Lunedì 28 aprile 2025 ore 15:00-Martedì 29 aprile 2025 ore 13:15

Centro studi ART | Aesthetics Research Torino 

Lunedì e martedì, 28-29 aprile 2025

Auditorium Guido Quazza, Palazzo Nuovo, Via Sant'Ottavio 20, Torino

Aesthetics practices and urban forms of life

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

MONDAY, APRIL 28

3.00 pm
Alessandro Bertinetto, Welcome address

FIRST SESSION

Chair: Alberto Martinengo

3.30 pm
Alfonso Galindo Hervás (Universidad de Murcia), Intervention-institution of the public space in the context of the crisis of political representation
Discussant: Alessandra Vannucci 

4.45 pm
Roberto Mastroianni (Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, Torino), The tattooed city: Graffiti writing, street art, urban art and urban muralism between imaginary and onto-anthropological practices
Discussant: Gabriele Marino 

6.00 pm
Stefano Velotti (Sapienza Università di Roma), Project and event: Notes on the relationship between architecture and forms of life
Discussant: Ivan Quartesan 

TUESDAY, APRIL 29

SECOND SESSION

Chair: Alessandro Bertinetto

9.30 am
Matilde Carrasco Barranco (Universidad de Granada), Aesthetics of care in political art
Discussant: Tamar Elisheva Levi

10.45 am 
Antonio Rivera García (Universidad Complutense, Madrid) The political critique of the form of the city and the aesthetics of intricacy: Reflections from Pasolini, Debord, Haacke and Rancière
Discussant: Paolo Furia 

12.00 pm
Naxto Navarro Renalias (Universidad de Murcia), The shaping of the aesthetic object in everyday life: A look at the city
Discussant: Clelia Repetto

Organizing committee: Alessandro Bertinetto, Michela Bloisi, Alberto Martinengo

ABSTRACTS & BIOS

Alfonso Galindo Hervás (Universidad de Murcia), Intervention-institution of the public space in the context of the crisis of political representation

In a context of crisis of the political representation capacity of traditional institutions (e.g. parliaments, political parties, trade unions, etc.), certain works of art show potential for political representation. This thesis involves analysing whether or not there is a crisis of traditional political representation, as well as redefining what is understood by politics, art and the relations between both spheres of action and meaning. To do so, allusions will be made to certain philosophical theories and certain aesthetic-political practices.

Alfonso Galindo Hervás is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Murcia (Spain). His research and publications focus on the fields of contemporary political philosophy and the history of political concepts. He has paid special attention to Italian political thought, to the liberal tradition, to the great political concepts and to some of the main phenomena of current politics, such as populism. He is principal investigator of the Research Project "Study and Critique of Italian Theory" and of the Research Group "Philosophy and Contemporary Socio-Historical Processes’" His latest books are Pensamiento impolítico contemporáneo. Ontología (y) política en Agamben, Badiou, Esposito y Nancy (2015); Historia y conceptos políticos. Una introducción a Reinhart Koselleck (2021); Conceptos políticos fundamentales. Un análisis contemporáneo (2021); La institución o la vida. Un análisis filosófico (como ed.; 2024).

Roberto Mastroianni (Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, Torino), The tattooed city: Graffiti writing, street art, urban art and urban muralism between imaginary and onto-anthropological practices

The talk intends to analyse the birth, diffusion and development of the aesthetic practices linked to the phenomenon of Urban Art, starting from the birth of graffiti-writing to the emergence of phenomena of urban neo-muralism typical of street art and new forms of public art, investigating the relationship between street culture, the imaginary and onto-anthropological practices of shaping the human and metropolitan space. The anthropological and communicative relationships established between the city, institutions, power and subjectivities become an exemplary case, insofar as they are materially scriptural and figural, of a phenomenon of signification and re-signification and urban writing/re-writing, aimed at the re- appropriation and re-semanticization of public space, through practices of ‘artistically oriented’ artivism and active citizenship, which produce the emergence of specific forms of life and imaginaries capable of imposing themselves as the koiné of global societies, in an ever-increasing tension between urban decoration, experimentation and political antagonism.

