The Paris Institute for Critical Thinking (PICT) is an independent, volunteer-run, non-profit institute with no state or corporate backing. We provide a public space for the humanities and arts, unregulated by the gatekeepers of traditional higher education.
PICT Manifesto 2021
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By joining our community as a member, you help PICT to increase its open-access content and expand its free in-person program!
PICT Ranks #1 Among “Best Paris Podcasts”
The podcasts of the Paris Institute for Critical Thinking (PICT) have taken the #1 spot on FeedSpot’s list of “15 Best Paris Podcasts worth listening
Beau Davis Releases Music Video
On 13 February 2023, PICT’s very own Beau Davis released his first music video, “OKAY.” The video signals the launch of Beau’s audio-visual project, “It
Lines at the End of the Year
Lines at the End of the Year by Stuart Dischell (Greensboro, USA) EDITORS’ NOTE:This poem was originally published in Stuart Dischell’s 2022 book, The Lookout
KEY WORDS 1: coffee beans, potato chips, peasants, artists
Image: Cafetière, Pablo Picasso (1943) KEY WORDS 1: coffee beans, potato chips, peasants, artists by Emanuel Strandsand (Paris, France) FRENHOFER. I saw the name in
PICT in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
On Wednesday, 18 May 2022, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), a leading German daily newspaper, featured an article devoted to the PICT publication, “The Real
The Real Academy in Exile (Censored)
Image: Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, J. M. W. Turner (1829) The Real Academy in Exile (Censored) by David Selim Sayers (Paris, France)1 For Talât Halman Sansürün çıkardığı
PICT Conferences: 7th International José Saramago Conference
“Human beings must not be satisfied with the role of observer. They have a responsibility to the world, they have to act, they have to
When My Husband Was Imprisoned by the Taliban
Photo by Alexandre Requintel When My Husband Was Imprisoned by the Taliban by Aleksandra Mostovaja (Copenhagen, Denmark) ON the 7th of January, 2023, my husband,
PICT Faculty Lectures VII
On Thursday, 13 April 2023, the PICT Faculty Lectures series returns with its 7th event: “The Desire to Believe: Perspectives from Medieval Catholic Thought,” a
Behind the Derridas and Foucaults, There Is Absolutely Nobody
Behind the Derridas and Foucaults, There Is Absolutely Nobody by Kristof K.P. Vanhoutte (Basel, Switzerland) EDITORS’ NOTE: This essay was originally published as “The Biggest
Be Careful What Kind of Friend You Wish For: Lana Del Rey’s Romanticization of Harry Nilsson Might Not Sit Well With John Lennon
Be Careful What Kind of Friend You Wish For Lana Del Rey’s Romanticization of Harry Nilsson Might Not Sit Well With John Lennon by Genna Rivieccio (Paris,
Living in the Toxcene: Toxicity as a Form of Life
Living in the Toxcene: Toxicity as a Form of Life by Dipali Mathur (Edinburgh, UK) EDITORS’ NOTE: This essay was originally published as “The Planetary
How to Déplier Baroque
How to Déplier Baroque Interview with Marina Nordera by Tatiana Senkevitch (Paris, France) WHETHER one thinks of the Baroque as a specific historical period or as an
(French) Theory: An Anti-American American Invention
François Cusset (French) Theory: An Anti-American American Invention If French Theory is American, it is so in the sense of being an errant concept, caught
PICT Panel Held at École des Ponts
The PICT panel, “Hope, Fear & Tech: Perspectives on Technology from the Humanities,” took place on Tuesday, 6 December 2022, at the École des Ponts
PICT Aegean Summer School 2022
It was our great pleasure and privilege to hold the first ever PICT Aegean Summer School in the Turkish coastal town of Ayvalik from 20
Gender, Sex, and Printing Press in Ottoman Constantinople
Image from Hançerli Hikaye-i Garibesi (1851-52) Gender, Sex, and Printing Press in Ottoman Constantinople by David Selim Sayers (Paris, France) EVER since learning Ottoman Turkish nearly
The Normal and the Phenomenological
Image: Two Figures, Francis Bacon (1953) by Nikolaas Cassidy-Deketelaere (Paris, France) In his introduction to Georges Canguilhem’s The Normal and the Pathological, Michel Foucault makes an observation
I’m on a Long and Narrow Road
I’m on a Long and Narrow Road by Aşık Veysel (Turkish original – Sivas, Turkey)by David Selim Sayers and Evrim Emir-Sayers (English translation – Paris,
Wolfgang’s Wager: Thinking Crisis with Wolfgang Streeck
On 26 April 2022, the PICT Student Ambassadors staged their second live online discussion, welcoming the German economic sociologist Wolfgang Streeck. The event was convened