Saturday
André Barata + Liliana Coutinho
Ways to Superficialize
Moderated by Liliana Coutinho
Talk in Portuguese
The two-dimensionalization of things that we deal with on a daily basis, compressing their thickness to a residual condition, isan expression of dematerialization. However, this superficialization of reality that disregards the matter of which things are made is opposed by another form of superficialization. For example, instead of the “clean” surface that repels any substance that could adhere to it, ideally even the fingerprints we leave as a trace when we type them, the surface that radiates, sensitive, that dirties if touched, and the surfaces magnified in the form of fractals. Between a synonymous surface with two-dimensionality and a synonymous surface with dimensionality that keeps on branching out, ecological, aesthetic, and metaphysical challenges are at play. And it is this tense opposition between forms of superficializing that we propose to touch upon.
André Barata was born in Faro in 1972. He received his PhD in Contemporary Philosophy at the University of Lisbon. He has been a professor at the Universidade da Beira Interior since 2002, where he currently heads the Faculty of Arts and Letters. He is also President of the Portuguese Society of Philosophy. His academic interests range from social and political philosophy to phenomenological and existential thought. He has essay books, such as “Metáforas da Consciência” (Campo das Letras, 2000), on the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, “Mente e Consciência” (Phainomenon, 2009), a set of essays on philosophy of mind and phenomenology, “Primeiras Vontades -sobre a liberdade política em tempos árduos” (Documenta, 2012). More recently he has published a trilogy -“E se parássemos desobreviver -Pequeno livro para pensar e agir contra a ditadura do tempo” (Documenta, 2018); “O desligamento do mundo e a questão do humano” (Documenta, 2020) and, just published, “Para viver em qualquer mundo -Nós, os lugares e as coisas”. He regularly signs the column “Pensar devagar” (Thinking Slowly) for the Jornal Económico.
