Arts Faculty News

How do I look? Aesthetics Through Theory

Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December
Keynote speaker: Dr Alison Ross
Featuring a screening of the film Examined Life

The Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies organises an annual postgraduate colloquium, where postgraduate students from the Centre and the wider Faculty are able to share ideas. The colloquium is an opportunity for postgraduate students and emerging scholars, conducting research in literary studies, cultural studies or critical theory, to present aspects of their work. The colloquium seeks to provide a forum for stimulating academic exchange in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

The title of this year’s colloquium will be ‘How Do I Look? – Aesthetics through Theory’. While contemporary research in the humanities considers a broad range of questions, aesthetics arguably remains a central concern for us all. The organisers invite potential participants to reflect on their own research with regard to contemporary considerations of aesthetics. The overall intention remains the sharing of original ideas and research; accordingly, participants are under no obligation to narrow their focus.

Prospective participants are invited to present a paper of 25–30 minutes length (plus discussion). Proposals should be emailed to colloquium09@arts.monash.edu.au by 30th October. Please include a title and an abstract of 100–150 words. Presentations incorporating audiovisual media are welcome. Please mention any technical requirements and preferences as to date and time.

Further information is available on the CCLCS Postgraduate Colloquium page.

On the 23rd-25th of August 2009, the University of Copenhagen in partnership with Monash University’s School of English, Communications and Performance Studies and Social Aesthetics Research Unit held a symposium on aesthetics, culture and social life, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The event brought together scholars at the forefront of investigations into socio-aesthetics and cultural analysis. It was the first of a series of planned symposia engaging with the theme of Socio-Aesthetics. Drawing together scholars from various fields of the humanities and social sciences, the focus upon interdisciplinary exchange was noteworthy, with delegates interrogating a wide range of phenomena.

The three-day conference saw contributions from more than 40 academics from Monash University, the University of Copenhagen and many other international institutions. The symposium included two keynote speakers, Gerhard Schulze and Scott Lash. Both provided telling, yet dramatically divergent accounts of the dimensions of the aesthetic in social and economic life.

The symposium was a great experience that has set high expectations for the next socio-aesthetics symposium, tentatively scheduled 2011, in Melbourne. Congratulations to all delegates and organizers for their considerable efforts.

See Social Aesthetics Research Unit for further research activities and events.

For further information on the Symposium read Michael Walsh’s report or view the University of Copenhagen’s SocioAesthetics site.