Zer0 Books Archives - Semiotext(e), Lotringer, and the Early Zer0 Blogosphere with Owen Hatherley

Today in the Zer0 Books archives we're going back to the early days of Zer0 Books in looking at one of their key influences in theory media. We're going to be looking at the legacy of Semiotext(e), an imprint that brought theory out of the academy and into the avant-garde as well as refocusing the theoretical discussion upon current and key movements of the time. Just to give a few examples, radical psychiatry, Italian Autonomism, the Terrorism question in the divided Germany of the 70s and 80s, as well as putting out volumes from groups such as the Black Panthers in the 90s and the Invisible Committee in the 2000s (to the present day). Behind all of this was the editorial styles of writers such as in the Sylvère Lotringer, who sadly passed away in November of last year. Joining us in this archaeological escapade is founding Zer0 Books author Owen Hatherley, who helped start off the Zer0 Books catalogue with his text Militant Modernism in 2009, covering everything in social modernist design from Brutalism to Reichian Sexpolitics. His second publication with Zer0 was 2011’s Uncommon, a historical class analysis of the band Pulp through the landscape of post-industrial England. Owen joins us in the archives today to discuss his reflections on Lotringer and Semiotext(e) from his article on how they “made theory cool” in Tribune Magazine, where Owen is also the cultural editor. We talk about the early Zer0 Books blogosphere and its cultural context, how to communicate radical theory beyond the confines of the artworld and the academy, and the necessary weirdness of a radical political imagination.

Owen Hatherley on Zero

Owen's other recent work:

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Check out the projects of some of the new contributors to Zer0 Books:

Acid Horizon

Merch: crit-drip.com

Profane Illuminations

The Horror Vanguard

Buddies Without Organs