GCAS Florence Seminars and Commencement
May 8–16, 2026
Nine Days of Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Art, and Collective Reflection
In May 2026, GCAS returns to Florence for seminars, commencement, conversations, lectures, and collective study led by some of the most compelling thinkers working today. Set against the backdrop of Florence’s Renaissance streets and intimate intellectual spaces, this event brings together scholars, artists, researchers, and members of the public who wish to think deeply about our shared present—and the futures still possible.
Across nine days, participants will engage in morning and afternoon seminars, shared meals, evening dialogues, and a commencement ceremony on May 10. Each seminar approaches the crises and openings of our time through a unique lens: breathing and its negation; poetry as refusal; the infinite power of energy; anarchism and art; psychoanalysis and Buddhism; and postmodernism’s strange afterlives.
Who Should Attend
These seminars are open to GCAS students, scholars across disciplines, artists, writers, activists, and members of the public who want to take part in a rare gathering of intellectual life in one of Europe’s most historic cities. No previous academic affiliation is required—only curiosity, openness, and a willingness to think collectively. If you are planning on attending please complete the registration form below.
Alain Badiou gave GCAS’s first in-person seminar back in 2014.
Featured Seminars & Faculty
If you can’t make it to Florence in person you can take the courses live and online via Zoom (see below).
Jamieson Webster — “On Not Breathing”
Based on her new book Breathing, this seminar explores the limits, ruptures, and paradoxes of respiration as a psychological, political, and existential act. Webster examines what it means to breathe—and to fail to breathe—in a world shaped by anxiety, suffocation, and the pressures of living.
Franco “Bifo” Berardi — “The Last Word: Poetry as Desertion from History”
Bifo turns to poetry, writing, and art in a moment he describes as an irredeemable human defeat. What is the use of words when history itself feels exhausted? Through Orwell and Henry Miller’s 1936 encounter and the fading ideal of political engagement, Bifo reimagines poetry as an act of desertion—an exit from the violence of history toward another mode of life, sensibility, and imagination.
Clayton Crockett — “Energy and Change”
Drawing from his book, Crockett examines the philosophical and political dimensions of energy—material, psychic, and planetary. The seminar explores how transformations in energy underlie contemporary crises, from ecological collapse to spiritual exhaustion, and asks how thought itself might become a form of energetic resistance.
Francisco Gonzalez — “The impossibility of Anarchist Art”
In this seminar, González develops themes from his work on anarchism and aesthetics. Participants will rethink “the concept of Art” as a capitalist concept, exploring how, if anarchism opposes all illegitimate authority, “anarchist art” is a contradiction. The option: practices and political-artistic becoming.
Mario D’Amato — “The Nirvana Principle: Psychoanalysis and Buddhism”
In Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle he uses the term “the Nirvana Principle” to describe the biological/psychological tendency towards the reduction of all stimulus or tension. The term is aptly chosen. Is it not the case after all that nirvāṇa is described in the Buddhist tradition as a cessation, a release of pain, etc.? This seminar will examine these connections.
Barry Taylor — “Memento Mythos: Remembering Postmodernism”
Taylor revisits the rise and fall of postmodernism: its myths, ironies, excesses, and forgotten insights. In an age defined by fragmentation, acceleration, and contradictory truths, the seminar asks what postmodernism still offers—and what it obscured.
Florence Schedule
All in-person participants are required to complete a registration form.
Online Options
If you can’t make it to Florence in person you can take the courses live online via Zoom. Enroll by 1 January and save 50%.
May 8, 9, 11, 12
Based on her new book Breathing, this seminar explores the limits, ruptures, and paradoxes of respiration as a psychological, political, and existential act. Webster examines what it means to breathe—and to fail to breathe—in a world shaped by anxiety, suffocation, and the pressures of living.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.
May 8, 9, 11, 12
Bifo turns to poetry, writing, and art in a moment he describes as an irredeemable human defeat. What is the use of words when history itself feels exhausted? Through Orwell and Henry Miller’s 1936 encounter and the fading ideal of political engagement, Bifo reimagines poetry as an act of desertion—an exit from the violence of history toward another mode of life, sensibility, and imagination.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.
May 8, 9, 11, 12
Drawing from his book by the same name, Crockett examines the philosophical and political dimensions of energy—material, psychic, and planetary. The seminar explores how transformations in energy underlie contemporary crises, from ecological collapse to spiritual exhaustion, and asks how thought itself might become a form of energetic resistance.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May 2026. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.
May 13, 14, 15, 16
In this seminar, González develops themes from his work on anarchism and aesthetics. Participants will rethink “the concept of Art” as a capitalist concept, exploring how, if anarchism opposes all illegitimate authority, “anarchist art” is a contradiction. The option: practices and political-artistic becoming.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May 2026. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.
May 13, 14, 15, 16
This seminar brings together psychoanalysis and Buddhist thought, probing the intersections of desire, suffering, consciousness, and liberation. D’Amato offers a rigorous yet accessible pathway into a comparative framework that unsettles assumptions about selfhood, attachment, and awakening.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May 2026. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.
May 13, 14, 15, 16
Taylor revisits the rise and fall of postmodernism: its myths, ironies, excesses, and forgotten insights. In an age defined by fragmentation, acceleration, and contradictory truths, the seminar asks what postmodernism still offers—and what it obscured.
You will be invited to sit in on this GCAS seminar via Zoom. See the schedule on this page for the time and date in May 2026. Once you enroll you will be added to the Canvas platform on which you can access the course materials.
Here is the link to the GCAS Handbook— which all enrolled participants must agree to in order to take this course.
Please note that by signing up for this online course, you won't earn ECTS credits. If you need ECTS credits, please note that further fees will occur and that you need to hand in assignments to earn the credits. If you need credits, please reach out to academics@gcas.ie.