Events - Brooklyn Institute for Social Research

BISR

Upcoming Events

Personal Demons: a Conversation with Grace Lavery
September 09, 2026, 7:00-8:30PM
  • Cultural History
  • Gender and Sexuality
Édouard Bourdet’s The Captive: a Centennial Reading and Discussion
September 17, 2026, 7:00-8:30PM
  • American Studies
  • French literature
  • Gender and Sexuality
BISR Community Picnic
September 19, 2026, 2:00-6:00pm
A Right to Housing?: a Conversation with Samuel Stein
September 24, 2026, 7:00-8:30PM
  • Architecture
  • New York City
  • Urban Studies
The Cavalier: an Evening with Nathalie Quintane and Jonathan Larson
October 23, 2026, 7:00-8:30PM
  • French literature
  • Literature
  • Translation

Past Events

Brooklyn Public Library’s Sips & Scholars: a Series of Public Seminars (2026)
August 26, 2026,
Occasional Evenings: The Swimmer — a Screening and Discussion
June 30, 2026, 7:00pm ET
  • American Studies
  • Film
  • Literature
Femmephilia: a Conversation with Sophie Lewis
June 10, 2026, 7:00pm ET
  • Feminism
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • Queer and Gender Studies
2026 Annual Institute Social
June 04, 2026, 6:30-10:00pm ET
Sappho: a Day of Learning
Days of Learning
May 30, 2026, 1:00-6:00pm ET
  • Classics
  • Poetry
Here Where We Live Is Our Country: an Evening with Molly Crabapple
May 14, 2026, 7:00pm ET
  • History
  • Jewish Studies
  • Left internationalism
  • nationalism
Slop Machine: Anna Kornbluh and Kate Wagner on the Aesthetics of Contemporary Fascism
February 28, 2026, 3-5PM CT
Occasional Evenings: B.F. Skinner Plays Himself — a Screening and Discussion
February 12, 2026, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
  • Psychology
Political Humiliation, Collective Struggle: a Conversation with Roxanne Euben
December 04, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • Middle Eastern Studies
  • Political Theory
Nature’s Value: a Celebration and Conversation with Alyssa Battistoni, Nafis Hasan, and Ajay Singh Chaudhary
November 13, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • climate
  • Political Economy
  • Political Theory
The New York City Mayoral Election: the Stakes and the Spectacle
October 23, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • elections
  • New York City
Occasional Evenings: Hangmen Also Die! — a Film Screening and Discussion
October 16, 2025, 6:30pm ET
  • Film
  • politics
Radical Re-Imaginings: Classics for the 21st Century — a Symposium
September 05, 2025, 7:00pm (Friday)/11:00am (Saturday)
Occasional Evenings: No Borders: Folk, Fusion, and Tradition — Ghost Peppers in Concert
August 15, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • Music
  • politics
“The Basic Power of the Universe”: the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 Years Later
July 31, 2025, 6:30pm ET
Brooklyn Public Library’s Sips & Scholars: a Series of Public Seminars
July 17, 2025,
TRANSgressions: Rights, Wrongs, and Liberal Pieties
June 27, 2025, 7:00pm ET
2025 Annual Institute Social: Good Times in Dark Times
June 07, 2025, 6:00-10:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Eyes Wide Shut — a Screening and Discussion
April 25, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
  • Literature
Occasional Evenings: the Sound of Lispector — Music, Reading, and Conversation
April 11, 2025, 7:00pm ET
Deviant Matter: Ferment, Intoxicants, Jelly, Rot — a Talk, and Tasting, with Kyla Tompkins
March 07, 2025, 7:00pm ET
The Cancer-Industrial Complex: a Book Launch and Conversation with Nafis Hasan
February 27, 2025, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Mulholland Drive — a Screening and Discussion
February 14, 2025, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
Assessing the Aftermath: Gaza, the Ceasefire, and Beyond
February 06, 2025, 1:00pm ET
What In Me is Dark – A Book Launch, Reading, and Celebration with Orlando Reade
December 13, 2024, 7:30pm ET
  • Literary Criticism
  • Milton
Occasional Evenings: Last Circle in a Slowdown — Big Bend in Concert
November 20, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Music
Occasional Evenings: Back-to-School Film Screening—Romeo + Juliet
