This year the Department of Arts, Culture and Media of the University of Groningen celebrates its 10th anniversary with the program Arts and Humanities: Of(f) Course, which is organized together with the Research Centre Arts in Society on 25-26 June 2013. Confirmed speakers are Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago), the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker, Jean-Marie Schaeffer (EHESS), Murray Smith (University of Kent), Bernhard Darras (University Paris I), Vanessa Reinwand (University of Hildesheim), Mark Fisher (Goldsmiths London) and Jan Masschelein (University of Leuven).

The title of this conference, Arts and Humanities. Of(f) Course points to the fact that both the arts and the humanities have lost their self-evidence in a world where economic standards are becoming increasingly dominant. Universities are confronted with the demand to ‘valorize’ academic research, but ways to do so are less obvious for the humanities than they are for (most of) the natural sciences. Whatever will be the outcome of this process, the arts and the study of the arts will not be able to carry on along the same path. How should the humanities deal with this problem? What kinds of theoretical frameworks and methodologies can be developed to respond to it? And, finally, what does it mean to be ‘off course’? Does it mean one has to steer back to familiar terrains, or does it mean steering away from the beaten track?

More information on the program and registration can be found on our website: http://www.rug.nl/research/arts-in-society/actueel/offcourse