AeroVisions. Aerial Aesthetics and the View from Above

The view from above is a mediated perspective in multiple ways. Technologies of the air have become increasingly complex and diverse: airplanes and drones, but also satellites and spacecraft make climate-monitoring devices and observational tools extend our gaze far beyond the limits of our atmosphere. These technologies are not only part of but also fundamentally condition the aesthetics of contemporary aerial visions.

The so-called Aerial Spatial Revolution has undeniably had pivotal political, economic, and social implications. Inextricably linked to these, however, is also a profound transformation of human perception and sensibility. The multi-layered mediations between sensing instruments “revoluting” the Earth generate not only a vast amount of data shaping the aerial view, but also recalibrate how we perceive the planet on and from the ground.
The view from above—an experience that for millennia had been merely imagined, used as a metaphor or as a symbolic device—has finally become possible, and technology now allows us to experiment with unprecedented sensory perspectives. Images of space—and from space—have radically transformed our perception of our place in the cosmos; meanwhile, everyday life in industrialized societies unfolds within environments made possible only through an interaction
between the horizontal and the vertical dimensions. The conference AeroVisions. Aerial Aesthetics and the View from Above will address these themes by fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue at the intersection of philosophy, art history, media theory, and science and technology studies.  The event will offer three intensive days of talks, discussions, and exchange among scholars from different generations, traditions, and disciplines.

The conference would like to address some of the following questions:
- What does it mean to observe from above?
- What is the role of verticality in arts and sciences?
- Through which cognitive transformations and media- technical changes can we trace the genesis
and development of the relationship between air and land?
- To what extent do many of modernity’s artefacts turn out to be ‘aerofacts’?