Cosmopolitan Currents

In this final episode of the Contested Territories series, Arthur Danto , Thierry de Duve , and Richard Shusterman engage in a spontaneous and often provocative dialogue that moves beyond formal presentations into direct philosophical exchange. Topics range from Pop Art and religious metaphors in aesthetic theory to institutional critique, embodied meaning, and the politics of aesthetic judgment....

In this episode of the Contested Territories series, Richard Shusterman offers a compelling alternative to both Danto’s Artworld approach and de Duve’s theoretical framing by reasserting the primacy of aesthetic experience —not as detached contemplation, but as embodied practice ultimately grounded in the aesthetics of everyday life. Reflecting on the philosophical limits of traditional Anglo-Amer...

In this episode of the Contested Territories series, Thierry de Duve presents a powerful rethinking of modern aesthetics through his work on Kant after Duchamp . Speaking from a deeply personal trajectory—from his early days as a design student in Ulm to his critical encounters with Pop Art and Duchamp’s Readymades—de Duve unpacks the transformation of aesthetic judgment in modern and postmodern a...

In this episode of the Contested Territories series, Arthur C. Danto reflects on the intellectual and historical context behind his groundbreaking 1964 essay The Artworld , a foundational text in contemporary aesthetics. Delivered at Tate Britain in 2006, Danto’s talk explores the ontological shift that occurred in the 1960s with the rise of Pop Art and its challenges to traditional aesthetic boun...

Contested Territories : A Panel on Art, Aesthetics, and the Artworld as frame was recorded in 2006 at theTate Britain, as part of a public program organized in collaboration with Chelsea School of Art and Design and Naked Punch Review. The panel brought together three major figures in contemporary aesthetic thought— Arthur C. Danto , Thierry de Duve , and Richard Shusterman —for an unmoderated dia...

In this opening episode of Cosmopolitan Currents , philosopher and cultural theorist Dr. Richard Shusterman , founder of The Center for Cosmopolitan Culture , offers a brief but powerful reflection on the mission that guides this podcast and the organization behind it. Drawing from his decades of work intercultural philosophy, somaesthetics, and the ethics of embodiment, Dr. Shusterman frames the...