The Limits of Transparency

Symposium

11-12-2017

Palace of the Academies, Brussels

The Limits of Transparency: What does Transparency show? What does Transparency hide?

Organisatie

Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten
Bart Verschaffel (Organisator)

Activiteit in het kader van de Denkerscyclus 

De grenzen van transparantie

More transparency! This demand can currently be heard everywhere. Transparency is meant to magically solve most problems of social life in today’s democracies and the consensus holds that more transparency is unconditionally positive. Transparency is, however, not simply given, but rather the result of deliberate operations. If transparency exists only as manufactured, there can only be transparency where the manufacturing operations are negated or made invisible, just as the windowpane only works if one sees through the glass and not the glass itself. This symposium will explore the agenda of transparency in the field of politics, media, aesthetics, optics, architecture, photography, cinema, history of science, philosophy, literature, digital culture.

 

Photo: Gerhard Richter, 4 Panes of Glass, 1967 (Installation view Anthony d’Offay Gallery, Londen, 1991) © Herbert Foundation, Gent
Programma: 

11-12-2017

1 Welcome 14:00 - 14:15
2 Introduction by 14:15 - 14:30
Emmanuel Alloa, University of St.Gallen (organiser)
Bart Verschaffel, KVAB, UGent (organiser)
3 The Uses and Abuses of Transparency 14:30 - 15:15
David Heald, The Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow (speaker)
4 The Media Arcane 15:15 - 16:00
Claus Pias, ICAM, Leuphana University Lüneburg (speaker)
5 Break 16:00 - 16:15
6 A Battle over Access to Government Information 16:15 - 17:00
Dorota Mokrosinska, Institute of Philosophy, Leiden University (speaker)
7 Transparency, Secrecy, Publicity and Mendacity: four Shades of Political Visibility 17:00 - 17:45
John Pitseys, CRISP, UCL (speaker)
8 Break 17:45 - 18:00
9 Keynote Lecture: Malaise in Transparency 18:00 - 19:00
Emmanuel Alloa, University of St.Gallen (speaker)
10 Response by 19:00 - 19:30
Philippe Van Parijs, Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences, UCL (speaker)
11 Reception 19:30 - 20:30

12-12-2017

12 True Confessions: Do they make the Ego more Transparent or more Opaque? 09:30 - 10:15
Patrick Vandermeersch, Groningen University (speaker)
13 The Freedom of the Mask: Against Rousseau 10:15 - 11:00
Barbara Carnevali, EHESS, Paris (speaker)
14 Break 11:00 - 11:15
15 Eisenstein's Glass House: On the Politics and Aesthetics of Transparency 11:15 - 12:00
Antonio Somaini, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 (speaker)
16 Transparency and Obstacle in the Très Grande Bibliothèque 12:00 - 12:45
Christoph van Gerrewey, EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland (speaker)
17 Lunch break 12:45 - 14:00
18 The Limits of Transparency and the Time of Secret in Proust 14:00 - 14:45
Sara Guindani, Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme, Université de Paris 8 (speaker)
(in French with translation)

19 Communication, Manipulation, Seduction: the Pragmatics of Transparency 14:45 - 15:30
Herman Parret, Higher Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven (speaker)
20 Break 15:30 - 15:45
21 Algorithmic Transparency 15:45 - 16:30
Antoinette Rouvroy, FNRS, University of Namur (speaker)
22 Concluding remarks by 16:30 - 17:00
Emmanuel Alloa, University of St.Gallen (speaker)
23 Artist talk: DE-PIXELATION 17:00 - 18:00
Thomas Hirschhorn, (speaker)
with a response by Emmanuel Alloa

24 Reception 18:00 - 19:00