The Aesthetics Research Centre coordinates, enables and promotes research in philosophy of art and aesthetics at the University of Kent. ARC brings together faculty and postgraduate students from four different departments and three different schools and is characterised by a strong interdisciplinary ethos.
IN MEMORIAM
DAVID BORDWELL | 1947-2024
It is with great sadness that we note the death of David Bordwell, a figure of immense significance in the study of film art over the past fifty years. Among the many tributes and obituaries to Professor Bordwell are those in the New York Times, Variety, and on the departmental homepage of his former colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Spring – Summer 2024
18 March 2024
Screening and discussion of The Imposter
David Brown, University of Exeter. A collaboration with the Lupino Film Club.
In-person event
FORTHCOMING SUMMER EVENTS, TBD
Diarmuid Costello, University of Kent, on Rineke Dijkstra, Vulnerability, and Trust
Josh Landy, Stanford University, on Boiled Frog Fictions
SELECTED PAST RESEARCH EVENTS
Links to each session can be requested by contacting ARC directors;
m.s.smith@kent.ac.uk | h.maes@kent.ac.uk
13 March 2024
Cringe Overhang: the Perlocutionary Effects of Cringe Comedy
Alexander Sparrow, Victoria University of Wellington.
6 March 2024
YouTube Video Essays and Aesthetics: Communication, Narrative, and Arthood
James MacDowell, University of Warwick
29th March 2023
Aesthetic Properties: Heterogenous, Historical and Hard to Explain.
Sonia Sedivy, University of Toronto
23rd-24th March 2023
THE AESTHETICS OF PSYCHEDELICS | International conference
University of Kent; Darwin Conference Suite
22nd Febuary 2023
Collingwood, “Political Art”, and the Political Value of Art
David Collins, University of Oxford
25th January 2023
What’s Getting Us Through: Grazia UK as Affective Intimate Public During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Rosie Findlay, University of Kent
17th November 2022
Pedestrian at Best: the Politics, Philosophy, & Aesthetics of Walking When Poor,
Kathrine Cuccuru, University of Sussex
7th May 2022
BSA Symposium on Revaluing the Life Model in Art Practice
More information here
10 June 2021
Book Symposium on Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight: A Philosophical Exploration, edited by Hans Maes (University of Kent) and Katrien Schaubroeck (University of Antwerp).
Symposium programme here
12 May 2021
‘The Reality of Aesthetic Injustice.’
Daisy Dixon, University of Cambridge.
Abstract here
23 March 2021
ARC Book Symposium: Dieter Declercq’s Satire, Comedy and Mental Health
More info and recordings here.
10 February 2021
‘The Paradox of Football’ – Presentation by Murray Smith
A Kent Philosophy Work in Progress Seminar. More info here
9 February 2021
Aesthetics Research Centre Postgraduate Work in Progress Seminar
Presentations by Claire Anscomb and Dr. David Brown
Thursday 28 May 2020
Associate Professor Jason Leddington (Bucknell University)
“Savouring the Impossible”
watch recording
28–29 February 2020
British Society for Aesthetics Postgraduate Conference. Beyond Human: Aesthetics of Nature and Technology
Keynotes: Glenn Parsons, Katja Kwastek.
Info here
7–9 February 2020,
British Society for Aesthetics Conference: Art, Aesthetics and the Medical and Health Humanities.
Keynotes: Rita Charon, Paul Crawford, Sheila Lintott, Jenefer Robinson.
Info here
