Join us on Thursday 26 August for the launch of the Flinders Aesthetics Forum. FAF is a new dedicated forum to reflect on art and ethics in contemporary society. Every month we will invite an esteemed philosopher of art, curator, or artist to critically think about the urgent and sometimes challenging questions surrounding art today. For example: Can we experience art through digital means? Is it wrong to enjoy the work of immoral artists? What should happen with public sculptures that glorify a colonial or racist past? FAF will take place every last Thursday of the month during term time at FUMA, the Flinders Museum of Art.
For this first event we have invited Dr Eleen M Deprez and Dr Michael Newall. Dr Deprez will talk about the ethics of curating. An exhibition is more than a display of works of art, it is about something. Curators can affect our experience, understanding, and appreciation of art but also change our view on broader social and political themes. Deprez will explore the ethical responsibility curators have by looking at historical examples and drawing on FUMA’s collection. Dr Newall will investigate the controversial topic of historical and contemporary public portrait sculpture. He will use the philosophy of portraiture – an area of aesthetics that has developed only in the past few years – to give a new reason for judging some portrait sculptures as unethical, adding it to the existing reasons for concern.
Dr Eleen Deprez is a philosopher of art and curator. She teaches at the University of Oxford in History and Theory of Visual Art.
Dr Michael Newall is a philosopher and art theorist. His book 'A philosophy of the art school' was the winner of the American Society for Aesthetics 2019 Outstanding Monograph Prize'.
Our first event will conclude with drinks.
Parking on university campus is free after 5pm.
More info, please contact Dr Tom Cochrane a:: flindersaestheticsforum@gmail.com