September 20, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
From Chicago 1968 to Chicago 2024: Medium Cool — a Screening and Discussion
August 16, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
  • politics
Jeffrey Escoffier Memorial Library Launch: a Cocktail Party
July 25, 2024, 7:00pm ET
Realism, Representation, and Blackness: a Conversation with Joseph Earl Thomas
July 18, 2024, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: My Beautiful Laundrette — a Screening and Discussion
June 12, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Queer Cinema
2024 Annual Institute Social
May 30, 2024, 6:00-11:00pm ET
Student Protest, Faculty Solidarity — A Conversation
May 06, 2024, 4:00pm ET
CYBORG — a Book Launch and Discussion
May 03, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • cyborg theory
  • Feminism
  • Technology
Marxism and the Capitalist State: Authors’ Roundtable
May 03, 2024, 4:30-6:00pm ET
Tomorrow Belongs to Me: Cabaret — a Screening and Discussion
April 11, 2024, 8:30pm ET
In These Trying Times: A Conversation on Walter Benjamin and History
April 05, 2024, 6:00pm CT
  • History
  • Philosophy
Occasional Evenings: Translation is Art — a Presentation and Panel Discussion
April 03, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • poetry and poetics
  • Translation
100 Years of The Magic Mountain: a Conversation and Concert with Samantha Rose Hill, Paul Holdengräber & David Kaplan
March 26, 2024, 7:00pm PT
  • Literture
  • Music
Wrong Notes: The Desert Music — a Listening Party
March 15, 2024, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher — Film Screening and Discussion
February 29, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
  • Literature
The Exhausted of the Earth: a Book Launch and Conversation
February 14, 2024, 7:00pm ET
On the Waterfront – Film Screening and Discussion
February 02, 2024, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
  • History
How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Violence and the Politics of Climate — a Film Screening and Discussion
December 08, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Cooking is Thinking — Rebecca May Johnson in Conversation
November 30, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Walter Kempowski’s An Ordinary Youth: a Book Launch and Conversation
November 21, 2023, 6:30pm ET
Catastrophe in Context: a Teach-In on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Beyond
November 03, 2023, 11:00am-6:00pm ET
Selves and Others: a Portrait of Edward Said—a Screening and Panel Discussion
September 22, 2023, 7:30pm ET
Culture, Tradition, and Power: a Teach-In Commemorating Edward Said
September 21, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Back-to-School Film Screening—But I’m a Cheerleader
September 15, 2023, 7:00pm EST
  • Film Studies
  • Queer Theory
Occasional Evenings: Bollywood’s Race Problem
August 10, 2023, 7:00pm ET
  • Critical Race Studies
  • Film
100 Years Later: The Frankfurt School and the Now — a Symposium
July 14, 2023, 6:30pm (Friday)/10:30am (Saturday)
Dear Prudence: Anxiety, Influence, and Advice-Giving with Daniel M. Lavery
June 27, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Wendy Eisenberg
June 16, 2023, 7:00pm ET
2023 Annual Institute Social
June 03, 2023, 6:00-10:00pm ET
Cop City: Police, Protest, and Social Control
May 03, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Lucy Dhegrae—Music and Trauma
April 26, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Fellini Satyricon
April 14, 2023, 7:00pm ET
  • Film
Occasional Evenings: Life Is Everywhere—Lucy Ives in Conversation
March 23, 2023, 7:00pm ET
  • Literature
Sink: A Reading, Conversation, and Celebration with Joseph Earl Thomas
February 22, 2023, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
February 12, 2023, 3:00pm ET
  • Film
The Kafka Diaries: A Reading and Conversation with Translator Ross Benjamin
January 17, 2023, 7:00pm EST
  • Kafka
  • Literature
  • Translation
Late Light Launch Party
November 17, 2022, 7:00pm ET
Practical Criticism: Listening Party and Live Recording—Dark Side of the Moon
November 04, 2022, 7:00pm EST
  • Music
  • Pink Floyd
  • Practical Criticism
