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Poster design draft for "Simone Weil: The Madness for Truth" conference at Columbia University, 1999

80WSE Gallery Exhibition: Simone Weil: On the Abolition of All Political Parties

Fri Jan 31
12 am - 11:59 pm ET
-
Sat May 31
12 am - 11:59 pm ET
80 Washington Square East, NYC

Simone Weil
On the Abolition of All Political Parties

January 31–May 31, 2025
Opening Reception January 31 6–8PM
80WSE(link is external)

Simone Weil: On the Abolition of All Political Parties, features a new English translation of Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques (1943) by French philosopher and activist Simone Weil whose life united thought and action. Located at Washington Windows gallery, the street-level public exhibition also includes archival material from the Sylvère Lotringer Papers and Semiotext(e) Archive at Fales Library and Special Collections, NYU.

Written before her death and published posthumously with the support of her peer Albert Camus, Weil’s essay offers a critique of how political parties suppress individual desire and moral conscience by transforming these energies into collective passions that can be manipulated by its totalitarian tendencies. Weil believed that formal democracy alone does not guarantee a moral society, but rather it is an ambivalent mechanism that needs individuals to act freely and ethically without corruption by institutions and political ideologies.

As a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure, Simone Weil's (1909–1943) practice included working in a Renault Factory in Paris, supporting labor strikes, and supporting the Republican resistance in the Spanish Civil War against Francisco Franco Nationalists. Reflecting on her Jewish heritage, her spiritual journey led her to Christianity, where she developed a mystical theology centered on attention to suffering, universal truth, and human needs.

Note sur la suppression générale des partis politiques (1943) by Simone Weil.

New forthcoming English translation by Laura Mitterand.

Organized by Howie Chen with Erika Airikh and Ariel He in collaboration with Fales Library and Special Collections, NYU.   

Washington Square Windows gallery is a a street-level display window located at 80 Washington Square East. The installation can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

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NYU provides reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities. Please submit your request for accommodations for events and services at least two weeks before the date of your accommodation need. Although we can't guarantee accommodation requests received less than two weeks before the event, you should still contact us and we will do our best to meet your accommodation need. Please email 80wse@nyu.edu for assistance.

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