RECORDING OF THE EVENT AVAILABLE HERE

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Our first Make Good Lecture of the term with Jorella Andrews (Head of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University) and James K.A. Smith (Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University). Jorella and James will be in conversation with Morphe co-director, Alastair Gordon speaking on the subject 'Material Futures: How does an embodied vision of the new creation cultivate our imagination in these times.

In the past six months the creative arts have suffered greatly as a result of the current crisis. With galleries, theatres and venues forced into hibernation many are still finding it hard to recover and we are grieving their absence. If the Arts offer a generative vision of a better future how might we navigate these times to bring imaginative hope to culture?

In this conversation we will hear from two leading academics working in the fields of art, philosophy and theology, with a shared interest in the study of phenomenology. We will discuss the importance of imaginative thinking as we reconsider how society is perceived, structured and built. With a uniquely Christian vision of the new creation, we will ask how an embodied spirituality offers hope for the years ahead.

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Jorella Andrews is a Reader in Visual Culture at Goldsmiths, University of London. Having trained as a fine artist and then as an art theorist, her academic work focuses on the relations between philosophical inquiry, the image-world, and art practice, with a particular emphasis on phenomenology, notably the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. She has published two monographs on this topic, Showing Off! A philosophy of Image(2014) and The Question of Painting: Re-thinking Thought with Merleau-Ponty(2018) both published by Bloomsbury Press. Her current book in preparation has the working title of How to Turn Around Trouble: Aesthetic Strategies for Real Change. She has also written books on Cézanne and Rembrandt for non-academic audiences, edits an ongoing series of books on visual culture published by Sternberg Press, and advocates for art and art history in various contexts – professionally as a Trustee of the Association for Art History and also at grassroots levels though involvement in community-based and church-based arts activities.

Website: https://www.gold.ac.uk/visual-cultures/j-andrews/

Instagram: @jorellaandrews

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James K.A. Smith is professor of philosophy at Calvin University and serves as editor in chief of Image journal, a quarterly devoted to “art, mystery, and faith.” Trained as a philosopher with a focus on contemporary French thought, Smith has expanded on that scholarly platform to become an engaged public intellectual and cultural critic. An award-winning author and widely-traveled speaker, he has emerged as a thought leader with a unique gift of translation, building bridges between the academy, society, and the church.

He is author of a number of books, including Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? (2006), Desiring the Kingdom (2009), Imagining the Kingdom (2013), How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor (2014), You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (2016), Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (2017) and, most recently, On the Road with Saint Augustine: A Real-World Spirituality for Restless Hearts (2019).

His popular writing has appeared in magazines such as Christianity Today, First Things, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. Jamie and his wife, Deanna, have four adult children, and live in the Heritage Hill neighborhood of Grand Rapids where they attend Sherman Street Christian Reformed Church.

Website: http://www.jameskasmith.com

Twitter: @james_ka_smith

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