Call for Abstracts
Beyond Reality? Virtuality and Experience
Aesthetics & Critique VII
Kunsthalle Friart & University of Fribourg
Fribourg, Switzerland
December 14-16, 2023
https://projects.unifr.ch/aesthetics-critique/workshop/
Submission deadline: September 30, 2023
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Aurora Hoel (NTNU)
Oliver Krüger (U. Fribourg)
Lars Bang Larsen (Art Hub Copenhagen)
Andrea Pinotti (U. Milan)
Zuzanna Aleksandra Rucińska (U. Antwerp)
The philosophical debate concerning virtuality has so far privileged metaphysical issues, asking whether or not virtual spaces and objects should be considered as real or illusory. With this conference, we suggest bracketing such metaphysical questions for a while and focus instead on the relationship between virtuality and experience. In this framework, we would like to favour a phenomenological approach that understands virtuality as a mode of experience that is often mediated by technology.
The range of questions that this conference aims to address includes, but is not limited to, the following: What does it mean to experience ‘virtuality’? What is the phenomenological structure of the virtual? How does experiencing a virtual world reshape our ordinary lives? What is the relationship between the virtual and the imaginary? What role does immersivity play in virtual environments? What distinguishes VR devices from other media? What is the space for empathy in virtual interactions? How is personal identity preserved but also transformed within virtual worlds?
We welcome submissions for papers concerning any of these issues, as well as related areas.
SUBMISSIONS
Please send an anonymized text in English (conference language) of 800-1000 words (excluding references) to virtualfribourg@gmail.com no later than September 30th. Applicants should also include contact information and their affiliation in the body of the email.
Session times will be 60 min., divided into 35 min. of presentation and 25 min. of discussion. Young scholars and individuals belonging to underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to submit their work.
Funding for travel and lodging may be available for selected papers. We plan to send notifications of acceptance/rejection by mid-October.
CONFERENCE INFORMATION
The event will take place in Fribourg (Switzerland). The first day shall be hosted at the Kunsthalle Friart and features a presentation to the exhibition of Charlotte Johannesson, whose artistic production traverses the spheres of digitalism and virtuality. The second and third day of the conference will be held at the University of Fribourg.
Details about the program of the conference will be published on the conference’s page soon: https://projects.unifr.ch/aesthetics-critique/workshop/
This event represents the 7th conference meeting of the research group of the research group Aesthetics & Critique (University of Fribourg), directed by Emmanuel Alloa.
The conference is organized by:
Nicolas Brulhart (Kunsthalle Friart), Alessandro De Cesaris (Fribourg), and Federico Fantelli (Fribourg & Palermo)
If you have any questions, please contact the organizers at virtualfribourg@gmail.com