Hobart and William Smith Colleges

16 February 2007 Conspiracy Theories and 9/11 Focus of Dean's Keynote Speech in Amsterdam

Jodi Dean of the political science faculty will be the keynote speaker at a seminar accompanying the Faith in Exposure exhibit, Saturday, Feb. 24 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

She will deliver a talk that deepens her interrogation of the ways in which conspiracy theories operate in the public domain. Titled Popular Credibility, her presentation will address matters of certainty and conspiracy theory around the 9/11 attacks and will involve showing and analyzing portions of a video called Loose Change that has been circulating the Internet.

Responding to Deans presentation will be Noortje Marres and Richard Rogers, two important Amsterdam-based theorists who have, in different ways, challenged dominant notions of the public and rethought popular conceptions of how democracy has changed since its fate became entwined in the Internet. David Garcia, curator of the exhibit, will be the moderator.

Dean recently delivered an address at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and two talks in the fall in the United Kingdom. Dean, who joined the faculty in 1993, holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton and her master's and doctoral degrees from Columbia.

Organizers say the goal of the Faith in Exposure exhibition is to temporarily transform the Netherlands Media Art Institute into a center for what the artists collective De Geuzen calls multi-visual research, not only a gallery space alone but an art and knowledge workshop. The exhibition, Faith in Exposure, will be in place through Saturday, March 17.