French philosopher Claude Lefort’s oeuvre developed over a period of six decades until his passing in 2010. His notions of "power as an empty place" and "the modern dissolution of the markers of certainty" have become radical and liberal democracy’s obligatory reference, as well as an unparalleled knot of intellectual confluence. For this panel discussion, Bernard Flynn of the New School for Social Research and Claudia Hilb of the Universidad de Buenos Aires debate Lefort’s phenomenological style and legacy as a political theorist and literary critic. With an introduction by CalArts’ Martín Plot and followed by a Q&A, the discussion is presented as part of a two-day symposium on The Aesthetic Character of Politics in Hannah Arendt and Claude Lefort.

For more information, visit aestheticsandpolitics.calarts.edu/lecture-series