Object Fantasies. Experience & Creation
In the modern understanding of the word, ‘object’ signifies an entity that is materially constituted, spatially defined and functionally determined. In contrast, the Latin word ‘fantasia’ has, since antiquity, signified an apparition or the ability to imagine something that could be equally an image, a concept or an object. The conference takes this conceptual opposition as the starting point for its inquiry into the creation of new objects – their conception and formation – and into the perception and handling of existing objects. How do object fantasies allow the borders to blur between object categories or between objects and living things? What correlations exist between the creative handling of objects, the self-consciousness of subjects and the concrete and imagined conditions of human beings’ social lives?
Conference at the Center for Advanced Studies, LMU München, 7th - 9th October 2015: program
Forthcoming edited volume: contents