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# CalArts Presents 2017 Theorist in Residence, Lauren Berlant's "Humorlessness/Politics" Lectures
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/calarts-presents-2017-theorist-in-residence-lauren-berlants-humorlessnesspolitics-lectures/
- Published: 2017-01-23T18:15:48.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:28:02.000Z
- Description: The MA Aesthetics and Politics Program at CalArts invites you to join us for two upcoming public lectures by our 2017 Theorist in Residence Lauren Berlant.
- Author: California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
- Tags: Announcement, CalArts, Exhibition Announcement, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:23 (2016, 2017, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/20140728_berlant_3036.jpg)

Lauren Berlant, the George M. Pullman distinguished service professor in the department of English, Monday, July 28, 2014, on the University of Chicago campus. (Robert Kozloff/The University of Chicago)

The [MA Aesthetics and Politics Program](http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=110605866&iu=/16307266/hyp%5F1x1) at CalArts invites you to join us for two upcoming public lectures by our 2017 Theorist in Residence Lauren Berlant. Berlant’s lectures will both focus on the theme of humorlessness, one in the context of politics, the other in the context of comedy.

1\. **Humorlessness/Politics**  
Where: REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.  
When: **February 1, 8:30pm**  
[Tickets are available for purchase here](http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=110606106&iu=/16307266/hyp%5F1x1).

2\. **Humorlessness/Comedy**  
Where: West Hollywood Public Library, City Council Chambers, 625 N. San Vincent Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069,  
When: **February 3, 7:30pm**  
Free and open to the public.

**Lauren Berlant** is George M. Pullman Professor of English at the University of Chicago. Her national sentimentality trilogy — *The Anatomy of National Fantasy* (1991), *The Queen of America Goes to Washington City* (1997), and *The Female Complaint* (2008) — has now morphed into a quartet, with *Cruel Optimism* (2011) addressing precarious publics and the aesthetics of affective adjustment in the contemporary U.S. and Europe. A co-editor of *Critical Inquiry*, she is also editor of *Intimacy* (University of Chicago Press, 2000, Chicago); *Our Monica, Ourselves: The Clinton Affair and the National Interest* (New York University Press, 2001, New York); *Compassion: the Culture and Politics of an Emotion* (Routledge, 2004, New York); and *On the Case* (Critical Inquiry, 2007). She blogs at [Supervalent Thought](http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=110606706&iu=/16307266/hyp%5F1x1) and is also a founding member of the art/activist group Feel Tank Chicago.

For more information on CalArts’ MA Aesthetics and Politics Program, including how to apply for Fall 2017 admission to its new 2-year model, visit [aestheticsandpolitics.calarts.edu](http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/clk?id=110605866&iu=/16307266/hyp%5F1x1), or contact Seth Blake at [sblake@calarts.edu](mailto:sblake@calarts.edu).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2017/01/calarts-logo-sponsor.jpg)