REVISIONS OF MODERN AESTHETICS, BELGRADE

This years ‘shadow conference’ of the International Association of Aesthetics, Revisions of Modern Aesthetics, took place in Belgrade (Serbia). There were a lot of participants especially from Europe and Asia. The conference was very well organized. The hyper active ‘paparazzi’ (can’t wait to see the pics), fancy coffee breaks (straws in the cups!), the fun restaurants we visited, without forgetting the good (but heavy) food... everything worked out well.

In a fashion typical for the IAA the conference atmosphere was relaxed. Many great papers were delivered. My own favorites were the animal-related talks by Katya Mandoki and Krystyna Wilkoszewska (in this session I thought for the first time that something is really starting to happen in this topic), Tyrus Miller’s surprising keynote on Paul Scheerbart’s architectural utopia and Zoltan Somhegyi’s talk on architectural decay (Learning from Detroit). But I must have missed dozens of papers – like all of us.

I represented the Finnish Society in the two meetings of the executive committee of the IAA. The biggest issue for the Finnish Society was that we were asked if we’d have interest to organize an IAA event. Finland has never organized a minor one (Lahti hosted a major conference in 1995), but sadly at least the next one should be organized 2018, and that’s the year when we are hosting the conference of the Nordic Society of Aesthetics. It would be too much work to organize two conferences during one summer. But who knows if 2021 would be possible?

Next year’s main conference in Seoul is entitled Aesthetics of Mass Culture. I am personally very happy about this, as my work has mainly focused on this topic.

Max Ryynänen, Chair of the Finnish Society for Aesthetics

Finnish-Russian Conference on Problems of Contemporary Aesthetics, Culture and Art

MOISEI KAGAN'S AESTHETICS AND THE LATE/POST-SOVIET CULTURE

Helsinki, May 18–19, 2015, Aleksanteri Institute, Unioninkatu Street 33
“Negotiation Room” II Floor

Organised by Aleksanteri Institute, Aesthetics, University of Helsinki and Finnish Society for Aesthetics

MONDAY, May 18, 11 AM

Professor Markku Kivinen: Opening Words
Professor Arto Haapala: Opening Words
Docent, artist Kimmo Sarje: Dynamics of Stagnation – about the Congress
Professor Vadim Prozerskiy: M. Kagan: Biography and Synopsis of his Philosophical System
Docent A. Apykhtin: The Actuality of Kagan’s Aesthetic Ideas for Russian Philosophical Thought of the Second Half of the 20th Century
MA Vlada Müller: Living in Parallel Worlds: Art Criticism of Moisei Kagan and Ilya Kabakov

Lunch

Professor E. N. Ustyugova: Die schöpferische Evolution M. Kagan im Kontext der sowjetischen Philosophie und der Ästhetik (Creative Evolution of M. Kagan’s Thought in the Context of Soviet Philosophy and Aesthetics)
Professor Tatiana Artemyeva: Moisei Kagan's Educational Rhetoric
Coffee
Professor T. A. Akindinova:   M. Kagan als Kulturgeschichthistorik (M. Kagan as Historian of Culture)
MA Jukka Mallinen: The Stagnation Period and the Origin of the Moscow Conceptualism and Metarealism since 1977

TUESDAY, May 19, 11 AM

Docent, artist Kimmo Sarje: “My Art Goes Here!” Deconstructing Leninism
Docent A. E. Radeev: On the Concept of the Aesthetic Relation in Soviet Aesthetics
Docent Oiva Kuisma: An Overview of Marxist Aesthetics in Finland
Professor A. Gryakalov: System-Ästhetik und der Ästhetik der Ereignisse: die Dialogposition (The Aesthetics of a System and the Aesthetics of event: the Dialogue of Positions)

Lunch

Post-Graduate Student Svetlana Martynova: The Artist and the Witness: the Problem of Expression
Doctor Hannu Eerikäinen: Die Konzeptualität als eine Form des Erhabenen

Coffee

Docent I. Tretyakova: Synergetic Approach to the History of Culture
Docent, artist Jyrki Siukonen: The Problem with Abstractionism. Revisiting Kagan's Soviet Aesthetics

Panel Discussion

Aesthetics, Contemporaneity, Art (University of Århus)

Please check this link for information about the annual conference of the Nordic Society of Aesthetics. Topic: Aesthetics, Contemporaneity, Art (University of Århus).

Finnish Society for Aesthetics

The Finnish Society for Aesthetics functions as a co-operative forum for scholars, students and other people showing interest in aesthetics. The society aspires to develop research in aesthetics, to create contacts between arts and sciences, and to nourish discussions on aesthetic values. Membership is open to everyone interested in the society.