In this edition of (In)secure Conversations, Thomas F. DeFrantz explores the terms of the Baroque as they have been mobilized by Deleuze and Glissant, as a framework for thinking through questions of elaboration and surface as structural aspects of performance and design. Deleuze and Glissant each approached the Baroque in their own way as a method for thinking about surface and the fold. This conversation explores the intersections between their perspectives, with particular attention to the ways in which contemporary Black creativity emerges as a Baroque possibility—one that moves across the aesthetics of identity to envision a shared field in which surface affect functions as structure.

Date: October 14, 2026

Location: FLUL Library, B 112.B

Organized by: Gisela Dória, Maíra Santos, and Gustavo Vicente