ager pérez casanovas
PhD. Disability Justice, Pragmatism and access in the arts
BIO
Disability Justice, Art and Political Theory
She earned her BA in Philosophy in Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2017), with a mention in both applied and fundamental philosophy. She has worked in collaboration with Museu Picasso Barcelona and Fundació Miró in research projects concerning the political commitment of artists, Picasso in the former and Pello Irazu in the latter. She wrote her BA dissertation on Walter Benjamin's philosophy of language, supervised by Prof. Gerard Vilar and Dr. Jèssica Jaques, where she developed a unified hermeneutic schema to interpret the dialectics of the works of Walter Benjamin as a whole, with 'return' as the central concept of his thought. Her MA research, supervised by Dr. Tom Stern (UCL), sponsored by LaCaixa Fellowship for Postgraduate studies, was focused on the possibility of reconstructing a Lukácsian criteria for progressive art in a postmodern society. Between 2018 and 2021, she was a fellow researcher (FPU2017) in the Philosophy Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and Head of Communications of the Creative Europe project OPEN UP (UAB).
During her PhD, she was the educational program manager at the Museu Comarcal de l'Urgell-Tàrrega and research assitant of Vancouver-based artist Carmen Papalia. On December 19, 2023, she earned her PhD cum laude in Citizenship and Human Rights by the University of Barcelona, with the thesis "Disability Justice is Collective Liberation", supervised by Dr. Núria Sara Miras Boronat.
Currently, her research is focused on the political implications of contemporary policies and artistic practices from the lens of Carmen Papalia's notion of Open Access as a temporary collectively-held space. She is a proud Woman in Pragmatism and Critical Disability Studies savvy.
curriculum vitae
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
Currently I am a PhD candidat at the Citizenship and Human Rights program of the University of Barcelona, supervised by Dr. Núria Sara Miras Boronat (UB). I am part of the practical philosophy seminar Athena Noctua, and a member of the Media Committee of the Mentoring Network of Women in Pragmatism, led by Dr. Miras. In that line, I am working as the educational program manager at the Museu Comarcal de l'Urgell Tàrrega, and collaborating with Vancouver-based artist Carmen Papalia to promote structural accessibility in the museum.
In Summer Term 2021, I developed my predoc research at the University of British Columbia (Okanogan), under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Rader. At UBC, I was a TA on "Topics in Creative Writing and Visual Arts in the Pandemic Era". Between 2018 and 2021, I was a fellow at the Contemporary Aesthetics program of the Philosophy Department of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, where I was a TA of Aesthetics, Philosophy of Art, Critical Theory, and the Seminar of Aesthetics, which focuses on Pablo Picasso. I also did tutorials and I helped to coordinate the teaching innovation project Artencurs. I founded and coordinated the MAP chapter at the Philosophy Department at UAB, running the seminar on Decolonialism and Philosophy.
EDUCATION
2021 - : PhD candidate, Citizenship and Human Rights. Philosophy Department, University of Barcelona (UB).
2021 - 2022: Postgraduate in Corporate Communication and Online Reputation (UOC).
2018 - 2021: Fellow Researcher FPU2017, predoc researcher and TA in Philosophy (UAB).
2017 – 2018: MA Philosophy, University College London (UCL)
Grade: Distinction award.
Dissertation title: "Lukács on Expressionism. How is it possible to reconstruct a Lukácsian criterion for progressive art from the perspective of multidirectional historical progress?", supervised by Dr. Tom Stern.
2013 – 2017: BA Philosophy, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
Grade: First-class honours, 9.9/10.
Dissertation title: “Towards a Linguistic Reconciliation: Walter Benjamin on Engaged Literature and Redemption”, supervised by Prof. Gerard Vilar and Dr. Jèssica Jaques.
2016 – 2017: Aesthetics and Theory of Art Seminar: Thinking with Picasso.
Grade: First-class honours, 10/10.
PUBLICATIONS
Pérez Casanovas, Àger. (2024). Descentrar la autonomía: Hacia una fenomenología de la vulnerabilidad en la curadoría museística. Revista Sarance, (52), 130-149. https://doi.org/10.51306/ioasarance.052.06
Troughton, Irene Alcubilla and Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2023), ‘Picasso, Schlemmer and beyond: Scenography and costume design from a critical disability studies lens’, Studies in Costume & Performance, 8:2, pp. 175–90. https://doi.org/10.1386/scp_00095_1
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2023). “On the Borderlands of Madness: Narrative Tactics of Resistance in C. P. Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Disability Justice”, European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, 15(1), Special Issue: Pragmatism and Feminism: Epistemological, Social, and Political Spaces of Resistance. https://doi.org/10.4000/ejpap.3250
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2023). “De què parlem quan parlem d’accessibilitat i comunitat als museus? El cas del Museu Comarcal l’Urgell-Tàrrega com a espai de generació de pràctiques d’accés creatives”, URTX, 37.
