Call for abstracts: Atmospheres of Places, Objects and Events
A conference at the University of Genoa, 20-21 November 2024
A joint conference with the PRIN-PNRR Project “Atmospheres (ATMOS): What They Are and How They are Grasped” (PI: Prof. Elvira Di Bona, University of Turin)
In recent years, the general interest in ecological processes has reconfigured the concept of "atmosphere" - one of the most original of the nature and landscape aesthetics of the 1990s. Questioning environmental perception, the cognition of situated, relational, expressive properties of objects, bodily movement through space and sensorimotor, technological aspects of ambiences, this conference on the meaning of atmospheres seeks to determine what atmospheres are and how they can be grasped. The ATMOS project invites scholars to clarify and artists, practitioners, and professionals to explore often ambiguous, subject-oriented definitions of atmospheres while attempting a comprehensive understanding of how atmospheres characterize places, objects, and events.
Research questions for papers may include but are not limited to:
1. Which range of perceptive phenomena can atmospheres explain?
2. How do atmospheres fit in the broader fields of nature aesthetics, environmental aesthetics and philosophy of landscape?
3. How do they help determine perception of places, i.e., situatedness, human/nonhuman continuity, perception of localities and geo-socialities as well as large-scale, geological, geomorphic, climatic phenomena?
4. Which role do atmospheres play within the philosophical inquiry on perception? How do they reconfigure debates on empathy?
5. On the subjective side, are atmospheres emotional representations of places, site-specific Stimmungen or affective tonalities, spatialized feelings, mood-involved situations, mind-dependent feelings/processes, quasi-things?
6. On the objective side, are atmospheres high-level perceptual properties of objects, such as gender properties in voice, melodies and harmonies in music and linguistic meaning, or are they low-level properties, such as colour and shape?
7. How can atmospheres be grasped transmodally?
8. Which quantitative components can be defined next to qualitative components such as colour, light, sound, smell, taste, touch and sensorimotor inputs?
9. How do atmospheric events involve the dimensions of appreciability, causality, and affordance?
10. How do atmospheres characterize events by immediacy and wholeness?
11. What role do atmospheres play in the aesthetic appreciation of architecture?
The conference is paired with a twin conference on the “Philosophy of Architecture" to be held in the same venue on 18-19 November.
Invited speakers:
Marta Benenti (University of Murcia), Elisabetta Canepa (University of Genoa), Lisa Giombini (University of Roma Tre), Elena Mancioppi (University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo), Paola Sabbion (University of Genoa) and Alberto Voltolini (University of Turin).
Please submit proposals by writing to both:
• Dr. Luca Marchetti: luca.marchetti@edu.unige.it
• Dr. Mariaenrica Giannuzzi: mariaenrica.giannuzzi@unito.it
Submissions should be done as PDF files prepared for blind review.
Please submit abstracts between 500 and 1000 words (references excluded) together with a title and 3 keywords.
The deadline for receipt is June, 30 2024.
Speakers will be notified of decisions by July 31, 2024.
Call for abstracts: Philosophy of Architecture
A conference at the University of Genova, 18-19 November 2024
Throughout the history of philosophy, architecture has not received as much attention as other art forms. Even in contemporary aesthetics architecture is less discussed compared to pictures, fictions or music. This conference seeks to change that. We invite architects, historians of architecture and philosophers to discuss the main theoretical and aesthetic issues concerning architecture.
Research questions for papers may include but are not limited to:
• What defines architecture as an art form?
• What are architectural objects, and how are they different from other artifacts?
• What kinds of things are architectural works? Are they best understood as physical objects, as structures of space, or as something else entirely?
• Why are some buildings considered forms of art while others are not?
• Should we identify the work of architecture with the concrete building or with the abstract plan?
• What principles govern the design of works of architecture?
• Are there unique architectural properties, as suggested by the traditional trio of structural integrity (firmitas), beauty, and utility?
• What’s the appropriate experience for a work of architecture? What role do perceptual experiences play in our appreciation of architecture? What role do non-perceptual experiences, such as agentive phenomenology, cognitive phenomenology, or mental imagery, play in our appreciation of architecture?
• What’s the aesthetic relevance of the relationship between the work of architecture and the environment that surrounds it?
• How digital technologies may change the practice of architecture?
• Is the traditional form vs function program still alive? How do function and utility shape the meaning and value of architectural works?
• How does architecture fit within the broader system of the arts?
