Speculative Tate

Speculative Realism is a term that is used to describe an approach that attempts to consider art, politics, nature and thought beyond the confines of human finitude. The term is often ascribed both to a conference of the same name held at Goldsmiths in 2007, and a disparate set of thinkers. This centered on the work of philosophers Quentin Meillassoux, Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant and GrahamHarman. Often referred to as a movement, Speculative Realism is perhaps best used to describe an ongoing, disparate, attempt to construct radical and emancipatory trajectories of thought, art, and political praxis. These include accelerationist politics; reconsidering the role of art and design; the disruption of human experience and access to the “real”; innovative engagement with mathematics, logic, neuroscience andtechnology. These emerging positions, still in a statefluxcan be seen rapidly evolving on-line in heavily viewed and active discussion forums. The resultant work has been rapidly taken up in cultural theory and contemporary art andcuration. The Speculative Tate research series is a collaboration between Tate Britain and Speculative Aesthetics Research Project to explore the question “What bearing does Speculative Realism have upon aesthetics in theory andpractice?” It is an attempt to further investigate and develop the emergent field of Speculative Aesthetics, with particular attention to: the socio-historical relationship between art and design; the relationship between speculative aesthetics and design; the conceptual and pragmatic role of artistic experience; the navigational potential of aesthetics. To explore the possibility of a theory and practice no longer invested in the otherworldly promise of the aesthetic, but acknowledging the real force and traction of images in the worldtoday.