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Diarmuid Costello: “Standard Philosophy of Photography: Tracing the Roots of the Orthodox Paradigm”

Oct 6, 6-8pm, KLT2

 

My research draws on both analytic and continental approaches to aesthetics and the philosophy of art, and is informed by recent debates in art history and theory. Recently, it has focused on two main goals:

1. To defuse antipathy to aesthetics in art theory by showing that kinds of art typically thought challenging to aesthetics can be accommodated by a sufficiently rich aesthetic theory. To this end I have drawn on the neglected semantic potential of Kant’s supposedly formalist theory of art, and endeavoured to show that a variety of supposedly anti-aesthetic artforms can be accommodated by the resulting aesthetic theory.

2. To contest widespread assumptions in the philosophy of photography regarding the nature of photography, particularly as an artistic medium, in part by showing that it is predicated on a narrow diet of examples that distorts philosophers’ understanding of the field, and in part by developing an alternative conception of photographic agency. The former draws on resources in art history, the latter on the philosophy of action.

I am currently working on two books, each associated with one of these goals: ‘Art after Aesthetics? A Critique of Theories of Art after Modernism’ and ‘On Photography’. Both involve substantive engagement with recent art. Artists whose work has been important for these projects and also figures in the publications below include: Brian Barry, Lawrence Weiner, Art & Language, Sol LeWitt, Adrian Piper, Richard Long; James Welling, Jeff Wall, James Coleman, Thomas Ruff, Rineke Dijkstra, Lee Friedlander, Ed Ruscha; Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close, William Kentridge, and Phillip Guston.

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Ted Nannicelli: Making Do With Agency

Agency, Authorship and the Appreciation of Television

Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, University of Queensland
22 June 2015, MLT2

Chair: Murray Smith

Abstract

This paper addresses a puzzle regarding the creation and appreciation of television. Recent scholarship has made it clear that the material production of television is a fundamentally collaborative enterprise. Particularly in the case of serial television drama, an astonishing number of “above the line” workers like writers, producers, and directors and “below the line” workers like cinematographers, art directors, sound designers, and editors contribute to the creation of an overall series. This essentially collaborative nature of television production has led some theorists to conclude that television (and sometimes film) is therefore essentially collectively authored (Caldwell 2008; Gaut 2010). While others have questioned whether such contributors have the proper control or authority to be regarded as authors (Livingston 2009), I focus on another problem with this view — namely, the problem of properly attributing blame to those individuals responsible for the relevant features of artistically and ethically flawed works. However, even weaker views (e.g. Livingston 2009), according to which film is only sometimes collectively authored, don’t translate as satisfactory accounts of collective authorship in television. I argue that inasmuch as Livingston’s account of joint-authorship is indebted to Bratman’s work on shared agency (1999, 2014), it cannot account for collective creation in hierarchically-organized groups like television production teams. And yet it seems like the appreciation of television as an art form requires some concept of authorship. I offer a number of desiderata any account of television authorship must meet, and I suggest that although authorship rarely obtains in television, we can, in most appreciative contexts, make do by simply speaking of “agency.”
Ted Nannicelli is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Queensland. He is the author of A Philosophy of the Screenplay (2013) and co-editor of Cognitive Media Theory (2014). He is currently working on a new book, Appreciating the Art of Television: A Philosophical Perspective, to be published by Routledge.

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7-8 February 2015: Interact!

‘INTERACT! British Society of Aesthetics Postgraduate Conference’ was a two-day event where postgraduates were able to present their research, share ideas and interact with each other and established members of the academic community. The conference allowed remote participation, all presentations were recorded and can now be viewed online.

Programme

Saturday 7th February

09:30 – 10:25 Registration

10:25 – 10:30 Welcome watch
Opening words by Michael Newall, Head of History and Philosophy of Art, University of Kent

10:30 – 12:00 Session 1 watch
Chaired by: Michael Newall, University of Kent

  • Affective Representation of Aesthetic Properties ⎮Kris Goffin, Ghent University
  • The Role of Emotions in the Experience of Inanimate Objects’ Expressiveness ⎮Marta Benenti, University of Turin
  • The Temporality of Aesthetic Experience: A Neurophilosophical Approach ⎮ Carlos Vara, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:30 Session 2 watch
Chaired by: Sara Janssen, University of Kent

  • The Diversity of Counter-Moral Fictions and the Ethical Criticism of Art ⎮Adriana Clavel Vazquez, University of Sheffield
  • Can we be Romantic about Narratives? Rediscovering a Context for Actual Intentions in Aesthetics⎮Mary Edwards, University College Cork
  • Ryle on Make-believe: An Evaluation of the Treatment of Imagination in The Concept of Mind for Aesthetical Theories of Fiction⎮Guillaume Schuppert, Les Archives Henri Poincaré

14:30 – 15:00 Coffee&Tea

15:00 – 16:30 Session 3 watch
Chaired by: Margaret Schmitz, University of Kent

  • What Constitutes Architecture’s High Art Status ⎮Rebecca Wallbank, Durham University
  • On the Difference between Categories of Artworks and Nature; A Critique of Allen Carlson’s Unified Aesthetics ⎮ Mami Aota, The University of Tokyo
  • Structural Monism for Musical Works ⎮ Nemesio Garcia-Garril, University of Granada

16:30 – 17:00 Coffee&Tea

17:00 – 18:30 Keynote – Professor Dominic McIver Lopes watch
Chaired by: Shelby Moser, University of Kent
‘Aesthetic Experts, Guides to Value’⎮Professor Dominic McIver Lopes, University of British Columbia

19:00 Conference Dinner

Sunday 8th February

10:00 – 10:30 Coffee

10:30 – 12:00 Keynote – Professor Elisabeth Schellekens watch
Chaired by: Mark Windsor, University of Kent

  • On Sensible and Intelligible Beauty ⎮Professor Elisabeth Schellekens, University of Uppsala & University of Durham

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:00 Session 4 watch
Chaired by: James Finch, University of Kent

  • Aesthetic Powers and Adverbials ⎮James Matharu, St Cross College, University of Oxford
  • Wink-Wink, nudge-nudge. Visual indicators of irony in cartoons. ⎮Dieter Declercq, University of Kent

14:00 – 14:30 Coffee&Tea

14:30 – 15:30 Session 5 watch
Chaired by: Dr. Margrethe Bruun-Vaage, University of Kent

  • The Phenomenology of Dance: Husserlian and Post-Husserlian Approaches ⎮Emma Lowe, KU Leuven, Belgium
  • Technology’s Instances: The digital Re-configuration of Dance Work Ontology⎮Hetty Blades, Coventry University

15:30 – 16:00 Coffee&Tea

16:00 – 17:15 Panel Discussion: ‘How to Publish and Career Advice’
Chaired by: Dr. Margrethe Bruun-Vaage, University of Kent

  • Doctor Jonathan Friday, University of Kent
  • Professor Dominic Lopes, University of British Columbia
  • Professor Elisabeth Schellekens, University of Uppsala & University of Durham
  • Professor Murray Smith, University of Kent
  • Watch the career advice video, with: Stacie Friend, Bence Nanay, Andrew Huddleston, Berys Gaut, Eileen John, Robert Stecker, Christy Mag Uidhir, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Dan Cavedon-Taylor, Katherine Thompson-Jones, David Davies, Derek Matravers, Aaron Meskin, John Hyman, Simon Fokt, Yuriko Saito, and Kathleen Stock.

17:15 – 18:15 Wine Reception

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