2014 – 2016, Liverpool
Conference Report
Dr Panayiota Vassilopoulou & Dr Daniel Whistler
The BSA Philosophy in the Gallery Series ran between 2014 and 2016. It allowed us to host 14 speakers, who contributed to events that took place at leading cultural institutions in Liverpool, all aiming at linking philosophical discourse with art in the context of partner institutions’ exhibition, research and public engagement practices.
Funds were used to cover speakers’ expenses and, where possible, to photograph or film the events. The series has been met with enthusiasm both from the cultural institutions and the public. Events ranged from lectures to discussions between philosophers, artists, and curators and were all fully booked. Attracting a total of over 500 participants, this very successful series impacted positively on creating awareness of issues pertaining to Philosophy that fall under the British Society of Aesthetics’ mission and principles.
List of Contributors
(1) Dr Lisa Jones, “Social Technologies and the Storied Self”, May 2014 Open Playground, Foundation for Arts and Creative Technologies (FACT) [film, see: https://vimeo.com/97202869]
(2) Dr Danielle Sands, “Mondrian and his Studios”, June 2014, Mondrian and his Studios, TATE Liverpool
(3) Dr Charlie Blake, “Analogue Heaven, Digital Hell. From Sonic Materialism to Infinite Revolutions”, September 2014, in connection with Philip Jeck’s Vinil Requiem, Bluecoat Arts Centre
(4) Dr Paul J. Ennis “Big Data”, October 2014, Big Data, FACT
(5) Dr Joanna Straczowski, “Transmitting Andy Warhol”, December 2014, in connection with Transmitting Andy Warhol, TATE Liverpool,
(6) Lorenzo Fusi (curator) and Dr Yiota Vassilopoulou “Instant Image Making: Philosophy and Photography”, December 2014, Open Eye
(7) Prof. Nigel Clark, “The Politics and Ethics of Geology”, June 2015, Nitrate Bluecoat Arts Centre
(8) Dr Daniel Rubinstein, “Photography After Metaphysics”, December 2016, Open Eye Gallery.
Lorenzo Fusi, Open Eye Gallery
Following consultation with the BSA, we used part of the BSA Philosophy in the Gallery Series towards the costs of speakers whose interests converged, under the overarching theme explored at a day-event Galleries of Inquiry: Philosophy’s Contribution to Curating, Learning, and Public Engagement Practices of todays art
world, held at Bluecoat Arts Centre on 17 November 2016 (see http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/events/view/events/3507).
(9) Elena Antonacopoulou, Management School, University of Liverpool
(10) Anna Bergqvist, Department of History, Politics and Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University
(11) Michael Birchall, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University and Tate Liverpool
(12) Ben Cranfield, Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies, Birkbeck, University of London
(13) Yiota Vassilopoulou, Philosophy Department, University of Liverpool
(14) Mick Wilson, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg
Acknowledgments
We would like to warmly thank the Bluecoat, Tate Liverpool, Foundation for Art and Technology (FACT), and the Open Eye Gallery for their generous support, the many undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Philosophy Department, University of Liverpool for engaging as volunteers for this project, our audiences for their enthusiastic response to our events, the speakers for their most valuable contributions, and of course the British Society of Aesthetics that made it possible for us to be involved in such great project.