Pérez Casanovas, Á., Rodríguez Estrada, D., Mariner-Cortés, M. y Meneses Pineda, L., (2022). Lavar la raza: Blanquita y la reproducción transgeneracional de la negritud en los medios masivos, de la televisión a Youtube. Revista Sarance, (49),5-22. https://doi.org/10.51306/ioasarance.049.01 <access here>
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2022) “Maxine Greene: Teaching Philosophy in Aesthetic Environments.” In Miras Boronat, Núria Sara; Michela Bella (eds.) Women in Pragmatism: Past, Present, and Future. Cham: Springer.
Pérez Casanovas, Àger. (2022). Andrea Soto Calderón, La performatividad de las imágenes, Santiago de Chile: Metales Pesados, 2020, 142 pàgines. ISBN 978-956-6048-29-9. Anuari De La Societat Catalana De Filosofia, 0(32)
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (November 2021) “From the Political Fault Line, Picasso’s Precariousness (1914-1920)”. In Cohen-Solal, Annie (ed). Picasso L’étranger [exhibition catalogue] Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration – Palais de la Porte Dorée (04/11/2021 – 13/02/2022). Paris: Fayard, 2021. ISBN 978-2-213-71840-8
Vilar Roca, Gerard (October 2021) Jean-François Lyotard: Estética y política. Translated by Àger Pérez Casanovas. Barcelona: Gedisa. ISBN 9788418525896
Mariner-Cortés, Marc; Laura Meneses Pineda, Laura; Àger Pérez Casanovas, and Diego Rodríguez Estrada (December 2020) “Heridas fronterizas: Una revisión crítica de la identidad desde la intersticialidad.” Revista Sarance, núm. 46, 67-83.
Pérez Casanovas, Àger and Laura Vilar Dolç (2020) “La formación como experiencia en la liminalidad: apropiaciones entre el aula y el museo”, LAMURAD. Southern Journal of Research in Art and Design, Vol. 2.
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2019) "Modulant les variacions sobre Les Menines de Picasso: Definició d’estratègies per a processos creatius d’exploració a partir de Goodman", Anuari de la Societat Catalana de Filosofia, XXX-XXXI. Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Societat Catalana de Filosofia. ISSN (paper) 1130-4383 - ISSN (digital) 2013-9543. DOI: 10.2436/20.3001.01.63, pp. 225-235. <online>
P. Casanovas, Àger (ed.) (2020) Colere. Cultura. Cultiu. 25 anys de la Fira d'Art i Pagesia de Sant Gaderic. [exhibition catalog] El Celler, Rubí (3.10.2019-29.10.2019). <online>
P Casanovas, Àger (2019) “Miranda Fricker. Injusticia Epistémica”, La Civiltà Cattolica Iberoamericana, 32: 108-111. ISSN: 2462-7186.
Pérez Casanovas, Àger (2019) "¿Qué significa pensar la política desde la estética?", Laocoonte: Revista de Estética y Teoría de las Artes, 6, ISSN 2386-8449, DOI 10.7203/LAOCOONTE.5.15381, pp.297-299. <online>
Guigon, Emmanuel, Aitor Quiney and Àger P. Casanovas (2019) Picasso en Uruguay [exhitibiton catalog] MNAV, Montevideo (29.03.2019-29.06.2019) ISSN 978-9974-36-392-2.
CONFERENCES
“Pain Pals as the Collective Creation of a Pain-Centered World: Strategies for Playful Actions Leading to Social Change”. The Creative Gesture Symposium, University of Molise, May 28-30, 2024.
“Derribar el mito de la autonomía: hacia una filosofía de la interdependencia”, Instituto Otavaleño de Antropología (Ecuador). May 8, 2024.
“Collective Creativity in Disability Justice Dreaming: Social Change, Imagination, and Participation”, Interdisciplinary Doctoral Workshop on Creativity, Università degli studi del Molise (Campobasso). February 6, 2024.
“Access is Love: Disability Justice through the Lens of Pragmatist Ethics of Care”, 2nd Woman in Pragmatism International Conference, University of Naples Federico II (Naples). June 27-28, 2023.
“Deweyan Promises in Open Access as a collectively-held temporary agreement”, 2nd Woman in Pragmatism International Conference [Scholars Circle], University of Naples Federico II (Naples). June 27-28, 2023.
