Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell’estetico

AISTHESIS – VOL. XIII, ISSUE I, 2020 

Craft

Advisory Editors: Andrea Mecacci (andrea.mecacci@unifi.it), Laura Gilli (laura.gilli@iulm.it)

Deadline for submission: October 31 2019 

Expected release: April 2020

This issue of Aisthesis investigates the conceptual area of craft. Throughout the history of aesthetics, discourse on craft has always intertwined with that on the categorisation of the arts, as well as with the very notion of art itself. 

Reflections will be prompted on the notion of craft by studying not only its aesthetic boundaries but also its pervasive capacity. Attention will be drawn to how to concepts, structures and languages of craft penetrate into different artistic and cultural fields. 

Craft now transcends the field of applied arts, having developed into a conceptual area applied in different fields, as argued in Colin Campbell’s 2005 study on so-called “craft consumers” where Campbell emphasises the pursuit of craft in contemporary consumption as well as an aesthetic dimension of consumption.

The theoretical boundaries of craft remain blurred. It is necessary, then, to reflect on the very roots of, and the successive developments in, the conceptual area of craft. It is also necessary to investigate the acknowledged characteristics of craft itself. How do they manifest themselves in different artistic and cultural spheres? How has craft permeated culture, originating fruitful artistic combinations? Possible fields of research include: the theoretical notion of craft; its reflections in the arts; the adoption in non-craft fields of craft theories and practices; authors, currents, literary works etc. dealing with craft and craftspeople.

Accepted Manuscript is ‘the version of the article accepted for publication including all changes made as a result of the peer review process, and which may also include the addition to the article by Acta of a header, an article ID, a cover sheet and/or an ‘Accepted Manuscript’ watermark, but excluding any other editing, typesetting or other changes made by FUP and/or its licensors’.

VIth Mediterranean Congress of Aesthetics
June 24-28, 2014
Florence – Villa Finaly
University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne & CNRS
Institut ACTE – UMR 8218 - Æsthetica

The Sixth Mediterranean Congress of Aesthetics will take place at Villa Finaly in Florence, Italy, from the 24th to the 28th of June, 2014, and will be concerned with the contemporary debate over the opposition of facts and values in aesthetics.
The Mediterranean basin passes through an unparalleled crisis. So, the context and the current changes support the idea that the question of ‘value’ and its confrontation with the concept of ‘fact’ is urgent. In The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays (2004), Hilary Putnam argues convincingly against a classic opposition which does not serve philosophical reflection positively; in fact, this apparently unquestioned and unquestionable dichotomy, which is the nature of all dogma, leaves many unsolved, untreated, unseen and unexamined problems in aesthetic’s fields too. Actually, the definition of value remains opaque: should the artwork be judged according to its moral value, its market value, or its formal value? And now art is increasingly populated by so-called ‘immaterial’ or ‘ephemeral’ works and is therefore rarely, or badly, quantifiable according to old aesthetic and economic evaluation criteria. The social function of art therefore seems to be against a radical idea of artistic and aesthetic autonomy.
Can we pass judgement? If necessary, would the aesthetic be transformed? Would it be eradicated from its very origins as a science of the sensible? How can we not ask the question of the role of art, artistic practices and aesthetic theories in such a crisis?

Proposals should include a title, an abstract of approximately 250 words (1,500 characters including spaces), and a short biography and bibliography of the author. They should be sent by email before March 1st 2014 to
Jacinto Lageira (jlageira@wanadoo.fr)
Evangelos Athanassopoulos (evangelos.athanassopoulos@sfr.fr)

The proposals will then be sent anonymously to a selection committee. A reply will be sent before March 15th. Selected participants will then receive information about Congress registration (through Paris 1 services) and accommodation arrangements (through Villa Finally services).

Organising Committee:
• ACTE Institute (Art Creation Theory Aesthetics) – UMR 8218, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and CNRS, Research Group Æsthetica - Art and Philosophy

With the participation of:
• Société Française d’Esthétique
• Società Italiana di Estetica (SIE)
• Chancellerie des Universités de Paris
• École doctorale Arts plastiques, Esthétique et Sciences de l’art, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne
• Aisthesis. Pratiche, linguaggi e saperi dell'estetico
• Proteus, Cahiers des théories de l’art

Download the programme

Aisthesis is pleased to announce the international Conference “The aesthetic Mind and the Origin of Art” that will be held in Florence from 23 to 25 January 2014. The speakers of conference are: Lorenzo Bartalesi (Università di Firenze), Jean-Pierre Cometti (Université de Provence, Aix-Marseille I), Fabrizio Desideri (Università di Firenze), Ellen Dissanayake (University of Washington), Roberta Dreon (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), Filippo Fimiani (Università di Salerno), W. Tecumseh Fitch (University of Vienna), Gesche Westhphal Fitch (University of Vienna), Elio Franzini (Università di Milano), Fabio Martini (Università di Firenze), Winfried Menninghaus (Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics – Frankfurt am Main), Edmund T. Rolls (University of Warwick), Elisabeth Schellekens (Uppsala University), Salvatore Tedesco (Università di Palermo), Giuseppe Vitiello (Università degli Studi di Salerno).

Download the programme