ISAAC MEHKI’S 2023 SOCRATIC SEMINAR WAS AN AMBITIOUS EXPERIMENT IN RECLAIMING INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC DISCOURSE WITHIN AN INFORMAL, YET HIGHLY ENGAGED SETTING. BY REPURPOSING AN UNUSED STORAGE SPACE INTO A MAKESHIFT CLASSROOM, MEHKI CHALLENGED CONVENTIONAL ACADEMIC STRUCTURES AND CREATED AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE DISCOURSE ON ART’S SOCIO-POLITICAL INFLUENCE COULD UNFOLD BEYOND INSTITUTIONAL CONSTRAINTS. HIS APPROACH—WELCOMING STUDENTS, ACADEMICS, AND NON-STUDENTS ALIKE—REFLECTED A DELIBERATE EFFORT TO DEMOCRATIZE KNOWLEDGE, FOSTERING AN OPEN-ENDED DIALOGUE UNRESTRICTED BY HIERARCHICAL EXPERTISE.
THE DISCUSSION ITSELF, THOUGH UNSTRUCTURED IN FORM, WAS DEEPLY INTENTIONAL IN SCOPE. RATHER THAN ADHERING TO A RIGID SYLLABUS OR PREDETERMINED CONCLUSIONS, THE SEMINAR FUNCTIONED AS A COLLABORATIVE INQUIRY INTO ART’S ROLE IN SHAPING AND RESPONDING TO POLITICAL REALITIES. BY DOCUMENTING THE CONVERSATION ON BLACKBOARDS AND UTILIZING AI SPEECH-TO-TEXT TECHNOLOGY, THE EVENT NOT ONLY PRESERVED ITS EPHEMERAL INSIGHTS BUT ALSO EMPHASIZED THE ACT OF DOCUMENTATION AS A CRITICAL EXTENSION OF DISCOURSE. THE SUBSEQUENT PUBLICATION OF THESE DISCUSSIONS IN PAMPHLET FORM FURTHERED THIS ETHOS, DISPERSING IDEAS BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE SEMINAR SPACE AND INTO THE BROADER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY.
MORE SIGNIFICANTLY, MEHKI’S INITIATIVE EXEMPLIFIED HOW ARTISTIC AND THEORETICAL ENGAGEMENT CAN TRANSITION FROM PASSIVE CRITIQUE TO TANGIBLE ACTION. BY SITUATING ART’S THEORETICAL DISCOURSE WITHIN A PHYSICAL, COLLECTIVE SETTING, THE SEMINAR BLURRED THE LINE BETWEEN DISCUSSION AND PRAXIS. IN DOING SO, IT GESTURED TOWARD A BROADER VISION OF CREATIVE POLITICAL AGENCY—ONE IN WHICH INTELLECTUAL ENGAGEMENT DOES NOT MERELY INTERPRET THE WORLD BUT ACTIVELY PARTICIPATES IN SHAPING IT.
