David Kishik

David Kishik is the author of To Imagine a Form of Life, a series of paraphilosophical books: volume 1,  To Imagine a Language, is an examination of the axis around which Ludwig Wittgenstein’s evolving thought turns; volume 2, The Coming Politics, is a fragmentary investigation of the unitary power behind Giorgio Agamben’s work; volume 3, A Theory of a City, is an imaginary sequel to Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project, set in 20th-century New York; volume 4, On the Rest of the World, is a radical rereading of the opening chapters of Genesis, refitted for a post-secular world; volume 5, Notes to a Schizoid Self, is a work of autophilosophy that can be read as either the preface or postface of the complete series.

The current decade is dedicated to five works of lived philosophy: For Transcription (2021-2022), Kishik made a handwritten edition of his previously published books; in Conversion (2023-2024), he defaced coins and exchanged them for real ones; for Education (2025-2026), he taught a class about being in class. These will be followed by Circumnavigation (2027-2028) and Transmission (2029-2030).

In addition, Kishik translated, from Italian, two of Agamben’s essay collections: Nudities and What Is an Apparatus? Some of his shorter pieces appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Lapham’s Quarterly, 3:A.M. Magazine, Public Seminar, and Alaxon. As a performer he appeared in Netta Yerushalmy’s Paramodernities.

Previously, Kishik was a fellow at the ICI Berlin Institute for Cultural Inquiry. At Emerson he received the Miller Award for Outstanding Teaching, the Alumni Award for Teaching Innovation, and the Huret Award for Faculty Excellence.