NOMINATION DEADLINE: May 1, 2018

The winner will receive a prize of $1000 plus travel to the ASA Annual Meeting in Toronto October 10-13, 2018 to accept the prize. http://aesthetics-online.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=671721&group=

Guidelines: http://aesthetics-online.org/?page=CohenPrize

Edited by Cristina Meini

Deadline: 30.06.2017

Depending on whatkind of thing“language” is intended to be, different artistic–communicative codes can be considered as languages. For example, music is arguably a communicative code with a syntax – though by no means a universal syntax – but without a semantics. Or, perhaps,music has a peculiar semantics connected to the affective domain.Yet, what about dance? Dance and music share dynamicity, what Daniel Stern takes to be the fundamental aspect for communicating “forms of vitality”. Does this imply that dance hasa syntax, or a semantics, too?

Not less interesting are reflections concerning the “languages” of pictorial arts, both figurative and abstract.

The following list aims to suggest some possible topics, while certainly not exhausting the possible contributions:

– According to some influential models, verbal language is the expression of a universal grammar, while the syntax of artistic “languages”, when it exists, seems to be much more culturally determined. Which consequences should be drawnfrom such a difference? In what sense can we really speak of languages of art?

– Similarly, how can non-referential forms of art (such as pure music), be considered languages?

– Concerning music again – but the same could be said of dance -, which kind of relationship does it have with emotions? Does it depict them? Or rather it expresses them? Moreover, is the relationship literal, metaphorical or symbolic?

– More in general, could the relationship between languages of art and emotions possess a therapeutic value?The psychoanalyst Daniel Stern has developed a psychotherapy based on the analysis of the present moment that in each everyday action spontaneously expresses those Forms of vitality (a sort of proto-emotions) that art is particularly apt to convey. In this sense, Stern suggests a therapy using languages of art to overcome the traditional centrality of verbal language.

-What kind of contribution can cognitive sciences offer to the comprehension of the relationship between the different languages? In particular, neurophysiological studies and neuropsychological researches on cognitive dissociations both point to important commonalities as well as interesting overlappings, which are interesting to confront with.

Submissions may be in English, French, Italian and Spanish. Abstract in English of no more than 250 words is required for all manuscripts submitted. Each manuscript should have title and 5 keywords in English. Submissions must be prepared for blind review. The author’s name, the institutional affiliation and the title’s paper must be placed in a separate file. Manuscripts must be sent as Microsoft Word file (.doc or .rtf) to: segreteria.rifl@gmail.com

Instructions for authors:

Max length:
40000 characters (including spaces) for articles (including the references) and reviews;
20000 characters (including spaces) for interviews;
10000 characters (including spaces) for specific paper review.

Submission deadline: 30.06.2017
Issue publication: December 2017

May 21-22, 2015, University of Leeds, UK

Keynote Speakers:
Renee M. Conroy (Philosophy, Purdue-Calumet; Fulbright Scholar in Dance, Roehampton, from Jan. 2015)
Vida Midgelow (Performing Arts, Middlesex University)
Barbara Gail Montero (Philosophy, CUNY)

The Centre for Aesthetics at the University of Leeds, with the support of the British Society for Aesthetics and in collaboration with Improvisation Exchange Leeds, is pleased to announce the hosting of an interdisciplinary and participatory conference on the philosophical issues raised by dance improvisation.

Improvisation is a fundamental element of contemporary dance: in addition to being a popular mode of practice across many forms of contemporary dance, it is central to the postmodern dance form of contact improvisation, and it is an important topic of investigation in contemporary dance research. However, improvisation in dance has been largely neglected in the philosophical investigation of improvisation in the arts, which has focused mostly on music, especially jazz improvisation.

Our conference aims to start filling this lacuna by integrating the scholarly and academic perspective (both in philosophy and dance studies) with the practitioners’ experience and viewpoint. To this end, our conference will incorporate traditional academic talks along with practical and performance elements.

We invite talk proposals on any topic that is relevant to the conference theme. Please send an abstract (450-500 words) suitable for anonymous review as an attachment to danceimprovisationphil@gmail.com, and include in the main text of the email the following: paper title, contact information, and current affiliation.

Talks that include performative elements and/or videos are welcome, but not required. In writing your abstract, please bear in mind that full papers should be suitable for a 30-40 minute presentation.

The submission deadline is 15 February 2015.

Members of traditionally underrepresented groups in academia and junior scholars are warmly encouraged to apply. We aim to be a family-friendly and child-friendly conference and we will do our best to help with childcare needs.

Further questions can be directed to Aaron Meskin and Sara Protasi, the conference co-organizers, at: danceimprovisationphil@gmail.com

The editors seek contributions from scholars and practitioners to a volume that will  form the first comprehensive book on phenomenology and performance.  Contributed work should aim to fit into one of three broad categories:

1. General concerns (histories, genealogies, principles, etc.) regarding phenomenology and performance;
2. Phenomenological approaches to and analyses of major categories in the study of performance (embodiment, place, time, language/text, object, audience);
3. Examples, critiques, and analyses of applied phenomenology (creative work which the practitioners considered to be ‘enacted, embodied phenomenology’, or work on and in the field of performative phenomenological writing).

While the above categories reflect the interests and structure of the book, work that combines or cuts across these would of course also be welcome. Specifically, some of the key questions that contributions might address include:

• How might the history and development of the relationship between phenomenology and performance be productively charted and analysed?
• How do we account for the recent resurgence in phenomenological approaches to theatre and performance? How might we most productively consider the relationship between this resurgence – and phenomenology in general – with the theoretical and philosophical paradigms that dominated the latter part of the 20th century?
• What constitutes a phenomenological approach to the study of performance?
• Is ‘approach’ a fitting term, or is it more apt to speak of phenomenological method(s)? If so, what defines such method(s), and how
malleable might these methods be?
• In what ways is the term phenomenology being deployed currently, and what case might be made for greater rigour and definition in the use of the term?
• How might phenomenology account for what we might term the fundamental ‘things’ of performance (body, space, time, language, object, audience)? Does phenomenology offer a justification for considering performance in terms of ‘fundamental things’ (a consideration which might readily be branded as essentialism)?
• What impact has phenomenology had on performance practitioners?
• Can performance itself be explicitly ‘phenomenological’? If so, what hallmark traits does a phenomenological performance bear? And are there tools or methods for effectively creating phenomenological performance?
• How might phenomenology bridge what has long been perceived as a gap between performance and its (written) reception/critique/analysis? Does phenomenological writing bring us ‘closer’ to the performance(s) that for its subject?

Please submit abstracts of 500 words along with a cv to both editors – Dr. Stuart Grant (stuart.grant@monash.edu) and Dr. Matt Wagner (m.wagner@surrey.ac.uk) – by 31 March 2014. If accepted, full contributions will be expected by 31 October 2014; conventional essays should be between 6000-8000 words, and the length and format of contributions from practitioners will be determined in negotiation with the editors at the point of accepting the abstract.
Visit Phenomenology of Performance at:

Stuart Grant
Director Performance Research Unit
Coordinator Graduate Research Program in Theatre Performance and Music
Centre for Theatre and Performance
Room 216, Building 68 (PAC)
Monash University Clayton VIC 3800 Australia
Ph: +613 9905 2133 M: +614 0312 0740 F: +613 9904 4209