The conference is paired with a twin conference on the “Atmospheres of Places, Objects and Events” to be held in the same venue on 20-21 November.
Invited Speakers:
Remei Capdevila-Werning (Harvard University)
Mario Carpo (Bartlett, University College London/University of Applied Arts, Vienna)
Saul Fisher (Mercy University)
Robert Hopkins (New York University)
Please submit proposals by writing to: pea@unige.it
Submissions should be done as PDF files prepared for blind review.
Please submit abstracts between 500 and 1000 words (references excluded) together with a title and 3 keywords.
The deadline for receipt is June 30, 2024.
Speakers will be notified of decisions by July 31, 2024.
There will be no conference fees. It will be possible to apply for bursaries.
Call for abstracts: Forms of Experience and the System of the Arts
A philosophy conference at the Università di Genova, 22-24 May 2024
The arts have often been studied in relation to ‘aesthetic experience’, however, it is possible that an over-reliance on the notion of ‘aesthetic’ obscures the myriad ways in which different types of art relate to different types of experience. By analysing and connecting the concept of art and the concept of experience this conference aims to produce a revised and reconsidered account of ‘the system of the arts’. Its working hypothesis is that the variety of the forms of experience can help us to understand how different arts can be unified in a system as well as their specificities within that system.
Research questions for papers may include but are not limited to:
• What notion of experience is best suited to explain our responses to art.
• Do we really need ‘the aesthetic’ to characterise experiential responses to art?
• Can we classify forms of art on the basis of the experiences they elicit?
• What role do non-perceptual experiences –such as agentive phenomenology, cognitive phenomenology, or mental imagery– play in our appreciation and classification of artworks?
• Is the traditional distinction between arts of space and arts of time be elucidated by thinking about temporal and spatial experience.
• How can recent work in philosophy of experience allow us to modify/augment the idea of a ‘system of the arts’ so that it can better accommodate more contemporary forms of art (e.g. conceptual art, mass art)?
• Can a focus on experience help us to determine the similarities and differences between works of art and technical artifacts?
• How can reflection on the sorts of experience generated by a form of art aid us in situating that artform within the system of the arts?
• Is the notion of the system of the arts still relevant to aesthetics? Given the varieties of forms of art, can the notion of experience shed light on the possibility of such a system?
Invited Speakers:
Chris Bartel (Appalachian State University)
Tim Crane (Central European University, Vienna)
John Kulvicki (Darmouth College)
Keren Gorodeisky (Auburn University)
Antonia Peacocke (Stanford University)
Enrico Terrone (Università di Genova)
Please submit proposals by writing to: pea@unige.it
Submissions should be done as PDF files prepared for blind review.
Please submit abstracts between 500 and 1000 words (references excluded) together with a title and 3 keywords.
The deadline for receipt is Sunday March 3, 2024.
Speakers will be notified of decisions by Wednesday March 14, 2024.
There will be no conference fees. It will be possible to apply for bursaries for early career researchers.
Call for abstracts: Works of Art and Technical Artifacts: Towards a Unified Account?
A philosophy conference at the Università di Genova, 23-25 October 2023
The conference aims to identify connections between the philosophy of art and the philosophy of technology, with a particular focus on ontology, function, and creativity.
Research questions for papers may include but are not limited to:
- Is there an ontological boundary between works of art and technical artifacts?
- Do works of art have functions just like technical artifacts?
- Can works of art and technical artifacts be traced back to one ontology such as the kind of artificial objects as opposed to natural objects?
- Is the ontology of works of art a subset of the ontology of technical artifacts?
- Is the aesthetic appreciation of technical artifacts of the same kind as the aesthetic appreciation of works of art?
- Can works of art be created by such technical artifacts as computer programs?
- What is the role of creativity in art and in technology?
Invited Speakers:
Paloma Atencia-Linares (UNED, Madrid)
Anne W. Eaton (University of Illinois, Chicago)
Simon Evnine (University of Miami)
Manuel García-Carpintero (Universitat de Barcelona)
Wybo Houkes (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Irene Olivero (Università di Genova)
Please submit proposals by writing to: pea@unige.it
Submissions should be done as PDF files prepared for blind review.
Please submit abstracts between 500 and 1000 words (references excluded) together with a title and 3 keywords.
The deadline for receipt is Sunday July 30, 2023. Speakers will be notified of decisions by Thursday August 31, 2023.
There will be no conference fees. It will be possible to apply for bursaries for early career researchers.