ART (Aesthetics Research Torino) Philosophical Seminar 

Elena Mancioppi

(University of Gastronomic Science, Pollenzo)

November, 15. h. 3 pm

 

 

Sala incontri 1, Biblioteca di Filosofia, Palazzo Nuovo

& online

https://unito.webex.com/unito/j.php?MTID=m07bfac14b66561a9bebb6bc24fa84a65

Osmospheres

How smells have infiltrated aesthetics and the arts

 

 

Based on a forthcoming book (Osmospheres, Mimesis International, 2023) this talk will address some of the most interesting aesthetic concerns when dealing with the sense of smell and, in particular, with food flavours.

Through the perspective of relational aesthetics, of ecological theory of perception put forth by J.J. Gibson and, especially, of Gernot Böhme’s aesthetics of atmospheres, smell and food are understood as osmospheres – from ὀσμή, “smell, odour”, and σφαῖρᾰ, “sphere, globe” – meaning the irradiances which give persons, commodities, situations and places a vague but unique flavour. The hypothesis is that atmospheric perception is a mode, a colouring of sensing, knowing and feeling which is comparable to an “olfactive” modality, which is characterised by relationships, affective processes and resonances rather than objects.

The talk will stress the extent to which flavours partake in socio-political dynamics, and how social identities are forged and negotiated through food smells, in step with Georg Simmel’s insights on the sociology of smell and the rich domain of ethno-anthropology on this topic. Moreover, in the light of contemporary marketing and artistic practices, where food osmospheres are staged, on the one hand, to drive consumer behaviour and, on the other, to convey emotions and public problems, the idea of osmospheric foodification, like that of air design investigated by Peter Sloterdijk, seems to capture the essence of today’s olfactory dwelling. Despite traditionally excluded as a non-aesthetic sense, smells have been increasingly infiltrating the arts, as more and more instances and philosophical research in the field shows (from Mădălina Diaconu to Chantal Jaquet, just to mention a few). Propounding the state of the art of food osmospheres will offer an overview of artistic cases, from Futurism to contemporary performances and installations, to detect its recurring aspects.

Elena Mancioppi (PhD) is currently post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (Pollenzo, Italy). Her research interests primarily include smell, atmospheres, ecological perception, olfactory arts, food philosophy and gastronomy. She co-edited an issue of Rivista di Estetica (3/2021) dedicated to olfaction, and she published a monograph: L’Olfattivo (Edizioni ETS, 2022).

 

ART (Aesthetics Research Torino) is a periodic philosophical seminar organized by the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences of the University of Turin and the PhD Program FINO.

 

Coordinator:

Prof. Alessandro Bertinetto (University of Turin). 

 

Members:

Prof. Carlo Serra (University of Turin/University of Calabria)

Prof.ssa Serena Feloj (University of Pavia)

Dr. Alberto Martinengo (University of Turin)

Dr. Paolo Furia (University of Turin)

Dr. Jacopo Frascaroli (University of Turin)

Dr. Lisa Giombini (University Rome 3)

Dr. Gregorio Tenti (University of Turin)

Dr. Amalia Salvestrini (Istituto Italiano per gli Studi FIlosofici, Naples)

Dr. Francesca Monateri (Pisa, Scuola Normale)

Dr. Francesca Perotto (FINO)

Dr. Ivan Quartesan (FINO)

Dr. Sofia Boz (University of Padova)

Dr. Leonardo Pietropaolo (University of Turin)

Dr. Luisa Sampugnaro (University of Turin)

Dr. Nicola Davide Angerame (Turin)

 

 

ART addresses different topics of the contemporary debate in Aesthetics: philosophy of beauty, philosophy of the arts, theory of sensory experience, philosophy of image and imagination, and history of aesthetics.

 

ART is supported by:

Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca sulla Morfologia Francesco Moiso (CIM)
Centro Studi Arti della Modernità

Centro Studi Filosofico-religiosi "Luigi Pareyson"

 

ART is sponsored by: 

Italian Society for Aesthetics (SIE) 
European Society for Aesthetics (ESA)