The second talk on day 6 (and the last of Gestes Spéculatifs) ‘Rêver L’obscure: présence spéculative et politiques de la contraction‘ (‘Dreaming the dark: speculative presence and the politics of contraction‘) was given by Erik Bordeleau. I found this to be an intense and nuanced talk, one that somehow simultaneously resonated for me on an emotional and intellectual level. Of all the talks at GS it was the one that connected with both my inner rage and my awareness of the necessity of engaging with that rage with great caution (rather than emphasising the latter over the former).

In this talk, Erik makes the case for ‘dreaming the dark’ (in French, dark is translated as obscure, which means both dark and obscure) as a speculative gesture that can create a speculative presence that permits the formation of relations (entry into resonance) with the as-yet-unknown…