Keynote at 'Imagining the Unusual' Conference

Skjold, E. (Lecturer)

Institute of Architecture and Design

Activity: Talk or presentation › Lecture and oral contribution

Period	19 Sept 2019
Held at	HSE Art and Design School, Russian Federation
Degree of Recognition	International

Documents & Links

An interdisciplinary conference in Moscow, September 19-21, 2019. The unusual, extraordinary and eccentric in the last decades is more often seen in advertising than in academic discourse. Beginning from at least the mid-19th century, European culture grows increasingly suspicious both of this rhetoric and of what stands behind it, which partly coincides with the era of scientific methods of world cognition. In fact, such categories as “great person”, “genius”, “extraordinary event” come to belong to the realm of mass culture, where they are ruthlessly exploited for profit. As the result of this, researchers avoid talking about the unusual, preferring either to banalize it or to exclude it from the academic discussions altogether. We, on the other hand, suggest talking about this elephant in the room, which both draws the eye and prevents serious discussion. We specifically concentrate on the link between the impression (of emotional reaction, sensory organs) and its rationalization – verbalization, portrayal, evaluation, usage, etc.