Founded in 2006, the London Aesthetics Forum (LAF) aims to provide a lively environment for those working in aesthetics and philosophy of art, and to foster new work and interest. As a public forum of the Institute of Philosophy at the School of Advanced Study, based in Senate House, LAF events are free and open to all, both inside and outside the University of London. Our audiences tend to be multi-disciplinary, with both academic and non-academic attendees; talks are followed by open discussion, where the philosophical topics raised are explored from a variety of perspectives.
The LAF 2024/25 programme offered another full schedule of in-person events, 11 in total. Attendance averaged 20 per session, which is consistent with previous years. The website received 3707 unique visits in the past year. We continue to upload and maintain an archive of past abstracts and recordings on the LAF website, which enables further and farther engagement with the LAF, including listeners from beyond London and the UK.
The LAF 2024/25 organising team primarily consisted of PhD students, who organised the schedule, chaired the sessions, and facilitated many other organisational and administrative duties. The website, newsletter, recording archive, advertising posters, and hospitality for our guest speakers are all managed by the student team.
The LAF aims to benefit academics at all stages working in aesthetics or related areas, and to provide opportunities for postgraduates to network with other academic researchers and to engage with their cutting-edge academic research. We are pleased to have included established and early career academics, as well as practicing artists, among our speakers, and to have included talks in philosophy and neurobiology among our speakers’ topics.
We greatly appreciate the generous support and funding from the BSA, which has afforded us the opportunity to provide a diversified programme. In line with the BPA/SWIP Good Practice Policies, the LAF aims for equity and diversity, including an equitable and diverse gender balance, with its programme; we were again successful in this, having hosted seven women and three men as guest speakers. Three of our guests were welcomed from abroad.
The LAF 2024/25 Programme:
Colette Olive (Leeds): “Read All About It? Art and Journalism on the Dehumanisation of Marginalised Groups”
Wednesday, 09 October 2024
Lorenzo Zucca (KCL): “The Art of Navigating Uncertainty”
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
Grazia Pulvirenti (Catania): “The Sublime as a Brain-Body Sensory Experience”
Wednesday, 13 November 2024
James Lewis (Cardiff): “Aesthetic Community and Appreciation (or Vice Versa)”
Wednesday, 04 December 2024
Alice Helliwell (Northeastern, London): “Attribution, Responsibility and AI Art”
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Sarah Fine (Cambridge): “Philosophy With All the Feels”
Wednesday, 12 February 2025
Celia Coll (Nottingham):”Why Do Good Critics Like Bad Books?”
Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Zoe Walker (Oxford): “Dark Comedy: Immorality, Perspectives and Amusement”
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Aaron Meskin (Georgia): “‘Let’s Go See that Together!’: Going Out and Nightlife as Social Aesthetic Practice”
Wednesday, 28 May 2025
Keren Gorodeisky (Auburn): “Beauty, Vulnerability, and the Limits of Sense”
Wednesday, 04 June 2025
LAF/UCL Special Event: “Literature in the Age of the Self”
Monday, 16 June 2025
This special event was sponsored by The British Society of Aesthetics and The Leverhulme Trust, in collaboration with the UCL Centre for Humanities Education, UCL Philosophy, UCL English, and UCL Global Engagement. It included an academic panel with Clare Carlisle (KCL Philosophy), Eric Langley (UCL English), and Tom Stern (UCL Philosophy), as well as a creative roundtable with Rachel Cusk (author and playwright), Brian Dillon (author and curator), and Vidyan Ravinthiran (author and academic).
The LAF 2025/26 Team:
Going forward, we are pleased that most of our team will continue in their current roles, with continued supervision by Prof John Hyman (UCL) and Dr Alex Grzankowski (IP/Birkbeck). The student team will include continuing members, Taylor Enoch (UCL), Sailee Khurjekar (Birkbeck), and Oscar Hillyer (Birkbeck), as well as new members, Irene Romero Suarez (Birkbeck) and Clara Xu (Birkbeck).
The London Aesthetics Forum would like to thank The British Society of Aesthetics for their continued support.
—Taylor Enoch, on behalf of the LAF 2024/25 Team: John Hyman (UCL), Alex Grzankowski (IP/Birkbeck), Taylor Enoch (UCL), Alice Harberd (UCL), Sailee Khurjekar (Birkbeck), and Oscar Hillyer (Birkbeck).