Roberto Mastroianni is a philosopher, anthropologist, curator and art critic. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the Unesco Chair in Sustainable Development and Territory Management at the  University of Turin and an Independent Researcher at C.I.R.Ce - Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerche sulla Comunicazione and Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Anthropology of Art at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin. After graduating in Theoretical Philosophy, under the supervision of Gianni Vattimo and Roberto Salizzoni, and obtaining a Ph. D. in Philosophy of Communication, under the supervision of Ugo Volli, he has focused his research mainly on Philosophical Aesthetics, General Theory of Politics, Anthropology, Semiotics, Urban Studies, Communication and Cultural Studies, Urban Innovation and Cultural Heritage, Sustainable Development and Political Ecology, Contemporary and Irregular Art, and Philosophical Criticism. He was the President, acting as Director, of the Museo Diffuso della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà di Torino (2019-24). He was scientific and artistic advisor on Graffiti-Writing, Street Art, Urban Art, Urban Design and Youth Creativity for the ‘Creative Turin’ Department of the City of Turin, curator for Public Art, Urban Creativity and Urban Art for the Fondazione Contrada Torino Onlus (2020-23). He has also been a consultant for national and international organisations, and has delivered lectures, conferences and talks in Italian and foreign universities. He is author, co-author and curator of several books, articles and essays on anthropology, semiotics, philosophical aesthetics, political theory, philosophy and art criticism. He currently teaches Cultural Anthropology and Anthropology of Art at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, where he is Coordinator of the School in New Technologies for Art and Member of the Teaching Board of the Ph. D. Programme in New Media Art and Curatorial Practices.

Stefano Velotti (Sapienza Università di Roma), Project and event: Notes on the relationship between architecture and forms of life

The relationships between philosophy, architectural theory, and architectural practice are multiple and intricate. On the one hand, philosophy cannot reflect in a vacuum—it must begin from the forms of life that architecture helps to shape and upon which it, in turn, depends. Nor can it avoid engaging with architectural treatises (from Vitruvius to Koolhaas) or with individual works. Not to mention the various attempts to organize philosophy itself in an “architectural” fashion. On the other hand, philosophy must also risk taking a certain distance from architectural theories and practices, in order to question and critique the very forms of life of which it is a part. I believe this task is best pursued by focusing on the modes and conditions through which we experience the world we are in the process of constructing. In particular, I am interested in exploring how architectural design conditions the forms of life in which it takes shape. It must hold together both the anticipation and control of its own means and ends, while also being unable to fully predict or govern the (social, aesthetic, material) outcomes of its operations. This entanglement of controllable and uncontrollable factors in the design and realization of architectural projects calls into question the category of the “event”—a concept that this talk seeks to clarify.

Stefano Velotti is Full Professor of Aesthetics at the Department of Philosophy of “Sapienza Università di Roma,” where he has also served as a Senior Fellow at the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SSAS). He has taught at Stanford, Yale, UCSB, and UCLA. He has worked in publishing, for programs on Radio Tre, and for educational broadcasts on RAI. He contributes to the cultural pages of national newspapers and periodicals. His research lies at the intersection of aesthetics and social philosophy, on which he has published numerous articles and volumes. Among his publications: The Conundrum of Control: Making Sense through Artistic Practices (Brill, Leiden & Boston; Italian translation Sotto la soglia del controllo, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2024); La dialettica del controllo. Limiti della sorveglianza e pratiche artistiche (Castelvecchi, Roma 2017); La filosofia e le arti. Sentire, pensare, immaginare (Laterza, Roma-Bari 2012); Estetica analitica. Un breviario critico (Aesthetica, Palermo, 2008); Storia filosofica dell’ignoranza (Laterza, Roma-Bari 2003); Il non so che. Storia di un’idea estetica (with P. D’Angelo, Aesthetica, Palermo, 1997); Sapienti e bestioni. Saggio sull’ignoranza, il sapere e la poesia in Giambattista Vico (Parma, Nuova Pratiche Editrice, 1994); Adolf Loos. Stile e paradosso (De Donato, Bari, 1988).

Matilde Carrasco Barranco (Universidad de Granada), Aesthetics of care in political art

Aesthetics of care conceives care as an ethical practice that holds an aesthetic dimension. Care aesthetics is the aesthetics of our relationships with objects and environments but especially with humans, seeking new forms of sociability that raise empathy, interdependence, equality and reciprocity. Based on theory of performative practices and participatory projects in theatre and politically engaged performance, I would like to show the relevance of aesthetics of care for some sort of political art, namely, what Spanish philosopher Gerard Vilar has called “political art of capabilities”. This is political art that, without slogans, trusts and aims to empower people by involving them in collaborative activities that encourage more democratic and fair forms of sociability.

Matilde Carrasco Barranco is Permanent Professor of Aesthetics and Theory of Arts in the Department of Philosophy-I of the University of Granada (Spain). Her work has focused mainly on aesthetic experience and judgement, art theory and criticism, and more recently, on the return of beauty in contemporary aesthetics and theory of art. She is now working on performative and relational aesthetics, with special attention to the aesthetics of care. She is the current President of SEyTA (Spanish Society of Aesthetics and Theory of Arts).

