Nicholas Mirzoeff

The Conference of Birds: A Counter-History of Ecocide

This presentation reveals a counter to the ongoing ecocide by way of the imagined conference of birds, and its actually-existing airborne counterpart, the murmuration. It draws on  a millennium-long tradition, extending from the medieval poets Attar and Chaucer; via the revolutionaries Rosa Luxemburg and Peter Kropotkin; to contemporary artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Ghana, Iran, Palestine and the US. In this antemodern way of seeing, the road to human freedom is a three-dimensional non-hierarchical convivial democracy, created by birds.

Nicholas Mirzoeff is professor and chair in the department of media, culture and communication at NYU. Among his many publications are: White Sight: Visual Politics and Practices of Whiteness (MIT, 2023) and To See In the Dark: Palestine and Visual Activism Since October 7th (Pluto, 2025). He has written for the Guardian, The Nation and the New York Times. Originally a Londoner, he lives in New York City with his partner Kathleen and their dog Oliver.

Co-presented by the Stephen E. Ostrow Distinguished Visitors in the Visual Arts Series and the Greenberg Distinguished Scholar Program. Free and open to the public.

Events

Established on the occasion of Reed's centennial with a gift from Dan Greenberg ’62 and his wife and philanthropic partner Susan Steinhauser, the Greenberg Distinguished Scholar Program aims to bring visiting scholars to campus to support the work of students and provide faculty with the opportunity for in-depth intellectual exchange with a prominent member in their field.

Events sponsored by the Greenberg Distinguished Scholar Program.

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