Contemporary Confrontations Between Art, Morality, and Politics

This conference will investigate the intersections of art, morality, and politics, with particular focus on the shifting dynamic between these cultural and social forces over the last fifty years. Throughout the twentieth century, the de-functionalization of art seen in radical practices such as Dada and Fluxus, along with the secularization of its institutions and the affirmation of its transgressive role, have loosened the ties between art and traditional notions of morality. Even the aestheticised Kantian ideal of a community of taste has been abandoned; it seems that art, alongside morality and politics, no longer congregate around a shared political project of emancipation.

The recent cases of censorship (Larry Clark, at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris and David Wojnarowicz at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington in 2010), of vandalism motivated by active fundamentalism (Andre Serrano’s Piss Christ destroyed in Avignon, France, 2011), and the vitality of self-righteous lobbying groups against art, suggest that the interactions between these three spheres are neither clearly defined nor consistently controlled.

This conference seeks to explore the ambiguous, yet constant, connections between the potential influences of art and the norms or authorities that engage with it. We will question both aesthetic autonomism and moralism in relation to art. Can art be defined as a closed field structure? Should it be assessed on its own criteria regardless of political or moral values or should it be constrained by them?

Within the political sphere, the logic of cultural policy (through curatorial choices of museums, the distribution of grants, public commissions, etc.) reinforces the dependency of artists on the State, and pits freedom of creation against the preservation of public interest. With these considerations in mind, the spaces of art become charged: is the museum to be considered as part of the public space, and thus be subjected to the rules of social life, or can it be a reserved space, an area for allowed transgression? New technologies add another and more complex arena in which to consider these questions, straddling public and private, virtual space partly escapes legislation and forcibly raises the question of what is visible and presentable.

Reflection on the epistemological divides separating art, morality, and politics, allows for a redefinition of the ongoing cultural dialogues which constitute contemporary thought. The analysis of the intersections of these three cultural notions will further understanding of the role each of them has in the community, and contribute to philosophical discourse regarding the renewal of their respective stakes in this new century.

Programme

Vendredi 1er Juin

09h00 – 9h30 : Accueil des participants

09h30 – 10h30 : Conférence introductive, amphi. S3

Noël Carroll, Temple University (US)
“Humor and Morality”

10h30 – 11h00 : pause

Atelier 1 – Les fonctions de l’art : autonomisme, moralisme et immoralisme esthétiques 
(11h00 – 12h30) – amphi. S3
Président de séance: Ruwen Ogien

Alessandro Giovannelli, Lafayette college (US)
“A Defense of radical Moralism”

Roberto Merrill, University of Minho (Portugal)
“How immoral is aesthetic immoralism?”

Rafe McGregor, University of York (UK)
“Moralism, Autonomism or Immoralism? Why it doesn’t matter”

12h30 – 13h30 : Déjeuner

Atelier 2 – Juger de l’art 
(13h30 – 15h00) – amphi. S3
Présidente de séance : Emmanuelle Glon

Bence Nanay, University of Antwerp (Belg.), University of Cambridge (UK)
“Aesthetic education and Perceptual Learning”

Jolanta Nowak, University of Melbourne (Australia)
“Autonomism / Moralism : The confrontation between Morality and Art in Art criticism”

Tania Perlini, Université Paris-Ouest-Nanterre (France), UQAM (Canada)
“Une Esthétique de l’indécidabilité”

15h00 – 15h30 : Pause

Atelier 3 – L’art face à l’institution : résistances ? coopérations ?
(15h30 – 17h00) -  amphi. S3
Président de séance : Federico Tarragoni

Vangelis Giannakakis, University College Dublin (UCD)
“Multiples, particules et matière sombre : l’art moderne comme porteur d’une pensée et d’une expérience alternative et critique ”

Jonathan Maho, Université Paris VII-Diderot (France)
“Le Piss Christ d’Andres Serrano et l’avènement des Culture Wars”

Léa Valette, Université Paris-Ouest-Nanterre (France)
“La critique de gauche face à l’institution des théâtres publics”

Atelier 4 – Oeuvre et praxis
(15h30 – 17h00) -  salle 201
Président de séance : Julien Verhaeghe

Matthew Rowe, University of York (UK)
“Transparency, moralism and exploitation”

Erin Bradfield, Vanderbilt University (US)
“The liberatory Potential of aesthetic Subscultures”

Jonathan James, University of Newcastle (Australia)
“The Role of artistic Printmedia in the Occupy Wall St movement”

17h00-18h00: Séance plénière, amphi. S3

Carole Talon-Hugon, Université de Nice (France)
“Edification versus Exercice de la sagacité. Manières classique et contemporaine de penser l’efficacité éthique de l’art”

 Samdei 2 Juin

9h30 – 10h30 : Séance plénière, amphi. S2

Christian Ruby, Revue Raison Présente
“L’exercice de la parole dans la trajectoire du spectateur”

10h30-11h00 : Pause

Atelier 1 – Art et pouvoir politique
(11h00 – 12h30) – amphi. S2
Président de séance : Roberto Merrill

Jason Miller, Rice University of Houston (US)
“The shifting Politics of Art: Plato, Schiller, and Ai Wei Wei”

Luis Crespo Andrade, University of Lisboa (Portugal)
“The Will of Gray”

 Davor Dzalto, Fordham University (US)
“Irresponsible Art & Aesthetics in the service of Power”

 Atelier 2 – The Paradigm
(11h00 – 12h30) – Salle 201
Amanda Beech et al.

 Suhail Mailk, Goldsmiths College (UK)
“Indeterminability and the Spirit of New Capitalism”

Amanda Beech, University of Kent (UK)
“Sanity Assassin” Art and Destruction”

Matthew Poole, University of Essex (UK)
“The Idiot Paradigm”

12h30 – 13h30 : Séance plénière, amphi. S3

Matthew Kieran, University of Leeds (UK)
“Creativity and Well-Being”

13h30 – 14h30 : Déjeuner

Atelier 3 – Imagination esthétique, imagination morale
(14h30 – 16h00) – amphi. S2
Président de séance : Thibaud Zuppinger

 Kateri Lemmens, Université du Québec à Rimouski (Canada)
“La sagesse de la fiction”

Mélissa Thériault, Collège Montmorency (Canada)
“Éthique et fiction”

Thomas Seguin, Université Paul Valéry de Montpellier (France)
“Pour une esthétique de l’expérience”

16h00 – 16h30 : Pause

16h30 – 17h30 : Conférence de clôture, amphi. S2

Ruwen Ogien, CNRS (France)
“Les limites morales et mentales de l’art”

Fee

The conference fee is 50 € and can be paid in cash at the conference desk.

Accommodation

Information on accommodation can be found on the conference’s webpage. For additional information, please write to Pauline Colonna d’Istria ([email protected]), or Florian Gaité ([email protected]), or Roberto Merrill ([email protected])