Occasional Evenings: One Year of Solitude—Franco Galvão in Concert
October 07, 2022, 7:00pm ET
Virology: a Reading, Conversation, and Celebration with Joseph Osmundson
September 21, 2022, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Back-to-School Film Screening—Heathers
September 16, 2022, 7:00pm EST
  • Film
  • Mass Violence
  • Teen Comedy
Occasional Evenings: The Last Emperor
July 06, 2022, 7:00pm ET
10th Anniversary Institute Social
June 04, 2022, 7:00pm-12:00am ET
Occasional Evenings: Metropolis
May 06, 2022, 7:00pm EST
  • Expressionism
  • Film
  • Weimar
History, Narration, and Memory: Storytelling and Passover
April 06, 2022, 7:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: Dream of the Divided Field – Yanyi in Conversation
April 05, 2022, 7:00pm EST
Afrofuturism Radio
March 27, 2022, 2:00-6:00pm ET
Space is the Place: a Screening and Panel Discussion
March 26, 2022, 4:00pm ET
Occasional Evenings: My Mis-Education in 3 Graphics – a Film Screening and Discussion
March 18, 2022, 7:00pm EST
  • Economics
  • Film
Perpetual Crisis: Contemporary Geopolitics in Context
March 16, 2022, 3:00pm EST
The Arabian Nights and its Afterlives: Yasmine Seale in Conversation
November 23, 2021, 1:00pm
Hannah Arendt: Samantha Rose Hill in Conversation with Skye Cleary and Madeleine Thien
November 11, 2021, 7:00pm
Thomas Mann: Art, Politics, and Exile
November 10, 2021, 7:00pm EST
The Apocalypse and the End of History: a Book Launch and Discussion
September 09, 2021, 7:00pm EST
Violence, Gender, and Psychoanalysis: Jacqueline Rose in Conversation
July 14, 2021, 5:00pm British Summer Time/12pm Eastern Time
The City and the Stakes: the NYC Mayoral Race
June 03, 2021, 7:00pm EST
Fifth Annual (Outdoor) Institute Social
May 22, 2021, 3:00pm-7:00pm
120 Minutes (or so) on the First 120 Days: Biden and the Left
May 19, 2021, 6:30pm ET
Ambivalence and Revolution: Shostakovich, Grossman, and Soviet Art Under Stalin
April 22, 2021, 6:30pm ET
Atlanta-America-Asia: Examining Anti-Asian Hate — a Teach-In and Discussion
April 19, 2021, 6:00pm ET
The Life of the Mind: a Reading, Conversation, and Celebration with Christine Smallwood
April 01, 2021, 7:00pm EST
Film Screening: Harun Farocki’s Images of the World and the Inscription of War
March 29, 2021, 7:00pm ET
Comics and Popular Culture: a Conversation with Abraham Riesman and Michael Tisserand
March 24, 2021, 7:00pm EST
Who Needs a Worldview? Raymond Geuss in Conversation
February 28, 2021, 2:00pm ET
BISR Docent: Moran Kliger’s Cain
January 21, 2021, 6:00pm ET
  • art
  • Religious Studies
BISR Docent: Art, Sound, and Musical Instruments
November 15, 2020, 7:00pm EST
The Election Returns: a Discussion and All-Night Watch Party
November 03, 2020, 7:30pm EST
The Overdetermined Election: a Live Podcast Recording
October 29, 2020, 7:30pm EST
BISR Live: Poetry, Criticism, and the Calamity Form
October 25, 2020, 7:00pm
Empire in Crisis: a Teach-In and Symposium on U.S Imperialism Today
October 22, 2020, 11:00am-6pm EST
BISR Docent: the Bloomsbury Group
August 09, 2020, 7:00-9:00pm EST
From Racial Capitalism to Prison Abolitionism: a BISR Teach-In
June 26, 2020, 12-6PM (EST)
Fourth Annual Institute Social
Date(s) to be announced soon.
Beethoven and Beyond: a Symposium
Date(s) to be announced soon.
Occasional Evenings: The Rules of the Game
February 16, 2020, 6:30-9:30pm
Capital, Finance, and the Climate Crisis: a Teach-In and Discussion
February 09, 2020, 3:00-6:00pm
A Night of Philosophy & Ideas
February 01, 2020, 7:00pm-7:00am
  • Philosophy
Occasional Evenings: Winter’s Nick – Poetry for a New Decade
January 08, 2020, 7:00-9:00pm
  • Poetry
Occasional Evenings: Lacy Rose and her Starling Quartet
November 13, 2019, 7:00-9:00pm
Walter Benjamin: The Storyteller
October 10, 2019, 7:00-9:00pm
Occasional Evenings: Amadeus
October 07, 2019, 7:00-10:00pm
CELEBRATION: a Screening and Director’s Q&A
October 02, 2019, 7:00-9:00pm
The Leader: Marx as Anime
July 27, 2019, 3-7pm
  • Anime
  • Film
  • Marxism
Third Annual Institute Social
May 18, 2019, 7:30pm-12:30am
The Silence of Others: a Screening and Panel Discussion
May 09, 2019, 6:30-9:00pm
  • Film
  • politics
