Weirdosphere

Events

Weird Academia Symposium

Expanding ways of understanding human life within the academy.

January 26-29, 2026
Indiana University, Bloomington
Hosted by IU professors Jacob Foster and Phil Ford
With J. F. Martel, Canadian author and philosopher, Erik Davis, American author and public intellectual, Jeffrey J. Kripal, American professor of philosophy and religious thought, Rice University and Catherine (Cat) Hobaiter, British-Lebanese primatologist, University of St Andrews.
Visit https://www.possibleminds.org/weird-academia for details.

This event starts January 26.

Solstice Story Hour

A reading of M. R. James’ “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”

with J. F. Martel, Pierre-Yves Martel and Phil Ford

PLEASE NOTE: This event concluded on Dec 21, 2025. Registering for an event after its conclusion grants you access to the video recording.

Weirdosphere’s second annual spectral celebration of the solstice began with J. F. and Phil doing a live reading of M. R. James’ ghost story “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad,” with musical accompaniment by Pierre-Yves. Following the reading, Phil and J. F. had a discussion.

This event concluded on December 21, 2025.

The Vanished Flower

How Personal Taste Models the Infinite

with Emma Stamm

The Vanished Flower explores what we call taste and dives into the mystery of taste as a way of thinking philosophically across theaters of social, political, and technological exchange.

This event concluded on September 4, 2025.

Creature Features In an Anxious Age

How pop culture monsters mythologize our worries about sexuality, nuclear war, race, and the other.

with Peter Bebergal

Creature Features In an Anxious Age traces the changing face of monsters as mythic and literary creatures and argues that we need monsters to learn how to imagine what frightens us in a way that remythologizes our anxieties and offers a path for re-enchanting our imaginations.

This event concluded on June 20, 2025.

What Is ‘Idiology’?

Art and Politics in the 21st Century.

with J. F. Martel

In this presentation, J.F. examines how Reclaiming Art’s central ideas intersect with the political landscape of the 21st century. He argues that art—like the Alps—is fundamentally apolitical, yet it exerts profound political effects. The title’s neologism, “idiology,” refers to the figure of the idiot in Dostoevsky’s sense: a person who sees through ideology into the Real.

This event concluded on May 22, 2025.

Dada Watch Party

An exclusive screening of Aaron Poole’s “Dada” on Weirdosphere.

with Aaron Poole

Join us for an exclusive screening event of writer-director Aaron Poole’s feature film “Dada” on Weirdosphere.

This event concluded on February 1, 2025.