Avital Ronell

New York University professor Avital Ronell explored our contemporary cultural obsession with testing. We increasingly use tests to determine what is true, in fields ranging from science to athletics to law and education. What is the origin of this incessant drive to test? 

Ronell is a professor of humanities and of German, English, and comparative literature at New York University, where she co-directs the Trauma and Violence Transdisciplinary Studies program. She is also the Jacques Derrida Professor of Media and Philosophy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland. She is the author of Dictations: On Haunted Writing, The Telephone Book, Crack Wars, Finitude’s Score, Stupidity, The Test Drive, and Fighting Theory.

In Other Words included six artists who delivered lecture-performances, juxtaposed with talks by six thinkers in order to cross boundaries and make dialogue a continuous process of renewal. This talk was presented in conjunction with Xavier Le Roy’s performance Product of Circumstances (see page 100).

This talk is presented in conjunction with Xavier Le Roy’s performance Product of Circumstances.