baseCollective (Arno Böhler, Susanne Valerie Granzer, Johannes Kretz, Evi Jägle, Christoph Müller)

Seven Chambers of the Heart: Staging Philosophy

brut nordwest

Philosophy on stage in English | Duration: 90 Minutes

{Heart} {Poet} {Philosophy}

From Plato to Nietzsche, from Sri Aurobindo to Mirra Alfassa, from Ronell to Cixous – so many philosophers eventually become poets. But why? Our answer is simple, naive: Because their sensitised taste no longer thought against but with their heart. For them, thinking became a matter of heart and mind going hand in hand.

A stylized digital artwork depicts a simplistic human figure with a white face and a red torso, surrounded by swirling blue lines forming loops and curves. The background is gray, contrasting with the bright blue shapes.

A man with short, dark hair and a beard is illuminated by a spotlight against a black background. He wears a patterned red and white shirt and holds a small round object, while speaking with an intense expression.

Close-up of a woman’s face with a thoughtful expression. The image focuses mainly on her eyes, forehead, and nose. The background is blurred in shades of red and yellow.

A middle-aged man with glasses, wearing a dark blazer over a red shirt, is speaking in front of an audience. He is holding a piece of paper and a face mask while gesturing with his hand. The setting appears to be an indoor event with a microphone visible.

A person with wavy, light brown hair and blue eyes is sitting in a dimly lit room. Their face is covered with colorful stickers, including butterflies, animals, and other decorative elements. They have a serious expression and are dressed in black.

A man with messy, curly brown hair and blue eyes looks directly at the camera. He is wearing a white t-shirt under a blue jacket. The background is a plain white wall, and his expression is neutral.

Why did philosophers such as Plato, Nietzsche, Sri Aurobindo, Mirra Alfassa, Ronell, Cixous and so many unnamed others begin to philosophise with artistic means and develop performative styles of thinking? What pushed them to philosophise artistically? Why did they ultimately become artist-philosophers – a hybrid of philosopher and artist? The answer that our evening will provide is simple, yet fundamental and therefore deeply questionable: it was their heart, their sensitized taste that moved them to unfold a performative style of thinking-writing-talking-moving, in which philosophy takes on a mantric quality: where philosophizing starts to pulsate and matter. Poet-philosophers were researching a truth that was not just stimulating their minds, but also their hearts. Their heart-minds longed to combine concepts with affects in such a way that they unfolded into a new image of thinking in accordance with the strivings, feelings of their heart. Sensible-thinking // thinking sensibilities // matters of the heart. Poet-Philosophers seem to strive for the execution of a double gesture in which heart and mind go hand in hand; thinking-feeling, tasting-reflections!

baseCollective is a collective of artists and philosophers who are key researchers in the research project Arts in Philosophy : Philosophy in the Arts, which is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). Grant-DOI: 10.55776/AR822. It investigates the significant role of the *heart* in artistic research and performance philosophy from an intercultural perspective. baseCollective consists of Arno Böhler (philosopher, artistic researcher), Susanne Valerie Granzer (actress, artistic researcher), Johannes Kretz (electronic musician, artistic researcher), Evi Jägle (philosopher, filmmaker) and Christoph Müller (performance philosopher).

Credits

A co-production of baseCollective and brut Wien and the PEEK project Arts in Philosophy : Philosophy in the Arts. On The Significance of the *Heart* in Artistic-Research and Performance Philosophy

Sponsored by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Grant-DOI: 10.55776/AR822

Excursion as part of the lecture by Arno Böhler (University of Vienna, Department of Philosophy)