40 Jahre IGPE
A first review of the Polyaesthetic Symposium in memoriam of Prof. Dr. Claus Thomas (+ 23.12.2022) in Salzburg.

It is to the merit of Prof. Claus Thomas, our recently deceased honorary member, that the "Polyaesthetic Education" initiated by Wolfgang Roscher developed a strong affinity to therapeutic aspects. Due to his studies in pediatrics, Claus Thomas knew in particular detail about the desires and needs of young people. He developed extensive methodological approaches to effectively meet these challenges in an aesthetic way. With his own practical realizations, he comprehensibly demonstrated their effect.
What has developed from this in the more than 30 years since Claus Thomas' contribution of the same name in 1991, and how significant these aspects appear again in the current psychological distress of young people, was subject of the symposium of the International Society for Polyaesthetic Education Salzburg, who will publish a summary a.s.a.p.

 

Aesthetical approaches from pedagogical and psychological points of view.

 

40 Jahre IGPE

A conference dedicated to the memory of Wolfgang Roscher († 2002) and Christian G. Allesch († 2022) was arranged by the Department of Music Education in cooperation with the International Society for Polyesthetic Education on May 19 and 20, 2023 at the University Mozarteum Salzburg.

Questions of aesthetic perception within the arts and in common were issues of the program. While artistic references showed multiple references to the work of polyaesthetic education by Wolfgang Roscher, aesthetic references were often also made to the memory of the cultural psychologist Christian G. Allesch.

LINK to the Foreword of IGPE's president Gerhard Hofbauer

In the announcement of the congress Dr. Michaela Schwarzbauer wrote: "Some of the ideas that seemed visionary in the circle around Roscher at the end of the 20th century seem to be part of everyday practice today. To what extent have new impulses, promoted by the possibilities of digitalization and a softening of the boundaries between the arts, influenced and changed the issues of (poly)aesthetic education since Roscher's death in 2002?" (Translation G. Hofbauer)

Further details (in German) may be found on  https://www.moz.ac.at/de/veranstaltungen/2023/05/19-wahrnehmen-erfahren-darstellen

 

Historical und actual (poly-) aesthetic approaches to existential experiences

40 Jahre IGPESymposium of the International Society for Polyaesthetic Education (IGPE) cooperating with University Mozarteum Salzburg, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Kunstraum "Fabrik BBK600",
celebrating the 40th anniversary of IGPE, in memoriam of the founder Wolfgang Roscher (+2002) and the psychologist and board member Christian G. Allesch (+2022).

Viola The Raft The confrontation with suffering and death in the context of pandemics and warlike events deeply touches and affects us, and foments the longing for a new awareness of existential questions of life. As a kind of "aesthetic response" IGPE offered the symposium EROS and THANATOS. The program led into all five dimensions of polyesthetics, into intercultural, traition-integrating, inter-medial, social-communicative and interdisciplinary context. Music, visual arts and video art, dance, theater and poetry were represented poly-medially. The performances ranged from student workshops to contributions of professional artists and scientists, including presenters and participants from Japan and from several European countries. A visit of the extraordinary exhibition of the American video artist Bill Viola at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg opened an additional option to reflect the issue. The closing celebration of "40 years IGPE" was followed by the general assembly which attested the successful work of the board, re-electing its members completed by Prof. Hans Martin Ritter, Berlin.  Review to -> program  (paper in German) -> abstracts, papers, biografic details of contributors (German)

 

Migration Antalya

Antalya Bilim Universitesi invited Gerhard Hofbauer to give the opening lecture at the "International World Migration Movements Symposium" in early March 2022. The title of the paper was "The Diverse Phenomena of today's Migration, Mirrored by the Education-Minded Concept of Polyaesthetics". Although ( perhaps especially because ) the aesthetic approach to the topic differed from the other mostly empirical contributions, many conversations and numerous positive feedbacks were the result. Some contacts could lead to further cooperation. From a polyaesthetic perspective, the topic opened up a broad field for reflecting on the motives and on the individual as well as social-communicative effects of migration and its tradition-integrating backgrounds. The contribution will be published in the symposium publication.

 

 

 

 Symposium 2020 workshop

emblem 2020

 (C) Foto: Helge Thomas

Experts from the fields of SCIENCES, ART and PRAXIS met at the Symposium 2020 from the attitude of attentive, mindful interest in nature and its deepening perception from an aesthetic-artistic perspective. The intentions were to exchange knowledge by means of topic-sharpening contributions from the perspectives of science, arts and pedagogical practice, to gain current insights and the transformation of knowledge from interdisciplinary discussion and understanding and to profile interdisciplinary and artistic approaches and impulses for a call for pedagogical projects in the educational year 2020/21.