Beauty and beyond: art and design as agents of transformation

The perception of beauty provides the backdrop to our everyday life, guiding and coding our emotions and enhancing the quality of our shared experiences. The constant flux and innovation of aesthetics has become a fundamental dynamic in our society, driving change and transformation. The New European Bauhaus explores these transformational qualities of aesthetics to tackle current societal and ecological challenges, and discuss the roles, expertise and resources that the arts and design have to offer. How can the New European Bauhaus foster creative acts and artistic ways to relate to the world? How can we contest the affirmative notion of beauty? How can we enhance beauty agency and beauty literacy? How can we turn beauty into a public good?

Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Elisa Poli, Head of the NABA Research Programme

• Dr. Jens Badura, Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich Centre for Creative Economies

• Prof. Dr. Florian Hadler, Berlin Career College, University of the Arts UdK Berlin

Moderated by Aric Chen, Artistic Director, Nieuwe Instituut, London Design Biennale.