March 31, 2025 | New York
On March 22, the research symposium In Our Decline brought together an international group of theorists and artists to explore the creative potential of decline across various scholarly and artistic practices. Swissnex presented the event in collaboration with The Invisible Dog Art Center and the Center for Performance Research.
The symposium, convened by Swiss artist Simone Aughterlony and Guggenheim Fellow Jen Rosenblit in preparation for their upcoming performance project The Dumps, was inspired by “an urgent and necessary un-doing of things – aging, un-worlding, decay, ruination, and collapse.” More than 150 attendees from academia, the arts, and the science-driven public participated in conversations sparked by high-profile speakers from Switzerland, Europe, South America and the US.
Taking place over the course of the afternoon at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, the event explored decline through a variety of contributions, including performative activations, visual art installations, and public dialogues with a wide range of artists, curators, and scholars.
Scholarly contributions included a conversation between Caroline Dionne of the Parsons School of Art and Design History and Theory, and Felipe Ribeiro, visiting scholar at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and Bern Academy of Arts (HKB), as well as keynote addresses by Jack Halberstam, The David Feinson Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English and Gender Studies at Columbia University, and Avgi Saketopoulou, psychoanalyst and faculty member of the NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. The symposium also featured artistic and performance interventions by A.K. Burns, Ryan McNamara, and participants in Aughterlony’s and Rosenblit’s week-long research laboratory, which included Effie Bowen, Devynn Emory, Raja Feather Kelly, Stephen Morrison, Connor Voss, Joseph Wegmann, and Colin Self.
Beyond reflecting on themes of transformation and deconstruction, the symposium provided a platform for collective exploration of how these processes manifest within both the body and our society. The diverse blend of artistic expressions and scholarly discourse opened up expansive dialogue, encouraging participants to rethink and reimagine the intricate dynamics of our times.
In Our Decline was supported by Presence Switzerland, Pro Helvetia, the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, and Imbricated Real.
