Date: 19th of November
Time: 15:00-16:30
Location: Philosophy Department, 45 Victoria Street S37QB, Room 23, for online attendance please register here.
What this event will be about:
Since the 19th Century Western aesthetics – the branch of philosophy concerning how things are perceived by our senses – has been predominantly concerned with the art works in general, and the property of beauty in particular. This occurred despite an attitude prevalent in modern aesthetics that anything can be a source of aesthetic experience. Natural objects and phenomena, built structures, human actions and functional objects have been the subject of fairly scant attention.
This event will challenge this widespread tendency with help from the everyday aesthetics movement which seeks to include, as subjects of aesthetic evaluation, the objects, events and activities that constitute our daily lives.
The event will begin with a short talk before quickly taking an interactive turn with participants leaving the virtual and physical classroom to encounter the world of their immediate surroundings with a refreshed aesthetic attitude. Rather than seeking out beautiful artworks we will gather pictures, recordings and accountings of sights, smells, sounds, and surfaces from every day life. We will pay particular attention to alternative aesthetic qualities such as the cute, messy, gaudy, tasteful, dirty, lively, and monotonous. We will then come back together to share our images, field recordings and descriptions.
There will be an online gallery curated after the event that captures the everyday aesthetics of Sheffield and elsewhere in field recordings, pictures, and poetry.
You can register for the event here. If you are attending in-person, you do not need to register. Should you choose to attend in person, we kindly ask you to wear a face covering.
This event is organized by Nadia Mehdi.
Centre for Engaged Philosophy 