Yanyi’s “The Year of Blue Water”: a Reading, Conversation, and Celebration
April 30, 2019, 7:00-8:30pm
  • Poetry
The Crisis of Contemporary Capitalism: Oliver Nachtwey in Conversation
April 16, 2019, 7:00-9:00pm
Ethics after Postmodernism: a Symposium
March 20, 2019, 11:30am-4pm
  • Philosophy
  • politics
#LaborTalks: Ecology, Community, Prosperity – a Conversation with Eliza Griswold
February 28, 2019, 6:30-9:00pm
  • Ecology
  • Economics
A Night of Philosophy & Ideas
February 02, 2019, 7:00pm-7:00am
  • Philosophy
#LaborTalks: America Unaffordable – a Conversation with Alissa Quart
December 13, 2018, 6:30-9:00pm
Identity and Nationalism: From Kant to Contemporary America
October 23, 2018, 6:00-8:00pm
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory
  • politics
BISR Community Drinks
October 20, 2018, 3:00-6:00pm
The Queer Left: American Homo Book Release
October 18, 2018, 7:00-9:30pm
  • Queer and Gender Studies
The Fall that Wasn’t: a Decade Since the Financial Crisis
September 27, 2018, 7:00-9:00pm
  • Economics
  • Political Economy
  • politics
Unnatural Disaster: Puerto Rico One Year after Hurricane Maria
September 13, 2018, 6:30-8:30pm
  • politics
  • Post-colonialism
  • Puerto Rico
Theory on the Radio
July 29, 2018, 1-4pm
  • Communication
  • Critical Theory
  • Media Studies
  • Technology
#LaborTalks: Labor, Neoliberalism, and the 1970s – a Conversation with Lane Windham
July 19, 2018, 6:30-9:00pm
  • History
  • politics
Borders, Migration, and Crisis: A Critical Conversation
July 06, 2018, 630-930PM
  • borders
  • History
  • immigration
  • migration
  • Political Economy
  • Political Theory
  • Social Theory
  • Sociology
Religion in the Age of Mass Politics
May 31, 2018, 6:00-8:00pm
  • politics
  • religion
Second Annual Institute Social
May 19, 2018, 8pm-12am
Marx Now: A Symposium
May 05, 2018,
The Young Karl Marx
May 01, 2018, 7:00-10:00pm
Dire States: A Live Podcast Recording and State of the Union Watch Party
January 30, 2018, 7:00-10:00pm
A Night of Philosophy & Ideas
January 27, 2018, 7:00pm-7:00am
  • Philosophy
#LaborTalks – “Democracy in Chains”: a Conversation with Nancy MacLean
December 11, 2017, 6:30-9pm
  • History
  • politics
Seeing Red: On the Centenary of the Russian Revolution
October 12, 2017, 6:30-9:00PM
  • Podcast
  • Russian Revolution
Book Launch: Threads From the Refugee Crisis
September 19, 2017, 7:00-9:00pm
BISR Community Drinks
June 18, 2017, 4-6pm
First Annual Institute Social
May 20, 2017, 8pm - 12am
#LaborTalks: “War against War” – A Conversation with Michael Kazin
May 11, 2017, 7-9pm
#LaborTalks2 – “Necessary Trouble”: A Conversation with Sarah Jaffe  
April 26, 2017, 7-9 pm
#LaborTalks: “Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire” – A Conversation with Ruth Sergel
March 15, 2017, 7-9pm
BISR Public Conversations: Uses of Poetry
February 02, 2017, 7-10pm
  • Poetry
A Night of Philosophy
January 28, 2017, 7pm-7am
BISR Winter 2017 Orientation
January 22, 2017, 5-7pm
Left Labor Projects Presents: What Happened? What Now?
December 20, 2016, 6pm
What Rough Beast? Contending with Trumpism
December 07, 2016, 7:30-10pm
  • politics
Slouching Towards Election Day
October 19, 2016, 7-11pm
  • politics
Framing Terror: A Conversation on Masculinity, Religion, and Gun Violence
July 19, 2016, 7-9:00PM
Eichmann in Jerusalem: Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil
Days of Learning
Samantha Hill
May 08, 2016, 11am-6pm
  • Philosophy
  • Political Theory
Herman Melville, Bartleby, and the Literature of Wall Street
Days of Learning
Maeve Adams
January 24, 2016, 11am-6pm
  • Literature
Strategic Mapping: Surveillance and the Battlefield from ‘Radical Theory’ to ‘Facts on the Ground’
December 06, 2015, 11am-2pm
Media, Society, and Spying for the State: Transatlantic Reflections on Autonomy, Social Expression, and the Antinomies of Surveillance
December 06, 2015, 3-6pm
Surveillance, Biopolitics, and the City:Health, Foreign Bodies, Visibility, and Discipline
December 05, 2015, 4-7pm
Blade Runner: A Screening and Panel Discussion
November 07, 2015, 7-10pm
  • Media Studies
  • Science Studies
  • Technology
TEST DONATION EVENT
Donations
January 01, 1970,