The British Society of Aesthetics Annual Conference 2013

The 2013 Annual Meeting was held at Homerton College, Cambridge, on 20-22 September. For the first time, the conference included parallel sessions as well as symposia. These were designed to increase participation and diversity, and by all accounts proved a success. Of the fifty-four papers submitted, the programme featured twenty, including eight postgraduate papers. There were also three symposia, on Art and Technology, Creativity and Problem Solving, and Experimental Philosophical Aesthetics. Keynote addresses were delivered by Peter Railton (Michigan, Ann Arbor) on ‘Aesthetic Value as a Tertiary Quality’ and Caroline Korsmeyer (SUNY Buffalo) on ‘Touching Moments’. The William Empson Lecture, traditionally given by an artist or critic, was delivered by the conceptual artist and philosopher Adrian Piper, who spoke on ‘The Real Thing Strange’. The total number of speakers was therefore thirty-three, by contrast with nineteen in 2012. Sixteen speakers were from outside the UK and twelve were women. Also a first, two prizes for outstanding postgraduate papers were awarded, to Tom Baker (Nottingham) for ‘The Fine Art of Beer’ and Helen Bradley (York) for ‘Misrepresentation and the Significance of Style’. There were a total of seventy-three delegates.