Les Brigittines

"Art under control – New societal agenda and militant censorship"

A new militant societal art and uncompromising forms of criticism and censorship plunge part of art into a global atmosphere of moralisation. But can art have ethical goals, and can it be judged on moral criteria?

These questions, which were once considered out of place, are once again on everyone’s lips.

To address them, Carole Talon-Hugon will analyse the new societal agenda of contemporary art, and the new forms of ethical criticism and censorship. She does this through a historical perspective that highlights the particularity of the current situation; the aim of this analysis is to question what art and ethics have to gain and lose in this moralising turn contemporary art is taking.

Carole Talon-Hugon is a member of the Institut Universitaire de France and a specialist in aesthetic philosophy, which she teaches at the University of Nice. She is president of the Société française d’esthétique (French Society of Aesthetics) and publication director of the magazines Nouvelle revue d’esthétique and Noesis. Her most recent publications include Théoriciens de l’art (PUF, 2017) and L'Art sous contrôle - Nouvel agenda sociétal et censures militantes (PUF, 2019).

Every year, Les Brigittines team up with the Master in Performing Arts at the Université Libre de Bruxelles to give a number of lectures in which the current scene is being evaluated, borrowing from anthropology, sociology and philosophy to sharpen the spectator's analytical view. Click here for more info !