Saturday 24 January 2009, 10.00–17.30

The history of art is inextricably tied up with the history of the image. Critical debates about contemporary art involve different concepts of and questions about the image. Is it possible to liberate the image from the theological shadow of the icon? Can the 'aesthetic image' be brought back from aestheticism to what Jacques Rancière calls 'the political stakes of a montage of the sensible'? Or must aesthetics be thought anew in the hyper-present of contemporary art?

This conference asks four French philosophers and art historians to consider these issues: Éric Alliez, Professor of Contemporary French Philosophy, Middlesex University; author of La Pensée-Matisse (with Jean-Claude Bonne, 2005) and L'Oeil-Cerveau: Nouvelles Histoires de la Peinture Moderne (2007)

Elisabeth Lebovici, art historian and art critic; co-author (with Catherine Gonnard) of Femmes/artistes, artistes/femmes, Paris de 1880 à nos jours (Hazan, Paris, 2007). Other recent texts include Louise Bourgeois (Tate Modern/Centre Pompidou,

Georges Didi-Huberman, Professor of Art History, EHESS, Paris; author of L'image survivante (2002) and La ressemblance par contact (2008)

Jacques Rancière, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Paris-VIII; author of The Future of the Image (2003; trans. 2007) and The Politics of Aesthetics (2000; trans. 2004).

Tate Britain  Auditorium
£35 (£25 concessions), booking recommended

    

Programme

10.00   Registration & Coffee

10.30      Introduction: Tate Britain and Peter Osborne (CRMEP, Middlesex University)

10.45   ‘The Dislocation of the IMAGE-Grip’

            Éric Alliez

11.30    Discussion

12.00   ‘Extras (Les Figurants)’

            Georges Didi-Huberman

12.45    Discussion

13.15   Lunch (not included)

14.15   ‘This is Not My Body’

             Elisabeth Lebovici

15.00     Discussion

15.30     Tea and Coffee

15.45    ‘The Pensive Image’

              Jacques Rancière

16.30     Discussion

17.00     Closing Panel Discussion:      

Éric Alliez, Georges Didi-Huberman, Elisabeth Lebovici and Jacques Rancière

17.30     Reception, Clore Foyer