An event, an occurrence – what Martin Heidegger called ein Ereignis – is infinitely simple, but this simplicity can only be approached through a state of privation. That which we call thought must be disarmed. There is a tradition an an institution of philosophy, of painting, of politics, of literature. These ‘disciplines’ also have a future in the form of Schools, of programmes, projects, and ‘trends’. Thought works over what is received, it seeks to reflect on it and overcome it. it seeks to determine what has already been thought, written, painted, or socialized in order to determine what has already been thought, written, painted, or socialized in order to determine what hasn’t been. We know this process well, it is our daily bread. It is the bread of war, soldiers’ biscuits. But this agitation, in the most noble sense of the word (agitation is the word Kant gives to the activity of the mind that has judgement and exercises it), this agitation is only possible if something remains to be determined, something that hasn’t yet been determined. One can strive to determine this something by setting up a system, a theory, a programme or a project – and indeed one has to, all the while anticipating that something. One can also inquire about the remainder, and allow the indeterminate to appear as a question mark. – Jean-François Lyotard (1924-1988)
