The BSA Symposium on Revaluing the Life Model in Art Practice is a one-day event hosted by the Aesthetics Research Centre at the University of Kent. It brings together philosophers of art, artists, and professionals of the London art sector to engage with the role of the life model in contemporary art practice.

We connect this developing debate in the art world with the philosophy of art. Through the exchange of professional, practical, and philosophical insights, the symposium aims to rethink some of the ongoing practices within the life drawing room (how models are viewed and treated by artists and art schools), the gallery and museum space (how the creativity of models is acknowledged), and within philosophy of art (whether modelling can be an art and whether working from a life model can be considered a collaborative art form).

This interdisciplinary Symposium is the result of a collaboration between the Aesthetics Research Centre (ARC) and Dominic Blake, art writer and performance artist. Dr Aurélie Debaene is hosting the Symposium on behalf of ARC with the support of C A York.

‘Revaluing the Life Model in Art Practice’ has been made possible by the generous funding of the British Society of Aesthetics.