Jacques Rancière "Aesthetics and Politics"

Reservation required: reserveren@maisondescartes.com

6 euro
4,50 euro students

The French philosopher Jacques Rancière (born Algiers, 1940) counts as one of the most influential thinkers of today. He was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the Université Paris VIII (until 2000) and has published extensively on themes going from politics and the heritage of Marxism, to didactics, film and literature. After his books on political philosophy ("Aux bords du politique", 1990, "La Mésentente", 1995), Rancière has recently shifted his focus to visual culture and the relation between politics and aesthetics. According to Rancière these two domains are inseparable. He stresses the idea that his ideas on art and aesthetics are to be seen in relation to his other work: ‘What interests me more than politics or art is the way the boundaries defining certain practices as artistic or political are drawn and redrawn’, according to Rancière in the March issue of Artforum, which was devoted to him. *****

In November 2007 Rancière’s work will be translated in Dutch for the first time. “Aesthetics and politics” (“Le partage du sensible: Esthétique et politique”, 2000) and “The aesthetic subconscious” (“L'inconscient esthétique”, 2001) will be published in one volume. A compilation of essays containing an interview with Rancière will also appear (both volumes published by Valiz). These two publications are the first volumes of the new series “Text & context” by publisher Valiz, which will contain key-essays by thinkers on art and visual culture. *****

To mark the publication of these books, Maison Descartes, in cooperation with Valiz and de Appel, organizes an evening with and about Jacques Rancière during which his thoughts on art will be the focus of attention. In a conversation with Jacques Rancière that wil be fueled by the screening of films and showing of art works, his ideas on art, aesthetics and politics and how they relate to present day artistic practice will be discussed. On October 30st, De Balie will host an more general evening programme on politics and aesthetics with lectures, an interview and a discussion.

The evening is organised in a collaboration between de Appel, Maison Descartes and publisher Valiz.