Conversation Collective Sharing and Workshop

22 May 2027 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will summarise the historical transformation of human nature and the impact of literature on society, and seek answers to the fundamental questions of the series through collective sharing in a workshop format.

Seminar Ali Avni Çelebi’s Masked Ball Painting: An Allegory of Turkish Modernism

6 May 2027 - In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, we will examine Ali Avni Çelebi’s 'Masked Ball' through the theories of Jameson and Belting, and discuss the tension between aesthetic modernism and social modernization.

Conversation Postmodernism and the Collapse of Reality

21 April 2027 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will discuss postmodernism through The Name of the Rose and One Hundred Years of Solitude, as well as the collapse of reality, intertextuality, and the transformation of the concept of truth.

Seminar The Collective Voice of Paintings at Historical Thresholds: From Images of Desire to Utopian Landscapes

15 April 2027 - In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, starting from Ernst Bloch’s concept of 'images of desire', we will examine utopian landscapes in paintings and discuss the question 'How can we think society through paintings?' guided by Giotto and Franz Marc.

Conversation Modernism and the Fragmentation of Consciousness

31 March 2027 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will discuss the aesthetic rupture modernism created in literary history through Ulysses and Mrs Dalloway, as well as the stream-of-consciousness technique and the fragmentation of time.

Seminar Merleau-Ponty and Cézanne’s Doubt

4 March 2027 - In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, we will examine Cézanne’s doubt from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological perspective, and discuss the silent dialogue with nature and the artist's creative freedom.

Seminar From Cave Paintings to Taş Tepeler (The Land of Great Transformation): An Inquiry into Images of Humans and Animals

18 February 2027 - In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, we will examine prehistoric art, extending from cave paintings to Taş Tepeler, and discuss the continuity in human-animal figures and the enigma of visibility.

Conversation The Industrial Revolution, Realism, and Society

10 February 2027 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will discuss how literature turned from the individual towards society through Les Misérables and Crime and Punishment, and how the Industrial Revolution and class conflicts transformed literature.

Conversation The Birth of the Novel and the Modern Individual

20 January 2027 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will discuss the birth of the modern novel with Miguel de Cervantes, and the effects of the printing press, urbanisation, and the rise of individuality on literature.

Seminar An Attempt at a Dialogue between Adorno and Caravaggio: Representation, Image and the “More” of the Work

7 January 2027 - In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, we will examine Caravaggio’s works from an Adornian perspective, discussing the problem of representation, the image, and the work’s conceptually inexhaustible “more”.

Conversation Shakespeare and the Discovery of Human Nature

22 December 2026 - In this session of the Literature Talks, we will examine human nature and psychology through Shakespeare, extending the discussion to Dante as well.

Seminar A Problem of Freedom: The Openness That Painting Holds

10 December 2026 - "How is free existence possible?" In this session of the Philosophy Seminars, we discuss the ontological domain art opens up from necessity to freedom, extending from Kant's disinterested gaze to Heidegger's artistic openness.