2013 Conference

2013 Art, Social Justice, & Critical Theory Conference

Kalamazoo College
Olmsted Room, Mandelle Hall
May 16-18, 2013

Thursday, May 16th

Thursday Evening: Keynote Address, 8:00 p.m.

Active Passivity: On the Aesthetic Variant of Freedom. Martin Seel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main. [Video] [Request Text]


Friday, May 17th

Friday Morning: Theories of Art and Aesthetics: Focus Seel and Zuidervaart

Session One: 8:30–10:30 a.m.

Coffee Break:

Session Two: 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

  • Michael Kelly: True Just Art (Philosophy, University of North Carolina, Charlotte) [Request Text]
  • Elizabeth Millán: Aesthetic Opportunities and the Spanish American Landscape: A Look at Alexander von Humboldt’s Aesthetic of Nature through the Lens of Seel’s Aesthetic of Appearing. (Philosophy, DePaul University, Chicago) [Request Text]
  • Comments
    • Martin Seel (Philosophy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität)
    • Lambert Zuidervaart (Philosophy, ICS and University of Toronto) [Request Text]

Lunch, Banquet Room: 1:00–2:00 p.m.

Friday Afternoon: The Theory and Practice of Activating Art

Session Three: 2:00–3:45 p.m.

  • Sandra Shapshay: (CUNY Graduate Center, NY): Schopenhauer on the Symbiotic Relationship between Artistic and Philosophical Truth, a Reconstruction and Defense [Request Text]
  • Veronique Fóti: Art and Appearing: Reflections on the Missed Dialogue Between Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Martin Seel (Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University) [Request Text]
  • Comments:
    • Martin Seel (Philosophy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität)
    • Lambert Zuidervaart (Philosophy, ICS and University of Toronto) [Request Text]

Refreshments:

Panel Discussion: Mural as Public Art: Artist Dialogue, 4:15–6:00 p.m.

  • Christine Hahn: [Moderator] (Art History, Kalamazoo College)
  • Conor McGrady (Independent Artist, Belfast, Northern Ireland)
  • Dan Wang (Artist, Madison, Wisconsin) [See Wang’s blog on the event]
  • Sonia Baez-Hernandez (Praxis Center, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, Kalamazoo College)

Dinner, Stone Room: 6:00–8:00 p.m.

Friday Evening: Keynote Address, 8:00–9:15 p.m.

Theses on Pictures and Films: Martin Seel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main. [Video]

Reception, Humphrey House Lounge


Saturday, May 18th

Saturday Morning:

Panel Discussion: The Aesthetics and Politics of Food, 9:00–10:30 p.m.

  • Amelia Katanski (English, Kalamazoo College)
  • Alison Geist (Director, Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning, Kalamazoo College)
  • David Strauss (Professor Emeritus of History, Kalamazoo College)

Coffee Break

Panel Discussion: Museums and Curatorship, 11:00–12:30 p.m.

  • Lambert Zuidervaart [Moderator] (Philosophy, ICS and University of Toronto)
  • Christine Hahn (Art History, Kalamazoo College)
  • Paul Wittenbraker (Visual and Media Arts, Grand Valley State University)
  • Alexandra Gravely (Art, K’13)
  • Eeva Sharp (Art, K’13)

Lunch, Stone Room: 12:30–2:00 p.m.

Saturday Afternoon:

Panel Discussion: Performance Art, 2:00–3:30 p.m.

Coffee Break:

Round Table Discussion and Closing Comments [Video] 4:00–5:30 p.m.

Reception, Stone Room: 5:30–6:00 p.m.

Dinner, Stone Room: 6:00–8:00 p.m.



Prior Events Leading to the Conference:

  • September 22, 2012: Return of the Border Brujo (Guillermo Gomez-Pena) NB: Performance in Balch Playhouse
  • October 4, 2012: Key Concepts in Critical Theory (David Ingram, Loyola University, Chicago)
  • October 5, 2012: Critical Theory, Whiteness, and Race (David Ingram, Loyola University, Chicago)
  • November 15, 2012: Cinematographic Art and Difference: The Picture of Abjection (Tina Chanter, DePaul University, Chicago)
  • November 16, 2012: Art, Politics, and Ranciere: Seeing Things Anew (Tina Chanter, DePaul University, Chicago)
  • February 13, 2013: Carcinoma le deuil impossible (Sonia Baez Hernandez, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership Visiting Fellow)
  • February 28, 2013: Artistic Truth (Lambert Zuidervaart, University of Toronto)
  • March 1, 2013: Public Art (Lambert Zuidervaart, University of Toronto)
  • May 16, 2013: Active Passivity: On the Aesthetic Variant of Freedom (Martin Seel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitaet, Frankfurt am Main, Germany) Watch the Keynote Address
  • May 17, 2013: Theses on Pictures and Films (Martin Seel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universitaet, Frankfurt am Main, German) Watch the Keynote Address

Notes on the Participants