ROSA RIUS GATELLFriendship and the Cultivation of Attention in Simone WeilCycle Thought-Images

Curated by Susana Camanho & Emídio Agra

Once upon a time, there was a world without conflict. When? Where? I couldn't say. Nor could I say for sure that it ever existed. What I can say for sure is that at a time when Europe was embroiled in two world wars, as well as in the troubled interwar period, the philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) invited us to explore the roots of injustice and violence. Faced with such pain and helplessness, she acted to encourage those who read her texts to reflect on what she wanted to convey. Aware of the times in which she lived, she used her words to denounce such horror. And she did so by encouraging people to adopt an attitude of attentiveness (attente), which means, above all, attention. Paying attention to others, to the world, to its beauty and its misfortune (malheur), to love and to friendship. Therefore, one of the purposes of this conference will be to reflect on the cultivation of attention. Thus, based on this key concept of Weil’s thought, we will explore some of the ethical and aesthetic interests of this author. Her conception of friendship will be our guide.

Rosa Rius Gatell is an honorary professor at the University of Barcelona and a member of the Philosophy and Gender Seminar at the same university. Her research focuses on two main areas: Renaissance philosophy and women’s thought throughout different periods of history, especially the 16th and 20th centuries. She is the editor of several collective volumes, including: Pensadoras del Siglo XX. Aportaciones al pensamiento filosófico y político (2011) and Lectoras de Simone Weil (2013), both with Fina Birulés. Among her publications, it is worth mentioning the introductory study and critical notes on Gilles Ménage’s Historia de las mujeres filósofas (2009; 4th reprint 2023) and articles such as: “De antiguas sabidurías: Simone Weil y María Zambrano” (2013), “À la recherche des savoirs anciens. Simone Weil dans l'air du temps” (2014), “María Zambrano et ‘l'art qui fait voir’” (2015), “De la belleza, el arte y la pintura ‘verdadera’ en Simone Weil” (2017), “Simone Weil, lectora de Maquiavelo” (2018), “María Zambrano, notas sobre la alegría y el dolor” (2021), “Notes sur le rôle de l’art chez María Zambrano et Simone Weil” (2023), “Receptoras y transmisoras de María Zambrano en el mundo del arte” (2024).

Thought-images

Thought-images gives the title to this cycle of conferences opening a space in Sismógrafo’s program to think images and through images. The purpose of these conferences is to unite the discursive and the image, to confront them, to recognize the potential of an image, of a fragment, rescuing vital experiences threatened in an uncertain present. This age, a turbulent and disturbing age, an age of pandemic, ecological, financial, political and social crises, these times of “post-truth” and "alternative facts” are "interesting times", to use the expression popularized by Eric Hobsbawm. Interesting times especially for thinking. Thinking is already contributing to a change. This cycle calls for a cooperation between the expressive strength of art and the precision of philosophy. Without a language that embraces images, images can blind us or say nothing. With these conferences, Sismógrafo seeks to take care of what Alexander Kluge calls a “garden of cooperation”, a place that preserves the moments when word and image converge in order to produce something new, a space for discrepancy and cooperation in the face of cacophonies of information, in the face of industrial manipulation and enslavement of feelings. In difficult times, times of divisions and segregations, cooperation presents itself as an antidote to tribalism (Richard Sennett). To open this garden, this space for debate and polyphony in the city, Sismógrafo has invited speakers linked to philosophy, aesthetics, art criticism, fine arts and cinema who, at different times and from different perspectives, will try to present a diagnosis of the present.