by Anna Szyjkowska-Piotrowska, Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

The designation of the epoch as the Anthropocene, more than as the epoch of digital culture, reflects the decline of earlier projects and reveals an awareness of the dangers of the planet's intensive consumption. The transformation of humanity seems necessary because of the historical moment we are in. Indeed, it is not the happiest moment to be human. There is a desire to change, to escape. Opting for change rather than stability, for movement and transformation, entails the necessity of dissociating oneself from one's predecessors, and therefore implies a break with a certain history.

In Anthropocene, the notion of metamorphosis is revealed in a less metaphorical light than before, beginning to become the desperate project of a civilization standing on the precipice. How can we be and remain in the digital, if it is the duality that defines us? Fossils, plants, objects, animals have always been various points of reflection, but now seem to be turning into a point of arrival.

Becoming Other is not just a form of punishment. It is a desire.

The lecture to be given at the MODERNITAS Centre by Prof. Anna Szyjkowska-Piotrowska is based on an innovative methodological approach that sees the modern epoch as the so-called Anthropocene, the epoch of man, and within this framework, the phenomenon of change and metamorphosis will be discussed.

Philosopher of art and culture, linguist, Anna Szyjkowska-Piotrowska is associated researcher at Sorbonne 1 Pantheon University, at Institute ACTE ( Aesthetics and Critical Theories of Culture Axe), assistant professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and assistant professor at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. She completed MA studies in philosophy and MA studies in applied linguistics at the University of Warsaw. She obtained a doctorate in philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw.

She is also an author of the books Afterface. Transgressing Visibility in Art and Philosophy (Słowo/obraz terytoria 2015) and Directing the Waves. Thinking in Visual and Musical Avant-gardes (Słowo/obraz terytoria 2019), NCN scholarship holder, author of articles and essays on art. She regularly publishes in Art Inquiry. Recherches sur les arts and in other art periodicals. She curates and takes part in exhibitions as an artist.

Thursday 7th September 2023 from 11am to 12pm
Maison des Sciences Humaines Reception Room
Bâtiment DE1 Niveau 3
Salle R.3.105
Av. Antoine Depage 1
1000 Bruxelles

This event will be taken in place in English.

Free entrance.
Contact: Petra James