The Second Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland, 28-31 August, 2025 (Thursday – Sunday) Leading Theme: Forgotten Scholars in Aesthetics
About the Topic
The leading theme of the conference was: Forgotten Scholars in Aesthetics, and the result was that during the four days of the get together, we learned a lot about a variety of figures, who had been more or less important once in the day – even now – and who’s work rewarded highlighting from an aesthetics point of view.
REPORT on the Second Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics
The Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics, the Second of its kind, was held 28-31 August 2025 in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, Finland – and organized by Max Ryynänen, Zoltán Somhegyi and Jussi Pentikäinen. The original idea was to be in East Helsinki, but we rescheduled the event to take place only one day in the east, i.e. Itäkeskus, having the rest of it happening in other areas of Helsinki and at Aalto University, which kindly offered us a space for use. Most of the participants came already for the pre-conference dinner august 27 to the Nepalese Himalaya restaurant close to the Railway Station. Day one, 28 August, started at Aalto University, and we dived into forgotten scholars through enthusiastic discussions, then going for lunch at the nearby Maukas. From Aalto we traveled to the Helsinki Biennial, which included a boat ride to the Island of Vallisaari. Day two had the same kind of start in a cozy classroom, and continued then with a ride to Oodi, the main library of Helsinki, followed by a trip to Restaurant Sea Horse, which offers classical food of the Helsinki restaurant scene. After a sauna session at Allas Pool in the historical city center, day three was a day in the East, and we met in the cultural Center STOA and its library, where we received also a visitor: curator and cultural activist Ahmed Al-Nawas, who told us about his group’s east-side cultural projects, and in the end also about the whole socio-economical and cultural history of the area. Day four ended with a kalarippayattu performance by Manooj Kaloorika, and at 12 we closed the conference.
The participants of edition two were Lenka Bardova, Mikkel Bogh, Martin Boszorád, Filippo Faraotti, Rosa Fernandez Gomez, Noora-Helena Korpelainen, Lenka Lee, Tyrus Miller, Jussi Pentikäinen, Max Ryynänen, Mateusz Salwa, Zoltán Somhegyi, Matti Tainio and Gabriella Uhl.
The organizers were happy that so many partners and family members arrived with the participants, adding to the warm and family-like atmosphere of the conference, and we hope this will become a tradition of the Society.
