Night of Uncertainty Paul Virilio

Presented and moderated by journalist Stéphane Paoli.

The publication of a collection of major and unpublished texts by urban planner and philosopher Paul Virilio by Éditions du Seuil provides a new opportunity for the Fondation Cartier to celebrate this formidable thinker and friend with whom it collaborated on so many occasions. Conceived by his daughter Sophie Virilio and Stéphane Paoli, this Night of Uncertainty Paul Virilio brings together artists, scientists, and thinkers who bear witness to his thinking of foresight and vigilance and honor his words, which allow us to decipher “the unknown quantity”.

With:

Enki Bilal, author of graphic novels and film director.
Hervé Chandès, General Artistic Director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.
Kitsou Dubois, choreographer, researcher specializing in dance in weightlessness.
Christian Joschke, professor at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, art historian, and co-founder of the review Transbordeur.
Jean Richer, architect, author of the critical apparatus accompanying the re-edition.
Achille Stocchi, particle physics physicist and director of the Physics Laboratory of the Two Infinities Irène Joliot-Curie.
Stéphane Velut, neurosurgeon and author.
Sophie Virilio, daughter of Paul Virilio, founding member of the review Dromologie.
Maria Vlachou, editor, director of foreign publishing rights at Éditions du Seuil.
Hala Warde, architect, founding member of the review Dromologie.
Eyal Weizman, architect, author, director of the Forensic Architecture Laboratory, professor of spatial and visual culture at Goldsmiths, University of London.
And other guests.

An evening organized for the publication of Paul Virilio’s latest collection La fin du monde est un concept sans avenir. Œuvres (1957-2010), published by Éditions du Seuil (general release date: October 13, 2023).

The publication of a collection of major and unpublished texts by urban planner and philosopher Paul Virilio by Éditions du Seuil provides a new opportunity for the Fondation Cartier to celebrate this formidable thinker and friend with whom it collaborated on so many occasions. Conceived by his daughter Sophie Virilio and Stéphane Paoli, this Night of Uncertainty Paul Virilio brings together artists, scientists, and thinkers who bear witness to his thinking of foresight and vigilance and honor his words, which allow us to decipher “the unknown quantity”.

“Speed reduces the world to nothing” Paul Virilio

Philosopher, sociologist, urban planner, and a theorist exploring the acceleration of the world in our ultra-technical societies, Paul Virilio (1932-2018) never stopped thinking about speed and its consequences on humankind, the economy, environment, and geopolitics. For him, the exhibition was a visible thought experiment, a “revelationary” art. A thinker of mobile and moving feelings, he was forever focused on exploring the unfathomable.

Since their first collaboration in 1988, Paul Virilio and the Fondation Cartier have continued an uninterrupted conversation, coming together through exhibitions either directed or accompanied by Paul Virilio, as well as a number of publications: Native Land, Stop Eject (2008) with Raymond Depardon; Marc Newson, Kelvin 40 (2004); Unknown Quantity (2002); the desert (2000); 1 monde réel (1999); Azur (1993); La Vitesse (1991); Vraiment faux (1988). From this great complicity, several texts and works were born, including the installation Exit (2008-2015), a map of migratory flows with architects and artists such as Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio + Renfro, and the film Unknown Quantity (2002) with writer Svetlana Alexievich, directed by filmmaker Andrei Ujica. In 2012, the Fondation Cartier brought together all of the texts written by Paul Virilio during these various collaborations in a book published by Actes Sud, entitled La Pensée exposée.

“The end of the world is a concept without a future” or such is the hope. On the occasion of the publication by Éditions du Seuil of this anthology of texts by Paul Virilio, a compilation of his first twenty-two essays and unpublished works, the Night of Uncertainty Paul Virilio invites the public to celebrate the ultra- visionary thinking of this attentive and caring philosopher who taught us to find hope beyond the disaster through highly topical texts.

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA) shared Paul Virilio’s inspiration. The ESA is joining forces for this evening to continue to make his ideas known to new generations of architects.