French philosopher Marie-José Mondzain, an internationally renowned figure in image studies, will be at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) during the month of November as a professor at the Institute of Advanced Transdisciplinary Studies of UFMG (IEAT/UFMG). Emeritus researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Mondzain has dedicated her work to investigating the role of images in the constitution of the subject and in contemporary forms of life. At the university, she will participate in a series of activities on the aesthetic, ethical, and social powers of images in the contemporary world.

The program begins on November 7th with the meeting “K de Kolônia,” held in partnership with the Poetics of Experience group and other research centers at the University. At the meeting, Mondzain will address the political and symbolic power of the colonial imaginary, based on her book K de Kolônia: Kafka and the Decolonization of the Imaginary. In her work, she exposes, through two visionary narratives by Franz Kafka (In the Penal Colony and The Disappearance), the workings of the colonial machine and invites us to break with the visual and narrative devices inherited from colonialism. The event takes place at 2:30 pm in auditorium 1070 of the Faculty of Economic Sciences (FACE/UFMG).

On November 10th and 11th, Mondzain will lead the seminar “The Hospitality of Images,” in two sessions. The discussions, which investigate the aesthetic, ethical, political, and affective dimensions of hospitality in images, will take place respectively in the Baesse Auditorium and the Bicalho Auditorium, both at the Faculty of Philosophy and Human Sciences (FAFICH/UFMG), from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, with consecutive translation.

As a highlight of his stay, on November 13th, Mondzain will deliver, starting at 2:30 PM, in Auditorium A104 of the Didactic Activities Center 2 at UFMG, the Grand Conference entitled “Artificial Intelligence: A Tool of Capital?”

The conference is open to the public, with registration via the Even3 platform. Certificates of participation will be issued. The conference will be in French, with simultaneous translation. The event has the support of the Postgraduate Program in Social Communication (PPGCOM) at UFMG and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

At the conference, Mondzain will present the approach that underpins her most recent book, Capital Punishment (Peine Kapital), which addresses a critique of the “symbolic decapitation” carried out by Artificial Intelligence, technocratic capitalism, digital plutocracy, and the fate of our minds under the domination of those who assume leadership of the peoples they colonize and subjugate.

In addition to academic activities, the program includes a film series with commentary by the philosopher, in partnership with Cine Santa Tereza and forumdoc.bh.2025. The three sessions will take place on November 18, 19, and 21, with screenings and discussions of works that engage with the ideas of acceptance and otherness.

On Wednesday the 18th, she will comment on the film The Enchantment of the Leaves*, by Pedro Aspahan and César Guimarães, and on Thursday the 19th, she will participate in a commented film session (title to be defined). The first two sessions, from 2 pm to 6 pm, will take place at the Cine Santa Tereza, located on Rua Estrela do Sul, in the Santa Tereza neighborhood, in Belo Horizonte, with consecutive translation.

On Friday the 21st, Mondzain will participate in the screening of the film Nuit Obscure – “Ain’t I a child?”, by Sylvain George, as part of the Belo Horizonte Documentary and Ethnographic Film Festival program. The screening will be from 4 pm to 8 pm in the Humberto Mauro Room of the Palácio das Artes, located at Avenida Afonso Pena, 1537, in the city center, also in Belo Horizonte, and will have consecutive translation.

About the professor

Philosopher and researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Marie José Mondzain, drawing transversally on the contributions of philosophy, theology, anthropology, and psychoanalysis, dedicates herself to the critical analysis of the contemporary political, cultural, and audiovisual field from the Byzantine sources of thought surrounding images, as formulated in her seminal book, Image, icône, économie (Paris: Seuil, 1996). Among her most recent publications we can cite Homo spectator: ver, fazer ver (Lisbon: Orfeu Negro, 2015); Confiscação das palavras, das imagens e do tempo: por uma outra radicalidade (Belo Horizonte: Relicário, 2022); Accueillir: venu(e)s d’un ventre ou d’un pays (Paris: Les liens qui Libérent, 2023); K of Cologne: Kafka and the Decolonization of the Imaginary (Rio de Janeiro: Contraponto, 2024).

Professor César Guimarães, from the Department of Social Communication at FAFICH, is hosting Professor Marie-José Mondzain at UFMG. The FUNDEP/IEAT Chair Program is promoted by IEAT/UFMG and funded by the UFMG Support Foundation (FUNDEP).