{"id":125486,"date":"2026-08-27T14:36:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/?page_id=125486"},"modified":"2026-08-27T14:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T12:36:37","slug":"aesthetics-laboratory-of-the-faculty-of-humanities-and-social-sciences","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ffos.unios.hr\/en\/science-portal\/aesthetics-laboratory-of-the-faculty-of-humanities-and-social-sciences\/","title":{"rendered":"Aesthetics Laboratory of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent Events…<\/h2>\n

28 April 2026
\nComrade Katarina in Conversation with EstLab<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>How and why is capitalism destructive? Is capitalism merely a particular socio-economic-political regime, or is it rather a \u201creligion\u201d (W. Benjamin)? Finally\u2026 when will we (and will we at all) witness the \u201cend of capitalism<\/em>\u201d?<\/p>\n

These questions, as well as many others, were raised that afternoon in Room 54 at FFOS. Why? Well, of course, because Katarina Peovi\u0107 was a guest of the cooperative known as EstLab! This remarkable woman<\/em>, a member of the Workers\u2019 Front and also of the band FRONTA, a professor of Cultural Studies in Rijeka\u2026 simply, Comrade Kate<\/strong>\u2026 spoke with philosophy students, Osijek residents who joined us, and the author of these lines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Can materialist analysis be brought back into the public sphere? Why should the proletariat constitute itself as a nation? What is \u201cprotagonist democracy\u201d? In her inspiring formulations, Katarina tried, as best she could, to answer the many contentious issues of the world we inhabit. Furthermore, the conversation inevitably had to address a neuralgic point of \u201cOur Beautiful Homeland\u201d\u2026 namely, the inability to articulate \u201cleft-wing thought\u201d in Croatia. No, our people are not stupid(?); rather, the structural necessity of the power of Capital is such that it appears inevitable. (What cannot be excused, for example, is the total lack of awareness and political responsibility of political elites in the EU and Croatia regarding the condemnation of the genocide against Palestinians<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

In the end, the question of WORK and SOLIDARITY emerged as crucial. Let us become aware and finally \u201cwake up\u201d from this \u201cnightmare weighing on the brains of the living\u201d (Marx)! Una mattina mi son svegliato<\/em><\/strong>\u2026 https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oZfuAUyCU90<\/a> and https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dMqiw4Ibo_s<\/a>
\nmk<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recording of the event: EstLab – The End of Capitalism? – guest Katarina Peovi\u0107<\/a><\/p>\n

E V E N T  A N N O U N C E M E N T organised by the Aesthetics Laboratory of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences:<\/h2>\n

The End of Capitalism? \u0427\u0442\u043e \u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c?
\nEstLab in Conversation with Katarina Peovi\u0107<\/h2>\n

TIME: Tuesday, 28 April 2026 at 6:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

VENUE: Room 54 on the second floor of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Can we look forward to the End of Capitalism<\/em><\/strong>? And\u2026 can we hope that this, the most radical incarnation of the dominant economic-political regime in the history of class antagonism, between those who rule and those who are ruled, will one day reach its (desirable!) end?<\/p>\n

\u201cCapitalism does not work, but it still rules,\u201d reads the cover of the publication appearing before us hic et nunc<\/em>. Before whom? Before us, of course, those who still care about a better, truer, more real, more just<\/strong> and, ultimately\u2026 more beautiful world<\/strong>. Or at least a more bearable one, we might say with a degree of cynical restraint. The subtitle of Katarina Peovi\u0107\u2019s<\/strong> book itself introduces a certain reservation regarding the context in which the publication\u2019s title question appears. Namely, \u201cWhile the old is dying and the new cannot be born,\u201d the time of monsters arrives<\/em> (as Antonio Gramsci would put it in his Prison Notebooks<\/em>). How are we to cope with all this while what we call the \u201cworld\u201d plunges into the abysses of war, poverty and hunger? All because of the unquestioned rule of the only subject-substance<\/em> of the present, Capitalism.<\/p>\n

