2012 Conferences

Conference and Art Exhibition on Pragmatist Aesthetics / L’art à l’état vif

The Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne held a one-day conference, on May 25th, 2012, to mark the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Richard Shusterman’s Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), simultaneously published as L’art à l’état vif: la pensée pragmatiste et l’esthétique populaire by Minuit in Paris. The title of the conference is: "Pragmatist Aesthetics: 20 years later"/"L’art à l’état vif: 20 ans après."

To accompany the conference and trace the impact of Shusterman’s work not only in aesthetics, philosophy, and the human sciences but also in contemporary art, the Sorbonne will also be organizing an art show. The exhibition, from May 24th through June 6th, 2012 at the Michel Journiac Gallery in Paris, is entitled "AESTHETIC TRANSACTIONS: Art et philosophie à l’état vif" or in English "AESTHETIC TRANSACTIONS: Pragmatist Philosophy through Art and Life." It is curated by Richard Shusterman and includes seven artists with whom he has worked: Luca Del Baldo (Italy); Carsten Höller (Sweden); ORLAN (France); Pan, Gongkai (China); Thecla Schiphorst (Canada); Tatiana Trouvé (France); and Yann Toma (France). At the opening of the exhibition there will be a live performance of the interactive, wearable artwork Tendrils, embodied by Jinsil Seo, the co-creator, with Thecla Schiphorst, of this piece.

The Michel Journiac Gallery is located at 47, rue des Bergers, 75015 Paris; Métro: Lourmel or Charles Michelis; www.galeriemicheljourniac.sup.fr. Barbara Formis and David Zerbib are providing organizational and curatorial assistance in Paris.

The conference will be held at the Amphitheatre of the Sorbonne’s adjacent Centre Saint Charles, 47-53, rue des Bergers, 75015 Paris.  The entire project is led by Richard Conte (professor of art and director of the UMR ACTE, U.F.R. 04, Arts Plastiques et Sciences de l’Art, Université Paris 1 ‒ Panthéon Sorbonne) and by Barbara Formis (Maître de Conférences en Esthétique et Philosophie de l’Art, U.F.R. 04, Arts Plastiques et Sciences de l’Art, Université Paris 1 ‒ Panthéon Sorbonne)

Conference speakers will include the exhibited artists (in a panel discussion) and philosophers such as Jean-Pierre Cometti (France) Peng Feng (China), Matthias Girel, (France), Roberto Frega, Giovanni Matteucci, and Salvatore Tedesco (Italy), Sandra Laugier (France), as well as scholars of aesthetics, literature, and the social sciences such as Wojciech Malecki (Poland), Spyros Franguiadakis (France), Chantal Pontbriand (Britain), and Jacinto Lageira (France). The project leaders from the Sorbonne – Barbara Formis and Richard Conte – will give opening talks and Richard Shusterman will provide a concluding lecture.

This twofold project is organized by the Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Faculty of Arts Plastiques et Sciences de l’Art (UMR ACTE, Arts ‒ Créations ‒ Théories ‒ Esthétiques). French institutional partners in the project include the Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne, Faculty of Philosophy (Equipe de recherche Philosophies Contemporaines) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure d’Ulm: Centre International de Recherches en Philosophie, Lettres, Savoirs. The project is also supported by other international partners: Peking University’s Center for Aesthetics and Aesthetic Education; China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing); and Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.

For updated details on this conference and art exhibition, click here.

Mindful Body in Healing and the Arts. The Center for Body, Mind and Culture hosted a 2-day conference, January 19th-20th, 2012, with keynote speaker, Anne Harrington, Harvard University, author of "The Cure Within". Regarding the body as sentient, purposive subjectivity (rather than mere physical flesh), the conference focused on ways that somatic mindfulness can contribute to health, healing, and aesthetic experience. Presentations dealt with disciplines of mindful body consciousness (Asian and Western) and their applications in the areas of wellness, fitness, and the arts.