Research Centre Arts in Society

In recent decades, the arts have undergone radical transformations and rapidly adapted to late-capitalist phenomena such as globalization, digitization and the democratization of creative channels. Due to the increasing influence of culture and the creative industry within the world's expanding urban metropolises, notions of artistic autonomy, forcefully promoted in the nineteenth century, have re-emerged in philosophical and ideological discourse. In the light of this, the position of the arts in society demands new forms of conceptualization, definition and legitimatization.

The Research Centre Arts in Society examines these transformations as well as the emerging values surrounding the arts and their role in society. The Research Centre is divided into five knowledge domains: Art in the Polis; Art and Education; Arts, Mediality and Intermediality; Arts, Values and Ethics; and Art as Cognition.

Information concerning events organized by the Research Centre Arts in Society and publications by its members can be found on this website. Relevant links concerning how this centre can be useful for a wider public are also included. Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.

 

In the spotlight:

• Watch lectures by Barend van Heusden, Pascal Gielen (together with Michael Hardt).