"Bildtheorie and Photography: Comparative Philosophical Approaches," Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, April 30, 2009.

The German discipline of Bildtheorie, broadly construed as the theory of images or pictures, offers an important approach to the visual arts but is relatively unknown in the UK. The purpose of this one-day workshop is to invite a leading specialist of Bildtheorie (Professor Lambert Wiesing, Jena) to share his knowledge of contemporary methods, debates and writers (including Peter Geimar, Bernd Stiegler, Gottfried Boehm and Wolfgang Kemp). He will also discuss material from his book Artifizielle Präsenz: Studien zur Philosophie des Bildes (Artificial Presence: Studies in the Philosophy of Images), particularly the view that pictures need not always be signifiers. Three UK speakers will present recent research from the philosophy of the visual arts for comparative discussion. Dawn Phillips and Diarmuid Costello (Warwick) will address the philosophy of photography, in the light of their current AHRC project: Aesthetics After Photography. Jason Gaiger (Open University) will present material from his recent book Aesthetics and Painting, where he engages with Professor Wiesing’s work on ‘the logic of depiction’. By bringing together expertise from Germany and the UK, this event will stimulate new avenues for future research in the philosophy of the visual arts. More information may be found here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/philosophy/research/activities/aestheticsafterphotography/bildtheorie2009workshop/.