CHILEAN SCHOOL OF FOLKLORE AND FOLK ARTS
Certificate program in Situated Aesthetics
Research and Creation through Folklore and Folk Art
Mode: Online with an optional in-person meeting..
Duration: 5 months.
Dates: June to October 2025.
Schedule: Every Wednesday from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM (weekly).
Sessions: 20 sessions.
Spots: 25 students.
Description
This certificate program is designed for individuals interested in artistic practices rooted in the folk and traditional culture of the Americas, such as artists, cultural managers, researchers, teachers, and others engaged in related fields.
Aesthetics, a discipline rooted in philosophy but extending beyond its boundaries to include art, literature, social sciences, and natural sciences, will serve as a pathway to explore interdisciplinary knowledge that bridges research and artistic creation.
Situated aesthetics is presented as a reflective exercise that invites us to explore the sensory, emotional, and intellectual capacities that shape artistic and craft practices, as well as our connections to territory, memory, inheritances, and lineages. It also prompts us to consider our future—one increasingly threatened by the climate crisis—all within the framework of what we call folk and traditional culture.
The so-called epistemologies of the South will allow students to engage with the diverse cosmogonies that give form to cultural, social, and spiritual experiences, which in turn provide meaning and purpose to various crafts and artistic expressions.
The experience of situated aesthetics, understood from a specific territory—both in time and space—aims to foster the creation of works, critical thinking, and creative/research practices that attentively explore the connections we weave between our existence and the world.
Elicura Chihuailaf – Writer, poet, and oralitor. National Literature Award winner.
Natalia Contesse – Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Aesthetics degree. Music composer and researcher of Folk and Traditional American Cultures.
Daniela Catrileo – Researcher, writer. Master’s degree in American Aesthetics.
Marcela Rivera – PhD in Philosophy with a specialization in Aesthetics and Art Theory.
Maximiliano Salinas – Bachelor’s degree in History and PhD in Theology.
Josefina Lewin – Bachelor’s degree in History and Aesthetics. Master’s degree in Art History.
Marien Leible – Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts with a specialization in Sculpture.
Eva Busch (Germany) – Bachelor’s degree in Aesthetics. Bachelor’s degree in Arts.
Lisa Blackmore (England) – Professor of Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies. PhD in Latin American Cultural Studies.
Patricia Chavaría – Chilean folklorist and researcher of traditional and rural culture.
Carola González – Bachelor’s degree in Arts.
Pamela Quero - Dancer. Teacher Dance.
Objetives
1. Promote the appreciation of knowledge and the development of the discipline of aesthetics through art and traditional culture.
2. Encourage the integration of theoretical research and artistic creation, linking these processes to territorially situated knowledge.
3. Encourage the generation of knowledge that integrates interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary approaches in research experiences, fostering intersections between different disciplines, knowledge systems, and territories.
4. Promote knowledge through artistic research and creations that highlight and establish connections between territory and the role of women in their communities, particularly in sustaining practices of memory.
5. Implement research methodologies, curatorship, and artistic creation that address themes related to the climate crisis and explore ecological aspects.
6.Expose the binary distinction that Western philosophical tradition has made between art and craft, fostering creative and research processes within the realm of artisanal creation. Craft practices and their materials should receive dedicated attention.
7. Generate and promote intersections between Art, Sciences, and Southern Cosmogonies to establish laboratories for creative experiences and collaborative thinking. These interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary spaces will contribute to the implementation of new technologies in response to current crises.
Contents
AESTHETICS
Introduction to Aesthetics as a discipline
Situated Aesthetics
Colonial/Decolonial Aesthetics
Aesthetic Experience
Aesthetic Education
The Birth of Art
Beauty and the Sublime
Everyday Aesthetics
AMERICAN EPISTEMOLOGIES
Territories, Communities, and Cosmovision
Ecofeminisms
Shamanism
Hydrofeminism
Epistemologies of Water
Cultural, Territorial, Historical, and Natural Heritage
The Art of Altars
Time and Calendar.
TRADITIONAL CULTURES
What is "traditional culture," and at what moments in history has it been considered?
Artistic Manifestos
History of Folk and Traditional Art: Artistic References Through an Art History Review
Concepts of Folklore and Traditional Cultures
FOLK ART
Theoretical classes on various Folk arts and their relationship with Southern epistemologies.
The role of women and ecofeminism in craft knowledge.
Aesthetics of materials.
Practical folk art workshops.
CURATION AND CREATION
Historical and contemporary concepts of the role of curation.
The experience of artistic creation in its philosophical, aesthetic, and metaphysical dimensions and conditions.
Development of an exhibition showcasing the knowledge acquired during the program. A guided creative process to support the formulation of artworks and curatorial thinking, both in aesthetic content and exhibition design.
Inscriptions and more information : esteticasituada@gmail.com