Summer School: Aesthetics, Technique and Emotion (call for applications)

What is aesthetics, and what value can the question of aesthetics have today? The school, organized by the University of Milan in collaboration with the European Seminar of Aesthetics – an international network of academics and researchers founded in 2014 with the aim of fostering critical debate on key topics in aesthetics (https://sites.unimi.it/eu_aesthetics/about/) – intends to address these and other questions concerning the relationship between aesthetics, art and technique. In fact, many changes are occurring nowadays in our aesthetic perception of the world. The boundaries of art are becoming more and more difficult to determine – considering for example the new challenges posed by art created by (or through) artificial intelligence, or the new tools offered by virtual reality. Moreover, a new aesthetic value is increasingly attributed to many aspects of our everyday life, like the images that we exchange daily via mobile phones and websites.

In the face of these innovations, what tools for thinking can be provided by aesthetics, a discipline that was born in the eighteenth century, in a necessarily very different cultural environment? What role can categories such as beauty, ugliness, sublime, kitsch, or concepts such as genius and taste play today? How is it possible to rethink our idea of the art and the artist, or the relationship between the artists and the techniques used in their works?

The School aims to involve students and researchers from different backgrounds in the discussion. The morning talks will be given by international experts, while the afternoon will be dedicated to an one more speaker and to the discussion of the day’s topics.

The school will take place online. Registration will be free of charge, but mandatory for all participants. A limited number of students will be selected (see section “Application”).

The participation to the school will provide three formative credits (ECTS credits).