virtual philosopher

Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Rothko

There is a podcast of a talk I gave as part of last year's Tate Modern symposium on Mark Rothko available  from the Tate Modern Events podcast. Further details about how to download this mp3 here. Rothko loved Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, both of which, particularly The Birth of Tragedy, influenced him significantly (he was explicity about this in his writings) and suggest ways of approaching his late paintings.

A Short Talk on A Very Short Introduction to Free Speech

I will be giving a short talk on Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction at the Oxford Literary Festival on 30th March 2009 at 1.15. Further details are here.

Free Speech - Talk in Keswick - Words by the Water Literary Festival

Michael Buerk (presenter of BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze) and I will be in discussion on the topic of Free Speech at the Words by the Water literary festival in Keswick at 10.30 am on Sunday 1st March 2009. This is to coincide with the publication of my new book Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction (OUP) which will be the 200th title in Oxford University Press' Very Short Introduction series and is due out in February.

Further details and downloadable programme for the Words on the Water Literary Festival (booking opens 5th January)

Jersey Sixth Form Conference on Ethics

On 16th March 2007 I will be speaking at a sixth form Ethics conference at Hautlieu School, Jersey on 'What is Philosophy?' and 'John Stuart Mill on Freedom'. Other speakers include Stephen Law and Mel Thompson. Further details of the conference from Tom Fallon.

Tate Modern Course: Seven Ways of Thinking About Art - a few places still available

There are still some places available on my course 'Seven Ways of Thinking About Art'. The course is held on seven consecutive Monday evenings from 5th Feb. 6.30 p.m. - 8 p.m. and is followed by a free drink in the Tate Modern first floor cafe bar.  The sessions consist of c45 minutes in a spectacular classroom - possibly the best classroom in the world -  overlooking St Paul's and the Globe Theatre, followed by c45 minutes in part of the galleries after they have been closed to the public, applying philosophical ideas to specific works there. Each week, we will consider a different stance towards works of art (e.g. as expressions of their creators' intentions, as objects which invite unconstrained subjective reactions, or as part of the museum's rhetoric etc.). No prior knowledge of philosophy or art is needed. The people who've signed up for these courses in the past have been very diverse in their backgrounds and interests, and this has made for very interesting debate. My aim is to introduce some key philosophical ideas about our engagement with works of art, and to explore and discuss them in relation to particular works in the collection

Book online here

Earlier post on teaching at Tate Modern...

I will be posting summaries and suggestions for further readings, links etc. regularly on this weblog.

Forthcoming Talks at Heythrop College A Level Philosophy Days 8th and 9th February 2007

I will be speaking at the Heythrop College A Level days in London on the 8th and 9th of February 2007. Topics to be announced. Further details from Heythrop College, Philosophy Department.

Art and Philistinism

Here is an honest reaction to Cornelia Parker's ‘The Distance (a kiss with string attached)’ Parker had carefully wrapped Auguste Rodin’s sculpture ‘The Kiss’ in string. It is from M. Simmons, who, in a letter published in METRO, (Thursday Feb. 27, 2003) wrote:.

‘I cannot begin to describe how angry I am about Cornelia Parker’s string tied around Rodin’s beautiful work of art The Kiss.’

He/she does in fact go on to reveal how angry he/she is, and also makes the following critical judgment of the work:

‘It is indeed a load of crap [then makes a point about the nature of art]  but the public should not be surprised at what the Tate calls art. Just look at the bricks, the unmade bed, the lights that go on on their own (which, incidentally, happens in our office and has done for the last ten years) and so on.’

It is easy to make fun of such comments. But they are sincere and raise interesting questions.

This was the starting point for a talk I gave at Tate Britain in 2003 when my book The Art Question came out. Extract from this book.

The full draft of my talk can be downloaded here [24KB rtf] Download art_and_philistinism.rtf

Juxtapositions at Tate Modern Museums and Art History Conference

If you have RealPlayer you can watch and listen here to a talk I gave at a recent conference on Museums and Art History at Tate Modern. I discuss the part played by juxtaposition in understanding works of art. My opening remarks are a reaction to the preceding presentation by Steve Edwards in which I took him to be presenting a somewhat elitist view of the role of art museums.