Joris’ work as a philosopher and as an educationalist concerns the revalorisation of human corporeality. In many spheres of life, and especially within the world of education, it might be claimed that the body is more often than not considered as a dimension of no importance or merely as a circumstantial factor also to take into account, but with no real meaning in and of itself. In this talk, he argues that
Over and against these tendencies he argue that certain bodily experiences are of the greatest importance, showing that moments during which we coincide with the physical side of our existence grant the opportunity to install what I have called a moment of ‘democracy of the flesh’. Rather than approaches stemming from phenomenology which give the body important but also meaning and intentionality, Joris’ interest is in the full physicality of the body – in a very literal sense: being-entirely-flesh.
This approach was developed in relation to events and practices that take place inside schools, such as the occurrence of (fits of) laughter in classrooms, and calisthenics (as the most fundamental form of ‘physical’ education).
what_now 2014 was presented by Independent Dance in association with Siobhan Davies Dance.
Joris Vlieghe holds a BA in Art History, MA in Philosophy and PHD in Educational Sciences. He is currently a lecturer in philosophy of education at Edinburgh University.
Joris’ research concerns the role of human corporeality for education, and over the past five years he has been investigating bodily dimensions of concrete teaching and learning practices. He has explored, amongst other things, traditional ‘school’ practices (repetitive and collective forms of exercise), old and new forms of Physical Education, the bodily experience one has when visiting educational museums and the educational value of the visualization of the nude body.
Most lately, his focus has been on teaching and learning in today’s digitized world and investigating the meaning of traditional pedagogical notions such as attention, presence and community under digitized conditions.
Bio as published in 2014.
Independent Dance’s series of WHAT festivals was initiated by co-director Gill Clarke in 2009. It was a platform for invited artist-curators to ask questions about and through dance.
what_now 2014 was presented as a public residency, taking as its starting point the suggestion that artists need to construct new conditions for the realisation of community. It was a festival of processes and activities, and addressed new forms of social organisation and production.
Four public talks addressed the thinking body and its potential in and for movement. The speakers were invited to talk about how attention operates, and how we direct ourselves and our thinking as full-blooded humans, with varied approaches including philosophy, human geography, education and performance. Each public talk was followed by a discussion, which was also filmed, and placed on this page.
