International Conference Varieties of Realism: aesthetics, politics, and philosophy
DEM’ARTS Project, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, La Maison Française of NYU and NYU Liberal Studies
April 27 and 28, 2026
La Maison Française of NYU and NYU Liberal Studies
Organized by
Sandra Laugier, Brendan Hogan, Azadeh Nilchiani, Yann Toma
Speakers
Jocelyn Benoist (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), Andrew Brandel (University of Chicago), Juliet Floyd (Boston University), Jeroen Gerrits (SUNY-Binghamton), Brendan Hogan (NYU), Sandra Laugier (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), Azadeh Nilchiani (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), Richard Shusterman (Florida Atlantic University), Martin Shuster (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Yann Toma (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne), Hent de Vries (NYU), Zed Adams (The New School for Social Research) and Nat Hansen (University of Reading), Tatsiana Zhurauliova (University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne).
Presentation
One of the most disputed questions regarding the politics of our times focuses on the questions of ‘truth’ , ‘facts’ , ‘objectivity’ and the NYU Liberal Studies challenge that a multitude of social and political forces present to the stability of these concepts in myriad ways, all within a novel media ecology. The question of ‘what is possible?’ for instance, often engenders the claim of ‘realism’ as a challenge to political projects perceived to be fantastic or utopian. But In aesthetics, the question registers in a different, though related, fashion with respect to the history of plastic arts. An issue that has only intensified with the introduction of accelerated forms of technology highlighting the contrast between the ‘virtual’ and the ‘real’. In philosophy the history of the question of reality and realism is as old as the practice itself in terms of the world we live in, the language we use to describe it, and how we understand ourselves and our individual experience. This conference gathers an interdisciplinary group of scholars to rethink the question of realism in light of these various perspectives.
April 27th , 2026
Location: NYU Maison Française
5 Washington Mews, New York, NY, 10003
Coffee: 9:30 am-10:00
Introduction 10:00-10:15
10:15 -11:55 am
Real Time and Real Sonic Environment
Azadeh Nilchiani, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Sur-realist Musing: Zürn and the Philosophical Turn to Literature
Andrew Brandel, University of Chicago
12:00-12:50: pm
From Langer to Greenberg to Cavell: Pragmatism, Symbolism, Modernism
Juliet Floyd, Boston University
Lunch 12:50-2:15
2:15-3:55pm
Realism and Strangeness, or: Politics of the Impossible
Hent de Vries, NYU
What’s New in Neo-Realism? Time and the Ordinary in De Sica’s Umberto D (1952).
Jeroen Gerrits, SUNY-Binghamton
3:55- 4:45
Artistic energy, realism and diversity: a dialogue beyond the boundaries of life, between democracy and art.
Yann Toma, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
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Tuesday April 28th
Location: NYU Liberal Studies, Conference Room B, 726 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
6th Floor
Coffee 9:30 -10:00am
10:00 am Welcome, Dean Bruce Grant , Liberal Studies
10:15-11:55
Revisiting Horkheimer and Adorno on Antisemitism: The Centrality of Kant’s Schematism
Martin Shuster, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Oscillate less wildly: the ideal, the real and the utopian imagination
Brendan Hogan, NYU
12:00-12:50 pm
Spilling the Beans: on Making Truth
Jocelyn Benoist, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Lunch 12:50-2:00 pm at Liberal Studies
2:00 pm – 3:40 pm
Art is not a game
Zed Adams, The New School for Social research and Nat Hansen, University of Reading
Severance: Toward the Realism of the Divided Self
Tatsiana Zhurauliova, University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
3:45pm- 5:20 pm
Ordinary Aesthetics and Realism
Sandra Laugier University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Realism and the Feeling of Truth: Affect and Authenticity in Pragmatism and Aesthetic Experience
Richard Shusterman, Florida Atlantic University