Visiting address
Georg Morgenstiernes hus (map)
Blindernveien 31
0371
OSLO
Norway
Norwegian version of this page
The Seminar of Aesthetics
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hand Photogram, 1925
The Seminar of Aesthetics is an interdisciplinary forum for new research at the intersection of aesthetic theory, philosophy and art.
Since 1988 the seminar has presented a long series of guest lecturers from all over the world, among them Paul Ricoeur, Jacques Derrida, Norman Bryson, Jean Starobinski, Julia Kristeva, Gayatri Spivak, Arthur Danto, Thierry de Duve, Sarat Maharaj, Michael Fried, John Rajchman, Boris Groys, Peter Kivy, Andrew Benjamin, Gianni Vattimo, Martin Seel, Hélène Cixous, Gernot Böhme, Gottfried Boehm, Mieke Bal, Peter Brooks, Eric Alliez, Wolfgang Ernst, WJT Mitchell, Hal Foster, Mark B. Hansen, Lorraine Daston and Mark Wigley.
The Seminar organizes a series of open public lectures every semester and is a collaboration between IFIKK, ILOS, IMV and IMK. Chairs: Ina Blom, Andreas Nilsen Ervik, Erling Guldbrandsen, Christian Refsum, Liv Hausken, Eivind Røssaak, Knut Stene-Johansen and Ingvild Torsen.
Upcoming
In this lecture, Erich Hörl, University of Leuphana, Lüneburg, discusses the timeliness of Bernard Stiegler's reflections on the time of suspension or "being-in-disruption" that define life in the Entropocene, understood as an un-time without world or epoch.
Previous
Time and place:
Mar. 20, 2020 2:15 PM–4:00 PM,
Aud 4, Eilert Sundts Hus, Blindern
This event has been cancelled to prevent spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). In this lecture, Jennifer Wild (University of Chicago), will discuss image-making "from below" in the context of revolution, insurrection and technological change
Time and place:
Feb. 11, 2020 3:15 PM–5:00 PM,
Aud 4, Eilert Sundts Hus, Blindern
In this lecture, Erik Steinskog (University of Copenhagen) will discuss afrofuturism in music and the relation between technology, aesthetics and history.
Time and place:
Sep. 13, 2019 6:00 PM–8:00 PM,
Litteraturhuset, Amalie Skram-salen
In this lecture, Whitney Davis (Berkeley) will discuss the evolutionary modernity of picture-making in the human species.
Time and place:
May 10, 2019 4:00 PM–6:00 PM,
Aud 4, Eilert Sundts Hus
In this lecture, Luciana Parisi (Goldsmiths University) will present a critique of technology that, originating from within computational media, makes it possible to discover forms of machine thinking that cannot simply be conflated with machine functions.
Time and place:
May 3, 2019 10:00 AM–6:00 PM,
Henie Onstad Art Center
Space Colonization in the Age of the Anthropocene is a one-day symposium organized in connection with the exhibition The Moon. From Inner Worlds to Outer Space at the Henie Onstad Art Center (15.02-19.05.2019). 50 years after the first manned moon landing, the exhibition brings together art, cinema, music, architecture, cultural history, design and natural history. The symposium addresses the advent of a new space age from a variety of perspectives. Speakers: Peter Adey, Lorenz Engell, Jill Stuart, Cath le Couteur and Stefano Catucci
Time and place:
Apr. 11, 2019 2:00 PM–4:00 PM,
Aud. 4, Eilert Sundts Hus
In this lecture, Daniel Heller-Roazen (Princeton University) discusses questions raised by the image of missing persons in literature ranging from the classical and medieval to the modern age.
Time and place:
Oct. 31, 2018 3:15 PM–5:00 PM,
Aud. 4, Eilert Sundts Hus
In this lecture, Spyros Papapetros (Princeton) will discuss how a ritual practice such as magic can inform the history as well as present-day techniques of art and architecture.
Time and place:
Sep. 17, 2018 3:00 PM–4:00 PM,
Salen, ZEB-bygget
Composers and musicians George Lewis and Rolf-Erik Nystrøm present the results from the two-day Ultima Festical workshop exploring how contemporary music can promote aesthetic diversity.
Time and place:
Aug. 31, 2018 6:00 PM–8:00 PM,
Litteraturhuset, Amalie Skram-salen
In this lecture, McKenzie Wark (New School of Social Research, New York), revisits economist and philosopher Alexander Bogdanov's early 20th century theories on climate change in order to rethink labor with nature in the age of the anthropocene. The Friday lecture is followed by a Saturday seminar on the art and politics of The Situationist Times.
Time and place:
Aug. 24, 2018 3:15 PM–5:00 PM,
Aud. 4, Eilert Sundts Hus, Blindern
In this lecture, Patrick Jagoda (University of Chicago) will discuss "gamification" - the impact of game-mechanics on a variety of social and cultural practices - by focusing on the experimental nature of videogames.
Time and place:
May 31, 2018 2:15 PM–5:00 PM,
Aud 4 Eilert Sundts Hus, Blindern
The symposium will explore differing conceptions of love in the Western cultural context. Speakers are Simon May (Kings College, London) as well as Unn Falkeid and Christian Refsum (University of Oslo)
Time and place:
Apr. 26, 2018 3:00 PM–5:30 PM,
Aud 3 Eilert Sundts Hus
In this guest lecture, philosopher and sociologist Maurizio Lazzarato will discuss the major topics of his ongoing intellectual project: capital and debt, time and temporality, and the ways in which these forces structure the social world.
Introduced and organized by Bruce Barnhart, ILOS.
The lecture will be held in French with parallel English translation by Francie Crebs. Q&A to follow!
Time and place:
Feb. 2, 2018 3:00 PM–5:00 PM,
Aud 5, Eilert Sundt's Hus
In this lecture, Aron Vinegar, professor at the Dept. of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, will explore the question of "holding forth" that emerged in Roland Barthes' late lecture courses at the Collège de France (1977-80)
Time and place:
Jan. 19, 2018 3:15 PM–5:00 PM,
Auditorium 2, Eilert Sundts hus
In this lecture, Michael Marder, Ikerbasque Research Professor of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country, will discuss the art and aesthetics of plant life. The lecture is open for everyone, and will be followed by an informal reception.