PRESENTATION

PRESENTATION

The anti-humanist condition of Modern Art is constantly reaffirming itself. The recent debate in European culture concerning humanism has done no more than fan the flames. Moreover, the return of radical vanguard practices with a diversity of origins -gender politics, multiculturalism, anti-globalisation, net art, etc.- have made of the anti-humanist condition a common denominator.

Humanist culture, based on the written word, first comes into conflict with oral cultures and later, after facing down the dual threat of the audiovisual media and technology, comes into conflict with the art world: the body, images, things.

This conflict has a historical dimension which traditionally regards Hegelian philosophy as its motive force. Affected by the momentum of the French Revolution, aesthetics has a dark side in the form of the terror and horror of its historical period: from the guillotine and Napoleon to the attacks on the twin towers and the bombing of Kabul.

It now seems that after September 11th History is once again in motion. The reflection that we present here takes us on a journey down the paths mentioned above with their different twists and turns. If, against Hegelian historicism, Massimo Cacciari examines the state of the world as if it were a work of art, Félix Duque, taking Hegel as his starting point, arrives at a time of parody where art constantly imitates the Apocalypse. Ángel González García, against both Hegel and History, returns to the origins of the Modern Period, the Revolution years, in order to let us choose one of two paths; that of art or that of terror.

PROGRAMME

PROGRAMME

Monday, 17th June
· 20:30 h. Félix Duque:
Apocalypse neither now nor ever.

Tuesday, 18th June
· 20:30 h. Ángel González García:
Dicho sencillamente: arte y terror.

Wednesday, 19th June
· 20:30 h. Massimo Cacciari:
Globalizzazione, imperio, grandi spazi, scontro di civiltà.

FREE ENTRY

SPEAKERS

SPEAKERS

Félix Duque
Professor of Philosophy. He is lecturer in the History of Modern Philosophy in the Autonomous University of Madrid. Partner in the International Deutscher Idealismus, Programme based in the University of Bremen. He is author of such books as La Restauración. La Escuela hegeliana y sus adversarios (The Restoration, The Hegelian School and its Adversaries, publ. Akal, Madrid 1998), Filosofía para el fin de los tiempos. Tecnología y Apocalipsis (Philosophy for the End of Time publ. Akal, Madrid 2000), Arte público y espacio político (Public Art and Political Space, publ. Akal, Madrid 2000), La fresca ruina de la tierra (The Recent Ruins of the Earth, publ. Calima, Palma de Mallorca, 2002).

Ángel González García
Professor of the History of Modern Art in the Complutense University of Madrid Geography and History Department. He has been member of the MNCARS advisory committee and Director the Fine Arts Circle of Madrid’s seminars on Art and Aesthetics. He has written numerous essays on Contemporary Art much of which are published in El resto. Una historia invisible (The Rest. An Invisible History, publ. MNCARS/Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Madrid/Bilbao, 2000) for which he was awarded the National Literature Prize for essays.

Massimo Cacciari
Philosopher and political thinker and former Mayor of Venice. His published works in Spain include El ángel necesario (The Necessary Angel, publ. La balsa de la Medusa, 1986), Drama y duelo (Drama and Mourning 1989), El archipiélago (The Archipelago), Desde Nietzsche: tiempo, arte y política (From Nietzsche: Time Art and Politics), El dios que baila, (The Dancing God, publ. Paidós, Barcelona 2000), Geofilosofía de Europa (European Geophilosophy, publ. Alderabán Editores, 2001).