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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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
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
Death Becomes Her: The Ultimate Female Aging Commentary
Death Becomes Her: The Ultimate Female Aging Commentary by Genna Rivieccio (Paris, France)IN the early 90s, Hollywood was becoming more self-aware of its own ageism. Perhaps in
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
When My Husband Was Imprisoned by the Taliban
Photo by Alexandre Requintel (Version française ici) When My Husband Was Imprisoned by the Taliban by Aleksandra Mostovaja (Copenhagen, Denmark) ON the 7th of January,
Gezi Spirit: The Possibility of an Impossibility
Image: The Gezi Park Occupation, 2013 Gezi Spirit: The Possibility of an Impossibility by David Selim Sayers (Paris, France) EDITORS’ NOTE: This essay was originally
The Borodin Quartet on Tour
The Borodin Quartet on Tour by Valentin Berlinsky (Moscow, Soviet Union – Russian original)by Maria Matalaev (Paris, France – French translation, compilation, editing)by Angela Dickson
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
A Brief History of the Turkish Republic, or the Life and Times of Sabiha Sertel
Image: The Sertels on Trial A Brief History of the Turkish Republic, or the Life and Times of Sabiha Sertel by David Selim Sayers (Paris,
(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 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
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
Unauthorized Freedom: Agamben’s Anarchism à l’épreuve of the Pandemic
Unauthorized Freedom: Agamben’s Anarchism à l’épreuve of the Pandemic by Carlo Salzani (Vienna, Austria) 1. Unauthorized Freedom HIJACKED by the varied and composite galaxy opposing
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,
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