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
Join the PICT Community!
By joining our community as a member, you help PICT to increase its open-access content and expand its free in-person program!
PICT Humanities Program Goes Free!
From Spring 2023 onwards, PICT’s entire humanities program will be absolutely free for our members—this includes courses, children’s ateliers, and tours! PICT’s humanities program allows
PICT Gets the French Touch!
(version française ci-dessous) PICT has always built bridges between our native Paris and the Anglophone world. We have lectured on Parisian landmarks from the Eiffel
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
(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: Hope, Fear & Tech
On Tuesday, 6 December 2022, PICT cordially invites you the panel, “Hope, Fear & Tech: Perspectives on Technology from the Humanities,” at the École des
What Is Bio-Medial-Politics?
What Is Bio-Medial-Politics? by Natasha Lushetich (Dundee, UK) TO understand present-day biopolitics and how we can resist it, we need to talk about “bio-medial-politics.” The
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
No Map Can Stop the Bats from Crossing the Border
Image from Kitab-ı Bahriye by Piri Reis (first published 1521) No Map Can Stop the Bats from Crossing the Border Interview with David Selim Sayers
PICT Honorary Lectures VI: Critique in Critical Condition—Fascism on the Rise
The sixth installment in the PICT Honorary Lectures series was held on Wednesday, 8 June, at the Mairie de Paris Centre – Site Marais. Delivered
Sigmund Freud’s America
Philip Alcabes Sigmund Freud’s America Freudian thought has been embraced, actuated, and exemplified in contemporary America. This essay explicates four features of the trans-Atlantic instantiation
Actuality and Critique in Walter Benjamin
Actuality and Critique in Walter Benjamin by Carlo Salzani (Vienna, Austria) Editors’ Note THIS essay is based on the introduction to Carlo Salzani’s 2021 book,
Review: Giacometti and Beckett: Between Failure and Theatricality
by Maureen Winter (Paris, France) The Giacometti Foundation’s current exhibition, “Giacometti/Beckett – Rater encore. Rater mieux” (January 9th-June 8th, 2021), pairs the celebrated sculptor’s post-surrealist works
Let My Friends Remember Me
Let My Friends Remember Me by Aşık Veysel (Turkish original – Sivas, Turkey)by David Selim Sayers and Evrim Emir-Sayers (English translation – Paris, France) THIS
PICT Honorary Lectures V: The Shadow of Kant: Reconsidering the Modern Self
The fifth PICT Honorary Lecture, and the first post-pandemic PICT public event, took place on Tuesday, 19 April, at the Goethe Institut Paris. Delivered by
We Are Here to Dance and to Keep Life Going
We Are Here to Dance and to Keep Life Going Interview with Ludmila Pagliero by Tatiana Senkevitch (Paris, France) LUDMILA Pagliero, étoile of the 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