What does it mean to in habit a (human) body today? Where do its boundaries begin and end? An d how might rethinking embodied experience and bodily boundaries resh ape the ways we relate to ourselves, to other humans and non-humans, and to the material world at large?
This event starts from the
body and the bodily as a crucial and critical site for reconsidering
our place within an increasingly entangled and unpredictable world.
In a historical moment defined by planetary climate crisis, mass exti
nction, volatile geopolitical relations, and the far-reaching effects
of globalised capitalism, long-held assumptions about humanity’s s
uperiority and self-sufficiency are clearly no longer tenable. Rather
than treating the human as a self-contained entity, contemporary tho
ught and artistic practice are therefore increasingly attending to bo
dies’ embeddedness and interdependence within wider ecological, tec
hnological and material systems. Art and theory alike are increasingl
y turning away from fixed objects and stable (id)entities, towards st
udying processes, relations, and modes of becoming in their explorati
ons of what it means to be in the world today.
It attempts to
ask how attending to the body and the bodily can open up new ways of
thinking, sensing, and acting in the world. What emerges when we unde
rstand humanity not as a pre-given condition, but as an ongoing pract
ice and set of processes that simultaneously act and are acted upon b
y the material world at various scales?
By bringing togethe
r perspectives from contemporary art and art history, theory, philoso
phy, and other forms of critical practice, this symposium considers h
ow the body is entwined with broader political, economic, philosophic
al, aesthetic, and social questions.
-----------------------------
----
Register using the button at the end of this page to confi rm your presence.
List of Speakers and Full Programme Details c oming soon.
---------------------------------
Organ isation Team:
Manuela Zammit is a lecturer on the Bachelo r’s Media, Art, Design and Architecture (MKDA) and a PhD candidate in art history within the department of Art & Culture at Vrije Un iversiteit Amsterdam. Her research frequently addresses the aesthetic s and politics of relationality, thresholds, and zones of convergence .
Medha Guru holds an RMA in Environmental Humanities and is cu rrently preparing to pursue a PhD within the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research engages ethnography, biography, and more-than-human anthropology, wit h particular attention to sensory and embodied forms of knowledge.&nb sp;
DESCRIPTION: This event starts from the body and the bodily as a cruci al and critical site for reconsidering our place within an increasing ly entangled and unpredictable world. In a historical moment defined by planetary climate crisis, mass extinction, volatile geopolitical r elations, and the far-reaching effects of globalised capitalism, long -held assumptions about humanity’s superiority and self-sufficiency are clearly no longer tenable. Rather than treating the human as a s elf-contained entity, contemporary thought and artistic practice are therefore increasingly attending to bodies’ embeddedness and interd ependence within wider ecological, technological and material systems . Art and theory alike are increasingly turning away from fixed objec ts and stable (id)entities, towards studying processes, relations, an d modes of becoming in their explorations of what it means to be in t he world today.