Katarina Peovi\u0107, a professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Rijeka, is the best possible person to discuss this topic with. Alongside her university vocation, her second <\/em>Beruf <\/strong>is activism and the constant struggle for the rights of the most vulnerable in society<\/strong> (or what remains of it). Katarina was also a member of the Croatian Parliament from 2020 to 2024. Yet her intellectual habitus is not exhausted by official positions, but is expressed through her constant presence in the public sphere and her ceaseless effort and STRUGGLE <\/strong>for improvement in the society in which we live. <\/em><\/p>\n

The End of Capitalism<\/em><\/strong>? While the Old Is Dying and the New Cannot Be Born<\/em> is a collection of texts published in Obzor<\/em>, the supplement of Ve\u010dernji list<\/em>, from June 2024 to July 2025. Adapted into the form of a scholarly study, the texts are not merely intellectually stimulating reading, but much more than that. \u201cAs a fortunate fusion of journalism and theory, Katarina Peovi\u0107\u2019s book is above all an argument for libertarian disobedience, for a spirit that refuses submission to the prevailing rule.\u201d This was how one of the most important guests in EstLab\u2019s five-year history, Viktor <\/em><\/strong>Ivan\u010di\u0107, described the book.<\/p>\n

In Croatia, things have only grown worse since the final entry recorded in the book. Especially after the epochal<\/em>(!?) rupture and the \u201cfestivity\u201d at the Hippodrome on 5 July 2025.<\/p>\n

In our conversation with Katarina Peovi\u0107, we seek to evoke a \u201ccall\u2026 to awaken from social apathy\u2026 for those who feel that the system is bursting at the seams and are seeking a clear political\u2026 answer\u201d: \u0427\u0442\u043e \u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c?<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

What can we, here and now<\/em>, still do about it? Hear it at the forum, in EstLab\u2019s dialogue with Katarina on 28 April 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 54 at FFOS. Come, listen, ask questions\u2026 let us talk!<\/p>\n

mk<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

E V E N T  A N N O U N C E M E N T organised by the Aesthetics Laboratory of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences:<\/h2>\n

EstLab Colloquium \u201cIs There (Still) an Enlightenment?\u201d<\/h2>\n

TIME: Tuesday, 24 March 2026 at 5:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n

VENUE: Room 39 on the first floor of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comment redonner un sens au l\u2019expression <\/em><\/strong>\u201cL\u2019 age du Lumi\u00e8re\u201d? Why do we paraphrase the beginning of a long-ago philosophical text in French? And why do we use a Heideggerian expression concerning meaning?<\/p>\n

Kant\u2019s text An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?<\/em> states that Enlightenment is \u201cman\u2019s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity\u201d, the goal set by such a project (Entwurf<\/em>) of this \u201cage of light\u201d. The article, published in the Berlinische Monatsschrift<\/em> back in 1784, may strike some as hopelessly outdated and\u2026 \u201csurpassed\u201d(?) Does the motto Sapere aude!<\/em><\/strong>, that is, dare to use your own reason<\/em>, still have any meaning? Any sense?<\/p>\n

The legacy to which we wish to restore enthusiasm is the French Revolution of 1789. In Kant\u2019s later text The Conflict of the Faculties<\/em> (1798), this is an important motif. Enthusiasm for the revolution is not tied to the concrete outcome it produces in socio-economic-political terms, but rather to the enthusiasm <\/em><\/strong>it arouses in people, in those who observe it in an enlightened<\/em> manner, Kant says. And\u2026 what is its \u201cmeaning as such\u201d (Heidegger)?<\/p>\n

