Aesthetic Education and Screen Stories

The aim of the conference is to bring together scholars working in philosophy of art and aesthetics, film theory, media studies, cultural studies and other domains dedicated to the study of film and television, with the aim of exploring cognitive, ethical, educational and other aspects of the aesthetic experience of film and television series and serials – screen stories for short.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the relation of screen stories and truth, knowledge, understanding and other cognitive values; screen stories and ethics; political aspects of screen stories; screen stories and ideology; philosophical aspects of screen stories; issues concerning definition, meaning and value of screen stories; interpretation of screen stories; their fictional dimension; relation of screen stories to literature and theater; questions of expression, narration, ontology; emotional reactions and affective ties; paradox of fiction; fictional characters; documentaries and docuseries; spectators’ experience; and the like. Papers dealing with aesthetic education in relation to other forms of art may also be considered. We are also interested in establishing a dialogue between film theorists, media theorists and philosophers and to discuss methodological advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to screen stories, in particular those related to neuro-aesthetics, naturalized aesthetics and cognitive aesthetics.

As part of the conference, there will be a Roundtable discussion on the Educational relevance of arts, dedicated to the current status of narrative art forms such as literature, cinema and television in education and culture, with the aim of promoting the values of humanities and the overall appreciation of these artforms. Our keynote in this session is Laura D’Olimpio (University of Birmingham).

The conference will take place at the University of Rijeka, September 5th and 6th 2023.

We invite submissions for 30 minute presentations, followed by 15 minutes of Q&A. If you are interested in presenting your work, please send the title and the abstract of max. 300 words by May 15th 2023 to Iris Vidmar Jovanović ([email protected]). Notification of acceptance will be sent out by May 25th. There is no conference fee.