LGBTQ+ History Month Public Lecture Bowie Love

Location
The Exchange Newhall Street Birmingham B3 3PJ
Dates
Wednesday 12 February 2025 (19:00-20:30)
UoB Poster A3 - Bowie_page-0001-min

This lecture will consider the idea of love as agape, a Greco-Christian term capturing the idea of a love for humanity. It will be argued that it is this love, which privileges otherness over self, love over law, that cascades through David Bowie’s work.

In thinking through Bowie love, the lecture will draw on philosophers, Max Scheler and Alain Badiou, as well as fierce opponent of agape, Friedrich Nietzsche. The lecture will explore three love lessons apparent in Bowie’s work: love as letting go; love as humility; and love as posthuman. However, it will begin by explaining how Bowie subverted social norms which parade as necessity, and therefore, how Bowie love is inextricably tied up with freedom, yours and mine.

Bowie will function as a conduit, a lightening rod, serving to bring the lecture to life. The lecture promises to be an audio-visual feast, accompanied by Bowie text, images, and music from his back catalogue.

It will be approximately 45 minutes duration and will be followed by a Q&A with Professor Alex Sharpe

Accessibility information for this event

Open to University staff and students as well as members of the public