Moving forward while looking back - grief as driving force of sustainable transformation
A lecture by Prof. Dr. Judith-Frederike Popp as part of the format the_print_fest, organised by the Intaglio Lab (IBK).
This lecture explores how a blind faith in progress can be critically examined through aesthetic practices. To this end, it brings together insights from psychoanalysis—which emphasize the relevance of mourning processes for maturation and development—with processes and dynamics of change that manifest themselves in art and design. This bringing together is utilized to support the hypothesis that sustainable transformations depend on creating space for the emotional processing of the loss of modes of action, objects, or even practical infrastructures of daily life. Such a space can be opened up through artistic and design practices when they bring linear forward movement to a halt through a circular interplay with forms and materials. In this interplay, in which the past and the future remain in relation to one another, grief—for instance, over lost modes of expression and material conditions—can take a seat. In this way, a self-reflexive practice of transformation takes shape, one that accounts for the ambivalent orientation of sustainability manifesting in looking ahead and back at the same time.
We look forward to your interest! No prior booking is necessary.
Judith-Frederike Popp is a philosopher (PhD) working on subjectivity through and in aesthetic practices. After a position as FWF Senior Post-Doc at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, she is currently a visiting professor for theoretical philosophy and aesthetics at Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.
Website: https://judithfrederikepopp.com/
FU Berlin: https://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/we01/institut/mitarbeiter/kooptierte_gastprofessoren_gastdozenten/popp/index.html
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3711-3637
Academia.edu: https://fu-berlin.academia.edu/JudithFrederikePopp
This event is part of a series of events that includes both virtual and in-person components,
which takes place within the format of the_print_fest, now in its fourth edition, and brings together the following institutions and departments within an EU-funded BIP-Bended Intensive Program to offer workshops on the topic of sustainability in artistic practice as well as self-empowerment as a method in this debate, with the aim of diversifying perspectives.
Our Partners:
Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków ,Poland
Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (HUFA) Budapest, Hungary
Our Guests:
Academy of Fine Arts and Design (VSVU) Bratislava, Slovakia
National College of Art and Design (NCAD) Dublin, Ireland
Come join us in person from April 20–24, 2026, and join us for the exhibition opening on April 23, 2026, from 6:30–10:00 p.m. at the Exhibit Eschenbachgasse at the Academy of Fine Arts.