CFP ‘Phenomenology and the contemporary plastic arts’, Oct. 15^th 2010, University of Ghent, Belgium

Theme: Every phenomenological approach of the plastic arts cannot ignore the remarkable fact that, when one looks at a plastic work of art, one is always  conscious of the fact that it is a plastic work of art. Rarely we confuse a figurative painting for example, with the subject depicted by the painting. One has always already the intuition that the painting is an image of reality and not reality itself.

But what founds this image? How is it constituted? Phenomenology offers us different theories, going from rather epistemological ones to more ontological approaches. Husserl for example, refers to the Phantasie which, although it presupposes natural perception, is of a different nature. It brackets the position or the existence of the depicted. The aesthetic experience would then be orientated towards the way of appearing, rather than to what appears. Along this line of understanding image perception in terms of a specific act of consciousness is also Sartre’s account of the image and the imagination in The Psychology of Imagination.

A more ontological approach of the image can be found in Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. They characterize the image as a kind of understanding of being, and thus as a happening of truth, which is made possible by the human participation in being.

It is not the aim of this congress to go through all of these phenomenological theories of the image again. We would like to examine the relevancy of these theories for the interpretation of contemporary art. What do we do with Husserl’s Phantasie and his focus on the way of appearing when a large part of contemporary art has become reflexive and conceptual? What is the significative potential of the theories of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty when a lot of people indicate being out of step with contemporary art? What to do with notions such as unity and sense in a time when plastic artists swear by difference, disparity and senselessness? Does a phenomenology of the contemporary image demand for other notions such as the frame (Derrida), the simulacrum (Baudrillard), virtuality (Deleuze), the collector/the archives, etc.?

Submissions: Send your abstract (max. 500 words) and an information sheet with your name, contact information (including email and telephone), institutional affiliation and status, and the title to Judith.Wambacq@UGent.be before July 15th, 2010. Participants will have 25 min. in which to present their paper.

The congress will take place at the University of Ghent on October 15^th 2010 and will be preceded by a masterclass on the 14^th of October. Confirmed keynote speakers are Hans Rainer Sepp (CZE), Gerard Visser (NL) and Renée van de Vall (NL)