ART (Aesthetics Research Torino) Philosophical Seminar 

Maddalena Borsato

(University of Gastronomic Science, Pollenzo)

January, 24. h. 5 pm

 

 

 

Sala incontri 1, Biblioteca di Filosofia, Palazzo Nuovo

& Online

https://unito.webex.com/unito/j.php?MTID=m7b003ed22be986bcab0e1cc8ed37ce77

 

Pervasive Sweetening.

Aesthetic Sweetness in Everyday Experience

 

The talk will explore key themes from the recently published book “Il dolce. Una relazione estetica” (ETS, March 2023), which conducts the first systematic aesthetic reflection on sweetness. The book aims at illustrating sweetness not as a fixed or inherent quality but as dynamically defined within the web of relationships it inhabits. Approached phenomenologically and through the lens of a relational aesthetics, the ontology of sweetness fades into its actuality: provoking pleasure and awe, eliciting both nausea and desire, blurring the lines between materiality and metaphor. The discussion encompasses heterogeneous perspectives on the topic, ranging, for example, from the concept of enjoyment of Emmanuel Lévinas and the sliminess of Jean-Paul Sartre to the artwork of Gianfranco Baruchello and the theological interpretation of the douceur.

One of the most complex dynamics under scrutiny involves the contemporary phenomenon of saccharine sweetness. The prevalence of what might be termed “easy sweetness”—especially in the extensive use of sugar by the food industry—fosters a broad process of pervasive sweetening. In this context, desire and pleasure often transmute into addiction and what was long regarded as a beneficial taste acquires a largely negative connotation. Within this overly cloying context, sweetness asserts itself as a violent and ultimately nauseating taste, echoing the Sartrean sentiment and forsaking its open and potential nature, which characterized it across various cultures and times (like the Hindi concept of rasa or the Japanese amai).

Furthermore, the relationship with the artistic sphere shows the expressive peculiar role assumed by sweetness. Historically, it bridged the gap between everyday objects and artistic creations, thanks to its various symbolic functions, seen in rites of passage or ceremonies, and its role as a “display food”, transcending its mere nutritional value. Drawing from numerous insights in confectionery history, sweetness emerges as a liminal phenomenon, where the boundaries between contemplation and consumption, or between aesthetic pleasure and gustatory enjoyment blur.

Maddalena Borsato (Ph.D) is a researcher, collaborating currently with the Aesthetics Department at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. Over the past year, she held a post-doctoral research position at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Her research interests encompass gustatory aesthetics, philosophy of food, eating disorders, and the intersection of cooking and pastry with art and design. She is the author of Il dolce. Una relazione estetica (Edizioni ETS, 2023).

 

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)