Exploring Aesthetic Practices

Call for papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

From Kant onwards, the default position when thinking about aesthetic matters has been to start with one individual who appreciates or engages with one object, whether a work of art, an environment, or an everyday item.

However, when aiming to grasp the role of aesthetic phenomena in human life, this perspective is insufficient. It overshadows how the significance of art and everyday aesthetic matters, for individuals and communities, evolve through shared histories of practice, where perceptual and creative skills arise from previous experiences and know-how.

Shifting the focus of aesthetics from objects and singular experiences to practices opens novel and fruitful perspectives on how humans form and transform their identity and lifeworld through active and long-term aesthetic engagement in various media.

An aesthetic practice, we suggest, is a continuous, repeatedly performed activity of engaging with an art form, a form of popular culture, crafts, sports, or some aspect of one’s everyday environment, where a fundamental motivating factor is pleasure gained through the activity. In addition to contributions from philosophical aesthetics, we welcome proposals from neighbouring fields, the arts, psychology, cultural studies, game studies, sport studies, sociology, history, media and communication studies, etc., as long as they address phenomena from a perspective of aesthetic practice.

For more details, please visit the website.

We invite abstracts of 200–300 words. Deadline for abstracts is 15th April 2024.