THE WORK OF ART IN POST-HUMAN TIMES
Workshop on Aesthetics
by
Brunella Antomarini
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner
Programme: AESTHETICS WORKSHOP 2018new1
Saturday September 8, 2018, John Cabot University in Rome
On behalf of the Department of History and the Humanities of John Cabot University Rome, JCU philosophy professors Brunella Antomarini and Stefan Lorenz Sorgner organize a one-day workshop which focuses on a new aesthetics as it is defined and made possible by emerging technologies.
Artists using biotechnological, digital, electronic or robotic tools to manipulate natural or artificial objects appear to create a new kind of art, which is neither gratuitous as “art for art’s sake” used to be, nor it is functional or instrumental to other disciplines. What makes scholars committed to reflect upon this emergent artistic field is the awareness of a significant transition to a new paradigm that does not consider the “human” (in its various types) as a fulcrum of artistic expression. Here, is where the notion of the “posthuman” becomes relevant.
The concept “posthuman” refers to a great variety of related reflections. The concept has come up within transhumanism as well as in critical posthumanism. In both discourses and traditions it has something to do with the impact of emerging technologies. However, it also has a great variety of meanings within the two traditions. It can either refer to a further developed human being as well as to a new understanding of human beings as non-dualist entities. In this way, the concept “posthuman” seems to be specific, but at the same time it refers to many different meanings with which the concept is associated.
The workshop will be an interactive and experimental event showing the in-progress character of these emergent perspectives. It will include artistic, social and philosophical contributions on “THE WORK OF ART IN POST-HUMAN TIMES”.
Keynote speaker: Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Director of Museo di Rivoli, Torino:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Christov-Bakargiev
Where?: John Cabot University, Via della Lungara, 233, 00165 Roma RM
When?: Saturday the 8th of September 2018 from 1 pm until 9 pm.
Sponsorship: The event is co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Humanities and the Department of Communications of John Cabot University Rome: https://www.johncabot.edu/
Please contact Prof. Sorgner, if you are interested in attending the event: www.sorgner.de
Papers on this and other topics concerning the posthuman can be submitted to the first Academic journal dedicated to the posthuman, the Journal of Posthuman Studies, which is being published by Penn State University Press since 2017: http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_JPHS.html