The event of an encounter is singular, unrepeatable and unpredictable. It marks not only a unique moment of temporary contact, but also the past and the future, makes them meaningful, defines them anew. Such an event is a moment of liberty, a feast, a revolution or a catastrophe - we should find again in order to become responsible for and to it.

This volume in itself consists of a network of encounters. The multiplicity of viewpoints, styles and modes of argumentation displays the ultimate aim of to form a discursive space where the notion of encounter is not only a theme among others but also a way of thinking.

"If art is the domain of the excessive - sensations and affects - it is by definition oriented towards its own supersaturated condition, the virtual. Art takes place as the site that thematizes itself as a site, a domain or a stage, but simultaneously collapses its unity by expressing qualities that migrate from other milieus. Art as derangement: actualized Nature opening up to the virtual forces of the Cosmos."