“Ésser amb els altres: acostaments entre la teoria de la cura i les teories crítiques de la discapacitat enguany”, VI Congrés Català de Filosofia, Manresa. June 15, 16 and 17, 2023
“Interdependence as an Existential Social Ontology in Disability Justice and Pragmatist Care Ethics”. Critical Social Ontology Workshop 2023. University of Saint Louis (Missouri). March 25-26, 2023.
“Activating a Device: Georgina Kleege , Fayen d’Evie , and Carmen Papalia on nonvisual engagements with the arts”. Seminar Athene Noctua. Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona). January 26, 2023.
“Shattering the White Cube: From Wholeness to Fragmentation through Tactile Aesthetics” Beyond the Visual: Non-Sighted Modes of Engaging Art. Simposi a la Wellcome Collection (Londres). Octubre 19, 20 i 21, 2022.
“Building Bridges: Pragmatism, Critical Disability Studies, and the Arts”, European Pragmatism Conference, UCL (London), August 20, 2022.
“Revisiting Maxine Greene: A multi-sensory approach to aesthetic education”, Women in Pragmatism Conference, UCL (London), August 19, 2022.
“Disability Justice and the Capabilities Approach: Is a conciliatory account possible?” Seminari Athene Noctua. Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona) February 24, 2022.
“From Access to Affordance.” ACHR Beyond Sight: Non-visual modes of engaging art workshop. Tate Modern (London) February 15-16, 2022
“Building Bridges Between American Pragmatism and Critical Disability Studies: An Epistemological Approach to Disability Justice.” The 72nd Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Portland State University (Portland, OR), November 12-13, 2021.
“Touch as a Strategy of Resistance: In Praise of Fragmentary Experiences.” Bodies of Power: Somaesthetics and Politics, Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton, FL), November 4-5, 2021.
“Digital Iterations of La Bendición 2000: A Comparative Examination of Recorded Performances as Pedagogical Devices”. Changing Perspectives on Live Performance: interrogating digital dimensions and new modes of engagement, Anglia Ruskin University, October 8-9, 2021.
“Lavar la raza: Blanquita y la reproducción transgeneracional de la negritud en los medios masivos, de la televisión a Youtube” with Zurcir (Laboratorio de Pensamiento Fronterizo). International Conference A neoliberal counter-revolution? Cultural Imaginaries, Political Subjectivities and New World Order (1979- 2019), MoDe(s), MACBA, Barcelona (Spain), September 16-17, 2021.
"Picasso and Schlemmer: Scenography and Costume Design Processes from a Critical Disability Studies Lens” with Irene Alcubilla Troughton (University of Utrecht). Arts University Bournemouth Online Symposium: Costume, Scenography and Critical Theory, Arts University Bournemouth (UK), May 27/28, 2021.
“Esto no tiene nada que ver con las Meninas… Escenografías picassianas más allá del teatro” with Bárbara Bayarri Viñas (UAB). Doctorat Picasso 2020/2021. Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona i Museu Picasso, Barcelona (Spain), May 6, 2021.
“Understanding Aesthetics Experience through Tactility and Care: Interactional Resonances in Fayen d’Evie and Carolina Caycedo’s Work” with Dr. Beatriz Salazar Duque (Universidad de Antioquia). VII Encuentro Ibérico de Estética ‘El arte y lo humano’. En línea. University of Granada (Spain), April 21-23, 2021.
“Acercamientos táctiles a Parade (o cómo articular una escena para managers gigantes y caballos danzantes)”. II Jornadas GEARAD: Diálogos hacia una investigación en arte y diseño. EINA, Barcelona (Spain), February 11, 2021.
“Caressing Alterity: Eros, Touch and Facture in Picasso's 1931-1932 Sculpture”. Apart from Art. The construction and Reception of the Other from Antiquity to Present Day. I Conference on Doctoral Studies in Art and Musicology. Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), December 16-17, 2020.
“Teaching Philosophy in Aesthetic Environments: From M. Greene's Blue Guitar lessons to the Picasso Museum of Barcelona", Women in Pragmatism International Conference, University of Barcelona, 28-30 January 2020
“Choreographies of Blessed2000: A Creative Process on the Threshold of Performing Arts and Academic Philosophy”, with Meritxell Caralt Soto. Indisciplines: Conference on Research in Arts Practice, University of Barcelona and ESMUC, 28-30 November, 2019
“Picasso - Alberti: una amistat poètica”, with Margarida Cortadella. At Symposium Au rendez-vous des poètes a Catalunya, Picasso Museum Barcelona, 28 November, 2019
“Picasso's Las Meninas: Redefining Goodman's Variations through embodied strategies”, Aesthetic Experience and the Complexity of Perception, University of Murcia, 6-8 November 2019
“The political significance of materials in Cubist facture (1909-1918)”, VI Encontro Iberico de Estética, Arte e Sociedade, University of Coimbra (Portugal), 24-26 October 2019.