Of course, we all (do we?) know what we must do in order to become mature, decisive, intelligent and honest people. We also know the difference between the \u201cpublic\u201d and \u201cprivate\u201d use of reason\u2026 But what are we to do with this knowledge in a \u201cworld\u201d that is one in name only? A \u201cworld\u201d\u2026 because every moment in which we live today painfully and soberingly tells us that we long ago abandoned the idea of \u201cEMERGING\u201d from the immaturity for which we ourselves are responsible. We prefer books <\/em>(today, self-help manuals!), pastors and doctors<\/em> to take care of us. Because\u2026 we are cowards, lazy and full of fear<\/strong>. We no longer have genuine thought grounded in the \u201cpublic use of Reason\u201d, corresponding to the dimension of the Universal. Everything has shifted into \u201cprivate use\u201d, in the service of universal submission\u2026 To what? TO EVERYTHING, especially to the grotesque world order that mercilessly tramples everything the Enlightenment bequeathed to us as a projection of a better and more just \u201clifeworld\u201d<\/strong>. (It is enough to look at today\u2019s \u201cEurope\u201d, which protects\u2026 its interests<\/em>\/!?\/ in Ukraine while showing no compassion whatsoever for the suffering and killings in Iran\/!?)<\/p>\n

Through a reading of Kant\u2019s text and Michel Foucault\u2019s lecture of 5 January 1983 (second hour), we attempt to pose similar questions while also anticipating some new answers. Must we, in this entire endeavour, adhere only to the dispositif of \u201csecurity\u201d, or can we perhaps (still?) appeal to the revolutionary enthusiasm for freedom <\/em><\/strong>in Kant\u2019s 1798 text The Conflict of the Faculties<\/em>?<\/p>\n

We address all this at the colloquium \u201cIs There (Still) an Enlightenment?\u201d, through a conversation between philosophy students and members of EstLab, on Tuesday, 24 March 2026 at 5:30 p.m. (Room 39)<\/u><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

9 December 2025
\nAesthetics Laboratory Forum \u201cCan One Make a Living from Art?\u201d (guest: Ivan Mid\u017ei\u0107 Mid\u017eo)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Aesthetics Laboratory once again explored the possibilities and limits of aesthetics in the contemporary world, this time through the prism of the visual arts. In a conversation with academic sculptor and jewellery designer<\/strong> Ivan Mid\u017ei\u0107 Mid\u017eo<\/strong> (https:\/\/www.midzo.art\/<\/a>), he immediately answered the question \u201cCan one make a living from art?\u201d in the affirmative. He himself lives quite comfortably from what he calls applied art. Through his sculptural and design work, he began creating sculptural, one-of-a-kind jewellery from various metals, quickly making a name for himself on the fashion and design scene and earning a respectable income from sales in Croatia and abroad. In this way, he has certainly come close to the idea of a life goal advocated by the Japanese concept of \u201cikigai\u201d, which involves the unity of one\u2019s interests in life, creative passion and life mission with what one is genuinely capable of doing. When this is combined with what the world needs and with the fact that one can earn a living from it, we arrive at the perfect life situation known as \u201cikigai<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

During the conversation, Mid\u017eo proved to be a playful but also precise interlocutor who insisted on distinguishing design from art. Design, he argued, is an idea, a utilitarian plan that represents the fulfilment of the goals of both the creator and the audience or user, whereas art is an expression of the artist\u2019s own passion and need to shape an idea that may prove successful in its realisation, but may equally fail completely and be rejected by the audience. In describing his artistic path, he showed that, as an academically trained sculptor, he found his most immediate form of expression in various conceptual projects such as binding stones and rooms, while his love of metal, inherited from his father and other family members who worked with metal, was organically and spontaneously transferred into the design of metal jewellery. Through work on jewellery and other sculptural pieces, he also found his visual expression in drawing. As a self-taught guitarist, he then made a sensory shift by pairing his independently composed and performed musical miniatures with drawings used as animations, creating original multimedia works that represent both a departure from his earlier expression and a natural development of his artistic curiosity and search for new ways of expressing his artistic observations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In describing today\u2019s art scene, he also revealed the harsh reality faced by contemporary artists, who are constantly searching for places to exhibit and trying to break into the \u201chigher classes\u201d of artists, as he calls them. The constant search for galleries willing to exhibit their work, fairs where they can sell it, and patrons showed that the history of the visual arts is full of examples in which artists\u2019 persistence and entrepreneurial spirit proved crucial to preserving their life\u2019s work (e.g. Giotto, Caravaggio). He also pointed to secondary applications of art through art education and positions such as gallery curators and art critics, in which knowledge about art, if not art itself, can also be monetised.<\/p>\n