ABOUT
Hello! I am a philosopher of art and an artist, and a Lecturer (assistant professor) in Philosophy at Cardiff University.
My philosophical work mainly focuses on 'dangerous art': art that constitutes oppression or entrenches structural injustices. Specifically, I argue that visual art is a kind of communication, or speech, and I explore the moral and political implications of this. I argue that artworks can perform (oppressive) speech acts, have propositional content, can tell lies, and their meanings are sensitive to curatorial dimensions. More broadly, I'm interested in the nature of 'aesthetic injustice' - how we might be wronged in a distinctively aesthetic way.
As a state-educated and 'first-gen' university student, I am passionate about public engagement and outreach - alongside my teaching, I endeavour to make philosophy accessible and exciting to all. I've presented my work on BBC radio, podcasts, YouTube, and I've worked with the Sutton Trust Summer School and guest-lecture for the London Drawing Group.
Before Cardiff, I held a post-doctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (2018-2022), where I was also awarded my PhD (2019), and the MPhil in Philosophy for which I gained a Distinction (2014). Before Cambridge, I was awarded a First Class BA (joint honours) in Fine Art & Philosophy at the University of Reading.
I also have an art practice in painting and sonic installation.
WRITING
Academic
7. 'Depravity: the story of dangerous art' (trade book under contract with Faber & Faber - in process)
6. 'Un-ringing the Bell: How to Silence Oppressive Monuments' in: Grappling with Monuments of Oppression: Moving from Analysis to Activism (forthcoming, ed. Christopher Fennell, Routledge).
5. ‘Artistic (Counter) Speech’ (2022, *prize-winning paper) Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 4, 409-419.
4. ‘Lies in Art’ (2022) Australasian Journal of Philosophy 100, 25-39.
3. ‘Novel Assertions: A Reply to Mahon’ (2022) British Journal of Aesthetics 62, 115-124.
2. 'The Artistic Metaphor’ (2021) Philosophy 96, 1-25.
1. Alterpieces: artworks as shifting speech acts (2019) PhD. diss, University of Cambridge.
Book reviews
'Educating Character Through the Arts' (2023) (in process).
'Honouring and Admiring the Immoral: an ethical guide. Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies' (2023) Philosophical Quarterly 73, 831-837.
'Whole Picture: The colonial story of the art in our museums & why we need to talk about it' (2021) British Journal of Aesthetics 61, 395-399.
Public engagement
'Slurring Images' (2024) Open For Debate, Cardiff University
‘Should we censor art?: a philosophical guide on how to manage dangerous art’ (2021) Aeon
‘Conflicted art: how to approach works by morally bad artists' (2019) Art Aesthetics Magazine
Works in progress
'Prohibited Images: what is a visual slur?'
'Lying is telling'
'On immoral artists'
'The artistic score' (with Miguel Dos Santos)
'The reality of aesthetic injustice'
'The ethics of photographic transparency'
CV
UPCOMING TALKS & WRITING
"Art and Beauty" session with Panos Paris, as part of the National Gallery's course Thinking about art: Philosophical approaches to art history - 30th April 2024
"Slurring Images" - my first piece on what I call the 'aesthetic slur'. Read it here.
"The Aesthetic Slur" (University of Birmingham Philosophy Society - 22nd May 2024)
TBC (University of Glasgow senior seminar - 14th Jan 2025)
Recent past events:
"The Aesthetic Slur"
(University of Barcelona LOGOS Colloquium - 3rd April 2024)
(University of Reading Research Colloquium 2024 - 22nd April)
"Lying as Telling" (University of Valencia, 'Lying & Deception' workshop - 23-24th Nov 2023)
"On immoral artists" (Royal Institute of Philosophy, Oxford Brookes - 27th Nov 2023)
"What is aesthetic injustice?" (UCL, 'The Ethics of Arts Funding' workshop - 30th Oct 2023)
CONTACT
For academic enquiries:
dixond7 [at] cardiff.ac.uk
For literary, media, & TV enquiries:
Georgina Capel
georgina [at] georginacapel.com
Portrait by Mark Box (https://markbox.myportfolio.com/)