Events

Aesthetical approaches from pedagogical and psychological points of view.

A conference dedicated to the memory of Wolfgang Roscher († 2002) and Christian G. Allesch († 2022) 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.

The examination of questions of aesthetic perception accompanies in the connection to different disciplines manifold music pedagogical considerations especially of the second half of the 20th as well as the first decades of the 21st century. At the University Mozarteum Salzburg, Wolfgang Roscher, full professor for music education from 1982 to 1995 and rector of the university from 1991 to 1995, was a determined promoter of an international discourse inspired by ideals of interdisciplinarity and intermediality. Roscher's personal, scientific network, which dealt with concerns of polyesthetic education, included the cultural psychologist Christian Allesch, who died much too early in 2022. The thoughts and work of these two personalities will form a basis for further considerations in the context of the conference.

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? Which were significant chances as well as losses caused by changed habits and possibilities of perception? (Dr. Michaela Schwarzbauer, Translation G. Hofbauer)

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

Symposium 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).

 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)

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.

 (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. 

Read more: Reviewing the Symposium 2020: "Perform in the Arts how nature affects."