Here is the call for papers for 2018 IAA interim meeting conference that is hosted by the Finnish Society of Aesthetics at Aalto University. I am organizing a special session on "Enviromental Aesthetics", see directions for participation below. Looking forward to the event!
CFP, International Assocation for Aesthetics (IAA)
MARGINS, FUTURES AND TASKS OF AESTHETICS July 5–7 2018 | Aalto University | Helsinki/Espoo, Finland
Organizers: International Association for Aesthetics, The Finnish Society of Aesthetics & The Department of Art at Aalto University
Invited Keynotes:
Yuriko Saito (Rhode Island School of Design) Elisabetta di Stefano (University of Palermo) Jack Halberstam (Columbia University)
Department Keynotes: Ossi Naukkarinen & Kevin Tavin
Aesthetics is a marginal discipline. We often have to defend its existence in departments, where the main focus is on literature, philosophy or art history. It is not surprising that the margins of aesthetics have not been thoroughly discussed. What are the schools of philosophical thinking or the methodologies we haven’t yet turned enough of our attention to? Who and where are the outsiders who will, in the long run, leave an interesting trace on the profession?
The aforementioned questions are of course future-oriented. The future of aesthetics has been discussed in various conferences and books. Aesthetics in them is still often seen as more autonomic that it actually is institutionally speaking. What if the future of our discipline was more about collaboration with other disciplines? What are the research topics of future aesthetics? What kind of challenges and possibilities does the changing world pose upon aesthetics? How does aesthetics react, for example, to the increasing pervasiveness of technology or to the challenges of climate change?
This role, task or maybe even responsibility aesthetics could take up is of course quite pedagogical to some extent. How to distribute the vast knowledge of philosophy of art to disciplines and practices which could have more use of aesthetic theory? And what could aesthetics itself learn from other disciplines, which actually use aesthetic theory in their own way: cultural geography, media studies and art education are examples of disciplines where aesthetics already has a role, but often in a practical way, in a way which differs from what professional aestheticians think of as aesthetics. Could aesthetics find new strategies for survival in the changing academic world through new interactions and could those interactions broaden the scope and community of aesthetics itself?
We aspire to bring together different ways of approaching aesthetics, using aesthetics and being in dialogue with theories of aesthetics, and invite anyone interested in these issues to send an abstract (max 200 words) to us no later than 15.1.2018 (aesthetics@aalto.fi).
The selection of abstracts will take place no later than January 31. The accepted participants will get information about hotels, spaces and other practicalities no later than March 15. The deadline for the fee is May 15 and the final schedule will be published in the end of May. The fee of the conference is 160€ (PhD students / unemployed 80 €). The fee includes a lunch on each day of the conference and coffee during the breaks. There will be a separate conference dinner (cost not included) organized for those who are interested in it (50€).
Note: The conference hosts three special sessions. 1) Rediscovering Russian Aesthetics, organized by the Russian Society of Aesthetics. 2) A separate track for the session on Environmental Aesthetics. For this one: please send abstracts with an e-mail titled ”ICA2018: Environmental Aesthetics” directly to sanna.t.lehtinen@helsinki.fi if you are interested to present a paper in this session. (The proposals should otherwise follow the general instructions. N.B. The papers sent for the special track might become accepted also in the general sessions.) 3) There will be a session dedicated to traditional Indian Aesthetics, chaired by S. Bhuvaneshwari. If you are interested to send an abstract to this session: please use the normal mailing address (aesthetics@aalto.fi), but write “Indian Aesthetics” in the subject area.
The organizers:
International Association for Aesthetics: http://iaaesthetics.org/ Finnish Society for Aesthetics: http://www.estetiikka.fi/introduction The Department of Art at Aalto University’s School of Art, Design and Architecture: http://taide.aalto.fi/en/about_new/