Art and Philosophy Specialization

Art and Philosophy

This is a specialization within the Philosophy MA degree programme.

This specialization seeks to generate a critical perspective on several of the structural elements of the category and system of art that are constantly overlooked by academia and philosophy. Thus, we address different aspects that are necessary to dismantle certain notions based more on superstition than on reality. To this end, we offer five seminars that deal with: art as a capitalist system, art in its connection with politics from an anarchist perspective, a renewed look at the relationship between art and madness, a view of the relationship between museum institutions and social movements, and an analysis of the limits of artistic production from the point of view of eroticism. In such a way that, structurally, we will approach the category of art, politics, the figure of the genius, the institutions, and the limits, all from a critical point of view

Instructors: Francisco González Castro, María Paz Martínez, Úrsula San Cristóbal, Amapola Cortés.

To obtain the concentration in Art you must:

  • Successfully complete 5 courses in the philosophy programme (these may be any five courses)

  • Successfully complete 4 of the 5 courses listed below

  • Successfully complete either 1 elective course (in another concentration, for example, English Literature and Philosophy); or 1 independent study

You thus must successfully pass 10 courses in total. When you complete the concentration you will receive a certificate in “Philosophy and Art”. 

Length of Degree:

You can complete the MA in one year (full-time).

Cost:

The tuition investment is €6,000

Application Deadline:

Apply at any time. We are currently accepting applications.

Credits:

  • 90 ECTS credits with MA thesis research, writing, and defending.

Prerequisites:

BA Degree or higher

Courses

The Category of Art as a Capitalist Product
Instructor: Francisco González Castro, PhD
In this seminar we will review the relationship between the art system and capitalism. To do so, we will examine how contemporary art is articulated as a system and how it is differentiated from artistic practices. Then we will see certain ways in which Art relates to capitalism and how aesthetics as a philosophy has helped to colonize the way of understanding artistic creation. Finally we will review the political-artistic practice as a different perspective on the relationship between art and politics.
Anarchism and Art (or the impossibility of an Anarchist Art)
Instructor: Francisco González Castro, PhD

In this course we will address some of the relationships between Art and Anarchism, with a focus on the possible contributions of artistic practices for a change in our society. To this end, we will first discuss some of the central problems of anarchism, such as freedom, authority and property. Then, we will review how anarchist art critics and theorists have worked on their practice and discourses, and how artists who thought of themselves as anarchists developed their work. Finally, we will raise the problem of speaking of an Anarchist Art, being Art a modern system similar to the State and Capitalism, different from the possibility of anarchist artistic practices.

The movement of the limit: artistic practices and madness
Instructor: María Paz Martínez, PhD candidate

Assuming that we constantly become bodies, I propose that there are becoming-bodies that are constantly moving towards certain limits (be they social, moral, cultural or physical), and that this path is identifiable with the processes of artistic practice and madness. The seminar seeks to explore and critically approach the similarities between artistic practice and madness, which can be considered procedures that tend to a limit and whose difference is given by how they are named and identified, rather than by their own work, which in this case, we think is analogous. The initial question I pose is: What is the relationship between madness and artistic practice, in terms of the limits that regulate us? I propose this question as a starting point for collective reflection and discussion.

Bodies, sounds, and transformations: an approach to eroticism in contemporary audiovisual culture
Instructor: Úrsula San Cristóbal, PhD

Eroticism in audiovisual language has been modeled from a heteropatriarchal perspective since the time of classic cinema, and criticism of this model has not been long in coming. From the cinema to the video clip, it is increasingly common to find bodies that escape gender stereotypes adopting different transformations that go beyond androgyny, embracing images of the cyborg, the monstrous, and the fantastic. What audiovisual strategies are they using to capture these experiences? How do sounds and images collaborate in the presentation of these bodies? Considering reflections from philosophy, literary studies, and art history, this seminar will analyze contemporary audiovisual practices that explore various nuances of the erotic experience.

Museums and social movements
Instructor: Amapola Cortés, PhD candidate
Social movements have been fundamental to understanding the critical drifts of museums from the 1970s onwards. The various questions raised by the mobilization of cultural institutions have had a strong impact on both museum practices and their representations. In this seminar we will explore the relationship between contemporary museologies and social movements from a two-way relationship: both from the impact that the social movements of the 60s and 70s had on the institution at a global level, and from the inclusion of these movements as a theme and object within the museum, thinking of them as part of the heritage of humanity.