Dr Alexei Penzin

Dr Alexei Penzin

Dr. Alexei Penzin received his PhD from the Institute of Philosophy of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. His research centres on contemporary interpretations of Marxist thought, continental philosophy and critical theory, contemporary art theory, and Soviet and post-Soviet intellectual and cultural history.

Penzin has published his research in numerous journal articles in such journals as Rethinking Marxism, Mediations, South Atlantic Quarterly, Manifesta Journal, e-flux journal, as well as in many edited collections. His essay ‘Rex Exsomnis’ (Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2012) was part of the dOCUMENTA13 series. Currently, he is preparing his book Sleep and Subjectivity in Capitalist Modernity, for publication by Bloomsbury Academic in 2020.

He has also presented papers and given lectures at many international conferences and academic and cultural venues, including Historical Materialism annual conferences, ‘Former West’ congresses, dOCUMENTA13 in Kassel, the Goethe Institute, Serpentine Gallery, Yale University, and the University of Oxford.

Research interests

Continental Philosophy, Philosophical Anthropology, Critical Theory, Aesthetics and Art Theory, Marxism, Theories of the Avant-garde; the phenomena of sleep and wakefulness in cultural, political and philosophical discourses of modernity; the Soviet and post-Soviet Studies.