SYMPOSIA

The main focus of the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation thus far has been organizing and supporting a “Questioning Aesthetics Symposium” (QAS) series. Each QAS will explore, cultivate, and sustain new forms of transdisciplinary, international aesthetics research generated by contemporary art, new developments in aesthetics in other disciplines, social-political conditions, or other instigators. The QAS title reflects the dual roles of contemporary aesthetics as the subject and object of critical thinking about art, design, culture, nature, and beyond.

While many topics and people involved in the first iterations of the QAS series are included in the second edition of the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (Oxford University Press, 2014), the symposia have already expanded far beyond it.

So far, TAF has supported the following symposia (see PROGRAMS link or & VIDEOS link):

(1) QAS-Pratt Institute, September 19-20, 2014—“Conceptualism, Computing, Diaspora, Participation, Race, Improvisation”; co-organized with Gregg Horowitz, Pratt Institute; George Lewis, Columbia University; and Tom Huhn, School of Visual Arts; and co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Social Science and Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute; the School of Visual Arts; The Center for Jazz Studies and The Edwin H. Case Chair in American Music at Columbia University; and Oxford University Press. See PROGRAMS link for programs and posters; and VIDEOS link for recordings.

(2) QAS-Art Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, March 13, 2015—“When Is Art Participatory?” “When Is Computing Aesthetic?” & “When Is Art Contemporary?”—co-organized with Shannon Jackson and Whitney Davis; and co-sponsored by the Center for Art Research, the History of Art Department, and Dean Anthony Cascardi of the College of Letters & Science, University of California, Berkeley. See PROGRAMS link for programs and posters; and VIDEOS link for recordings.

(3) QAS-California Institute of the Arts, November 6-7, 2015—“When Is Art Political?”; co-organized with Arne DeBoever and Martin Plot. See PROGRAMS link for programs and posters; and VIDEOS link for recordings.

(4) Rhode Island School of Design, March 11-12, 2016—”Sustainability, Performance, Design & Ethics, Feminism, Law”; co-organized with Yuriko Saito. See PROGRAMS link for programs and posters; and VIDEOS link for recordings.

(5) California College of Art, in collaboration with the Open Engagement Conference, Oakland, April 28, 2016—“Prison Art & Aesthetics”; co-organized with Annabel Manning

(6) University College Dublin, in collaboration with the National College of Art and Design, May 12-13, 2016—“Transformations in Art, Bodies, Society”; co-organized with Maeve Cooke, Francis Halsall, and Danielle Petherbridge.

(7) NYU-Berlin, June 17-18, 2016—“Migratory Images and Images of Migration”; co-organized with Gregg Horowitz (Pratt Institute) and Karen Hornick (NYU); and co-sponsored by New York University Provost Global Research Initiatives; New York University/Berlin; the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University; Pratt Institute; and the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation.

(8) Hampshire College (Amherst, MA), March 31-April 1, 2017–“Black Aesthetics”; Co-organized with Monique Roelofs. Co-sponsored by Hampshire College, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the Five-College Lecture Fund, and the American Society for Aesthetics.

(9) La Virreina Centre de la Imatge, Barcelona, Spain, June 20-21, 2017–“Arts Research and Aesthetics.” Co-organized with Jessica Jaques, Gerard Vilar, and EINA, the Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Co-sponsored by the Fundació Banc de Sabadell and the Transdisciplinary Aesthetics Foundation.