“The Rothko Chapel Crafting a Space for the Ethical Solicitation from the Other in History”, Around the Rothko Chapel, EPHE-PSL, Fondation des Treilles (Tourtour, France), 15-20 July 2019.
“Modulating Variations: A procedural definition of variations as a creative process of Exploration”, V Congrés Català de Filosofia, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Canilló (Andorra); 20-22 June 2019.
“Moldear la pintura La tactilidad pictórica como evento de contacto en el búcaro de las Meninas de Picasso”, I Jornadas GEARAD: estudios de caso para una investigación en arte y diseño, EINA (Barcelona), 6-7 May, 2019.
“The vicious and the akratic: an appraisal of moral conflict" at the Meetings on Ethics and Political Theory”, Universidade do Minho (Portugal), June 2018.
“Benjamin’s Dialectics of Shock and Redemption in Contemporary Moving Images concerning Migration”, Conceptual Crossroads: IV Humanities Graduate Conference, University of Utrecht (Netherlands), March 2018
“Ecstasis and expropiation in Dismembered Women”, International Conference Body and Ecstasis, UAB, 2016.
“Utopies and distopies, designing the future”, within the series Thought and Fiction, Barcelona, 2016.
"Cinematographic Manifestations of Vulnerability. The Figure of the Intruder”, three-lecture series, Raons Públiques, Barcelona, 2016.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2018 - : FPU 2017 Fellow.
2017 - 2018: LaCaixa Fellowship for Postgraduate studies, in order to study the MA in Philosophy at UCL.
2017 Premio Extraordinario del Grado de Filosofía UAB.
2013 – 2017: Ítaca - Banco Santander Fellowship for Undergraduate studies, to study the BA in Philosophy at UAB.
TRANSFERENCE: CURATORSHIP AND ACADEMIC EVENTS
December 2022 : Coordination of the Special Issue of the Journal Sarance: Dossier temático número 49 " Delirios de raza y vida cotidiana. Memoria, reconciliación, cuerpos y violencias en la cotidianidad". With research group Zurcir LAB (Diego Rodríguez; Laura Meneses; Marc Mariner, and myself).
January 28-30, 2020 : Organization Committee of the Women in Pragmatism International Conference (UB, Barcelona). In the frame of this event, the WiP Mentoring and Cooperation program was created, of which I am in the Media Committee.
January 21, 2020 : Founder and coordinator of the UAB Minorities in Philosophy Chapter, part of the MAP network.
December 2019 - 2023 : Head of Communications of the UAB Platform of the Creative Europe Project OPEN UP. 607376-CREA-1-2019-1-CY-CULT-COOP2
November 28, 2019 : Coordination of the Symposiu Au rendez-vous des poètes a Catalunya, Museu Picasso de Barcelona.
October 2019 : Curator of the exhibition Colere. Cultura. Cultiu. (Celler, Rubí). I also developed the educational program which involved docummentary screenings, visits with university students (UAB) and worshops with creators with functional diversity.
May 2019 : Co-organization, with Sílvia Galí and artencurs, of the student's poetry festival Gespa Price, in the framework of the 50th anniversary of UAB.
March 29 - June 29, 2019 : Wall texts and chronology for the exhibition Picasso en Uruguay (MNAV, Montevideo). The show had 185.000 visitors.
February - July 2019 : Co-organization of the international conference Around the Rothko Chapel, at Fondation Les Treilles, with Prof. Annie Cohen-Solal and Dr. Noit Banai.
April 2019 - Organization of the Symposium on Philosophy of Design: Design from the Arts, Science and Technology. Coordination of postgraduate students. Philosophy Department of Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
March 2019 - contributor to the Artistic Journal 'Obre els Ulls' in the issue about migration and intersectional feminism with the short text [Sin Título]
October 2018 - logistic organization of the Iberian Conference on Aesthetics by SEyTA, 'Fiction and Knowledge' as the assistant to Dr. Prof. Gerard Vilar, president of SEyTA.
2015 - 2017 co-founder of the association La Casa del Pensament
https://www.facebook.com/casapensament/
2015 - 2016 Author in the Cultural Journal Núvol
https://www.nuvol.com/autor/ager-perez/
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