The IAHI Art+Ethics Seminar Series examines the role of art in contemporary life. Free and open to the public, the seminar discusses the intersection between ethical theory and artistic practice. Seminar meetings discuss the intersections of ethics, public art, and urban design through shared readings, guest speakers, and conversation.
2020 begins a new phase for our seminar series. Most noticeably, we have a new name, the Art+Ethics Seminar. This name reflects a change in our approach to the seminar.
Rather than focus solely on public art practice, we’re expanding the scope of the seminar to explore broader topics. This is where the “+” in the title comes in.
By Art+, we mean visual arts, design, architecture, urban planning, music, performance, and more. While much of our focus will remain on contemporary art, we’re going to delve more deeply into the history and philosophy of art.
We will continue discussing the ways in which our ethical frameworks shape and are shaped by artistic practice. We will continue to examine how broader sociocultural, political, and economic contexts shape the institutional worlds of art and design as well as the lived experiences of artists and the communities in which they work.
Art+Ethics Seminar meetings will be different than the previous iteration, which operated primarily as a reading group. In this next phase, we are commissioning speakers to write short essays, which they will present to the group. These think pieces will be the focus of the discussions that follow.
We look forward to seeing you at the new Art+Ethics Seminar. To see the dates, speakers, and topics for upcoming meetings, visit our calendar page.
For more information, contact the organizers: Jason M. Kelly (jaskelly@iupui.edu), Pamela Napier (pcnapier@iupui.edu), and Laura Holzman (holzmanl@iupui.edu).
Cities across the US are grappling with major transformations that expose the many tensions inherent to historical disparities in economics, education, safety, and political access brought on by inequalities based in race and class. Midwest cities have responded to these challenges with a variety of approaches. This seminar series is concerned with addressing one of them: the role of culture in reshaping cities – specifically through public art.
We define public art broadly. It might be permanent or temporary. It could be a sculpture, a painting, a performance, a digital installation. It might be architectural or a transformation a landscape. Form, function, meaning, experience . . . these are topics that we examine in the seminar.
In the discourse and practice of urban design, public art has increasingly been seen as a key tool in redeveloping our cities – from making cities more livable and safe to encouraging economic development and educational achievement.
Using art as a tool to address urban design challenges goes by a variety of different names: creative placemaking, civic art, and tactical urbanism, to name a few. These approaches are fundamentally tied to ethical frameworks and notions of value.
Seminar meetings will discuss the intersections of ethics, public art, and urban design through shared readings, guest speakers, and conversation.