Antonio Rivera García (Universidad Complutense, Madrid), The political critique of the form of the city and the aesthetics of intricacy: Reflections from Pasolini, Debord, Haacke and Rancière

We start with the television programme La forma della città, in which Pasolini defended the centuries-old form of a city that was being modified by neo-capitalist developmentalism. Behind Pasolini’s defence, we can appreciate a politics and aesthetics of care that also connects with an ecological politics based on conservation. In our paper, we will relate this theme, the conflict between the aesthetic and economic spheres, to the aesthetics of intricacy, which, according to Rancière, implies ‘a mode of unity opposed to the architectural model’, that of the submission of the parts to the idea of the whole. Intricacy refers to a way of thinking about complexity and diversity that is not, however, incompatible with the idea of a certain unity. It is an aesthetic that helps us to think of a type of urbanism that is capable of resisting the neoliberal models of city development, which are based solely on economic principles, and of opening up to an emancipatory conception of our everyday life.

Antonio Rivera García is Professor of Aesthetics and Theory of the Arts. He is currently Director of the Department of Philosophy and Society, as well as of the UCM research group ‘Contemporary Aesthetics: Art, Politics and Society’. Since 2010 he has co-directed Res publica. Journal of Political Philosophy. He has been Principal Investigator (PI) 2 of the Project “Saavedra Fajardo Library (V): Populism versus Republicanism: the political challenge of the second globalization” (FFI2016-75978), during the years 2017-2021; PI of the Santander-UCM Project “Aesthetic and political critique of neoliberal subjectivity and virtual technologies of control” (PR44/21-29935), during 2022-2023; and he is currently PI of the project “Aesthetics and digital transformation of society: The relevance of the aesthetic laboratory for the analysis and critique of virtual community and attention capitalism” (PID2023-149638OB-I00). His numerous publications include the books La crueldad de las imágenes. Estética y política del cine; El dios de los tiranos; Reacción y revolución en la España liberal; Republicanismo calvinista; La política del cielo. Clericalismo jesuita y Estado moderno. He has also been editor or co-editor of the books Música y capitalismo. Emancipación de los cuerpos sonoros; Crítica de la subjetividad neoliberal. Una aproximación desde la estética y la teoría de las artes; La ontología de la presencia. El pensamiento de Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht; Schiller, arte y política, etc. His research has focused on the history of political ideas and concepts and contemporary aesthetics. In recent years his most important work has focused on the relationship between aesthetics and politics and image theory.

Naxto Navarro Renalias (Universidad de Murcia), The shaping of the aesthetic object in everyday life: A look at the city

In this presentation, I will address the relationship between forms of life and aesthetic practices from the perspective of the contemporary sub-discipline of Everyday Aesthetics (Saito [2015] 2024). Focusing on examples from urban contexts, I will explore how the object of aesthetic appreciation in everyday life (in a similar yet not identical manner than in art) is constructed by forms of life. That is, forms of life, understood as the shared background of practices and activities within a community, offer a contextual and normative framework that guides our aesthetic appreciations in everyday life by prescribing what counts as meaningful, correct, or reasonable to appreciate. In this way, they shape the aesthetic object by orienting responses to both the ‘what’ of appreciation (i.e., what to look at?) and the ‘how’ (i.e., how to evaluate it aesthetically?) in the absence of an explicit theoretical framework or solid appreciative conventions such as we have in art. This can be illustrated, for instance, with the cases of parks (Lobo 2023), fashion (Abate 2021) or ordinary behaviours of social groups (Naukkarinen 2017).

I am a PhD student and predoctoral researcher at the University of Murcia (Spain) working on Everyday Aesthetics within the research group Aresmur-Aesthetics and Theory of Arts. I have been a visiting researcher at the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, and currently [at the time of the workshop] at the University of Turin, as well as a fellow researcher at the Institute of Philosophy of The Spanish National Research Council. I completed my studies in Philosophy between the University of Murcia, the University of Hull, and the Complutense University of Madrid.

Il convegno è finanziato dal Dipartimento di Filosofia e Scienze dell'educazione, nell'ambito delle iniziative "RTL | Research Temporary Lab". L'appuntamento contribuisce al conseguimento del badge di ART per le studentesse e gli studenti che segnaleranno la loro partecipazione via email ad Alberto Martinengo (alberto.martinengo@unito.it).

Allegato (1.0 MB)

Martedì 29 aprile 2025 ore 16:00-Mercoledì 30 aprile 2025 ore 13:00

Centro studi ART | Aesthetics Research Torino 

Martedì, 29 aprile 2025, h. 16-19, Auditorium Guido Quazza, Palazzo Nuovo, Via Sant'Ottavio 20, Torino

Mercoledì, 30 aprile 2025, h. 10-13, Sala Incontri 1, Biblioteca di Filosofia e Scienze dell'educazione, Palazzo Nuovo, Via Sant'Ottavio 20, Torino

(oppure online su Webex)

Alfonso Galindo Hervás

Two lessons on aesthetics and politics

Allegato (0.1 MB)