A Conversation on Aesthetics and Affects of Power

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In May 2022 we held a workshop at the University of Erfurt titled Aesthetics and Affects of Power in the Context of Religion. The workshop was born out of a shared personal interest in the implicit, unconscious, material, and embodied negotiations of power, specifically as they take place in religious fields and discourses of religious participation. We observed that religious practices and discourses have historically taken, and continue to take, an especially important role in creating sensory mechanisms that structure power relations: shaping perception via aesthetics and affects. These sensory power mechanisms outlive religious practices and expand far beyond the religious sphere. They become alive in the body of the aesthetically affected. This conversation is an attempt to approach, grasp, and frame aesthetics and affects of power as a starting point for any future exchange and discussions.