Dieter Lesage

(b. 1966) is a Belgian philosopher, writer and critic. He studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain (Leuven, B) (1984-1988) and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (F) (1988-1990). In 1993 he obtained his Ph.D. at the Institute of Philosophy in Louvain. Dieter Lesage was a research-assistant at the National Fund for Scientific Research (B) (1989-1993), a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Louvain (1993-1995), a scientific attaché at the Center for European Culture of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and the Arts of Belgium (1994), a cultural policy advisor to the Secretary of the Flemish Parliament (1996), a visiting professor at the Piet Zwart Institute of the Willem De Kooning Academie (Hogeschool Rotterdam, NL) (2003-2005) and full-time visiting professor at the Institut für Kulturtheorie of the Leuphana Universität Lüneburg (D) during the summer semester 2007, with a Eurolecture grant from the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. (Hamburg). Dieter Lesage is a Lecturer and Research Coordinator at the Department of Audiovisual and Performing Arts Rits (Erasmushogeschool Brussels, B) and Member of the Editorial Board of Afterall. A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry (London-Los Angeles). He is the author of Het lijk van de componist. Over John Zorn, (De dans verschriftelijkt), Leuven, Klapstuk, 1993 [The Composer’s Corpse. On John Zorn], Namen als gezichten. Essay over de faam, Leuven, Peeters, 1996 [Names like Faces. Essay on Fame]; Onzuivere gedachten. Over het Vlaanderen van de Minister-President, Antwerpen, Dedalus, 1996 [Impure Thoughts. On the Minister-President’s Flanders]; Zwarte gedachten. Over België, Antwerpen, Dedalus, 1998 [Black Thoughts. On Belgium]; Peut-on encore jouer Hamlet?, (traduit du néerlandais par Monique Nagielkopf), Paris, Les Impressions Nouvelles, 2002 [Can one still play Hamlet?]; Vertoog over verzet. Politiek in tijden van globalisering, Amsterdam/Antwerpen, Meulenhoff/Manteau, 2004 [Discourse on Resistance. Politics in the times of globalisation]; A Portrait of the Artist as a DJ. Notes on Ina Wudtke, Brussels, VdH Books, 2007. He is a co-editor, with Anne Morelli and Ludo Dierickx, of Racisme: een element in het conflict tussen Vlamingen en Franstaligen? / Racisme: élément du conflit Flamands/francophones?, Antwerpen/Bruxelles, 1997 [Racism: an element in the conflict between Flemish and French-speaking Belgians?]; with Herman Asselberghs, of Het museum van de natie. Van kolonialisme tot globalisering, Brussel, Yves Gevaert, 1999 [The nation’s museum. From colonialism to globalisation]; with Jan Blommaert, Eric Corijn and Marc Holthof, of Populisme, Berchem, EPO, 2004 [Populism]; and with Kathrin Busch, of A Portrait of the Artist as a Researcher. The Academy and the Bologna Process, Antwerp, MuHKA, 2007. He currently collaborates on Herman Asselberghs' film project After Empire. Dieter Lesage lives in Berlin.