AESTHETICS FOR BIRDS

Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art for Everyone

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EXPERTS RANK THE TOP 5 IN THIS DECADE’S ART

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Zanele Muholi, Ntozakhe II, Parktown (2016)

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies, games, writing, TV, and music, and you can look forward to one more surprise list at the end. Our experts include philosophers and other academics whose work concerns these topics, and people working in the relevant media. Up today: art!

Okay so obviously movies and music are art, but what we mean by “art” today is arty art, that special kind of artworld art that’s in galleries and art fairs and museums, and attended to by art magazines and news outlets. We’re looking at photography, painting, video art, performance art, and more.

Let’s see what this decade’s highlights were in art!

Our contributors are:

    • Gemma Argüello Manresa, curator and lecturer at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
    • Margo Handwerker, curator and gallery director at Texas State Galleries
    • Sarah Hegenbart, lecturer in Art History at the Technical University of Munich
    • Alex King, assistant professor in Philosophy at SUNY Buffalo
    • Daniel Star, associate professor in Philosophy at Boston University

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7 EXPERTS RANK THE DECADE’S TOP 5 IN MUSIC

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Childish Gambino, “This Is America”

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies, games, and writing, and TV so far, and you can look forward to two more: traditional visual arts and one surprise list at the end. Our experts include philosophers and other academics whose work concerns these topics, and people working in the relevant media. Up today: music!

Perusing the below lists, you may find yourself wondering: Where’s the Kendrick Lamar? The Lana Del Rey? The Arcade Fire? If you want that kind of list, go hit up Rolling Stone or Pitchfork. We’re here to give you something a little different. The world of music is huge, and contains a lot beyond the contemporary mainstream. Instead, what we have today is a glimmer of that variety in music, including everything from opera and rap to metal and Christmas music.

Our contributors are:

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8 EXPERTS REVEAL THEIR TOP 5 TV SHOWS OF THE DECADE

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Twin Peaks: The Return (Showtime, 2017)

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies, games, and writing so far, and you can look forward to music, traditional visual arts, and one surprise list at the end. Our experts include philosophers and other academics whose work concerns these topics, and people working in the relevant media. Up today: TV shows!

This decade, as everybody is well aware, has seen an immense boom in quality television. Niche programming and subscription streaming services, and the corresponding influx of money into TV production that has meant, have brought us into a new Golden Age of television. But it can be hard to know what to prioritize, and sinking fifty or more hours into a show is a commitment more serious than some relationships. To help you organize your own to-watch lists, we’ve got eight TV experts lined up to send their recs your way.

(And for the curious: Contributors were allowed to recommend shows that started last decade as long as the stuff that was released this decade is a key part of what makes the show great.)

Our contributors are:

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ASA ELECTIONS: CAST YOUR VOTES BY DECEMBER 31!

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The American Society for Aesthetics (ASA) is currently holding elections for three trustee positions. The three elected trustees will serve three-year terms (February 1, 2020 – January 31, 2023).

Brief bios for the nominees appear below the fold.

The deadline to vote is December 31, 2019. Results will be announced in early January. Everyone who is currently holds a 2019 ASA membership is eligible to vote.

Notably, the ASA allows cumulative voting: Each member gets three votes, and can cast all anywhere between one and three votes for the each person. For example, members can vote once for three different people, or spend all three votes on one person.

To vote, click here. Continue reading →


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8 EXPERTS REVEAL THEIR TOP 5 IN THE DECADE’S WRITING

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Florida (Lauren Groff, 2018)

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies and games, and you can look forward to television, music, traditional visual arts, and one surprise list at the end. Our experts will include philosophers and other academics whose work concerns these topics, and people working in the relevant media. Up today: writing!

Writing is a curious category, one that can be extremely broad, as writing touches so much of the arts. Movies have scripts; songs have lyrics; cookbooks have written instructions. So in our lists below, you’ll find novels as well as a selection of the best of what writing and storytelling had to offer this decade.

Our contributors are:

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GAME EXPERTS RANK THEIR TOP 5 GAMES OF THE DECADE

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God of War (2018)

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. We’ve done movies, and you can look forward to writing, television, music, traditional visual arts, and one surprise list at the end. Each will include philosophers working in these and related areas, but also other academics whose work concerns these topics and people working in the relevant media. But up today: games!

We asked our experts to rank their top five games of all kinds, so let’s see what the 2010s gave us to play with.

Our contributors are:

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9 MOVIE EXPERTS ON THEIR TOP 5 FILMS OF THE DECADE

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Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami, 2012)

This year marks the end of the second decade of the 2000s. In honor of this, we thought we’d take a look back at our decade with an end-of-year series.

The internet loves lists, especially year-end ones, and we’ll feed that love a little bit this December. We’ll be hosting seven lists of expert Decade-Best picks. Expect movies, games, writing, television, music, traditional visual arts, and one surprise list at the end. Each will include philosophers working in these and related areas, but also other academics whose work concerns these topics and people working in the relevant media.

Of course, all lists are imperfect, and it’s probably a little bit silly to try to rank all of these things. But what would the internet be without a little silliness? We hope you’ll find them useful for adding things to your own lists: to-watch, to-read, to-listen, and all sorts of other to-consumes.

Now, let’s see what the 2010s had to offer us in film!

Our contributors are:

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WHAT’S SO INTERESTING ABOUT THE PAST? AN INTERVIEW ABOUT RUINS, MONUMENTS, AND MEMORIALS

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Alex King interviews philosophers
Jeanette Bicknell, Jennifer Judkins, and Carolyn Korsmeyer for AFB.

Jeanette Bicknell, Jennifer Judkins, and Carolyn Korsmeyer recently co-edited a collection of new essays, Philosophical Perspectives on Ruins, Monuments, and Memorials. From the book description:

This collection of newly published essays examines our relationship to physical objects that invoke, commemorate, and honor the past. The recent destruction of cultural heritage in war and controversies over Civil War monuments in the US have foregrounded the importance of artifacts that embody history. … The authors consider issues of preservation and reconstruction, the nature of ruins, the aesthetic and ethical values of memorials, and the relationship of cultural memory to material artifacts that remain from the past.

See the full list of contributing authors here.

Below, Alex King interviews them about themes from the volume.

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SPIN ME ROUND: WHY VINYL IS BETTER THAN DIGITAL

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What follows is a guest post by Tony Chackal.

Ever wonder why people prefer vinyl records over digital formats? Are they just snobs who fetishize vintage culture or elitists overly concerned with being hip? Are vinyl enthusiasts backward-looking in resisting contemporary technology? Maybe. But there are other substantial reasons to prefer vinyl to digital formats that may account for recent rebounds in vinyl sales. In this piece, I’ll highlight what I think they are. Continue reading →