performances have taken place at the Venice Biennale, Berlin Philharmonie, Flow Festival, Berghain, and Atonal Festival, among others. She creates innovative music that defies genre definitions and has won multiple awards. Her work explores the essence of existence and is known for a unique and uncompromising expression. Her music is futuristic and timeless, a portal to a wondrous and unpredictable world.
Mia Rendix
Mia Rendix is a literary scholar (PhD, mag.art) with interests in literature and theatre — primarily American, British, French, German, and Scandinavian — from classics to underground, old and new.
The event will be held in English.
Tickets
Tickets cost 45 DKK. Buy tickets at Teater S/H's site (in Danish).