The Society of Dialogical Aesthetics (SoDA) is a non-profit scholarly society with the aim of investigating aesthetics and the philosophy of art. It was established 27 October 2023 in Velence, Hungary, and registered officially in Finland 8 February, 2024 (official registration number 3426072-4). The current Board of the Society consists of Max Ryynänen (Chair), Zoltán Somhegyi (Vice Chair), Saumya Suyal (Secretary) and Sara Berti (Project Manager). The board meets a couple of times per year, and all members have the right to take part in the annual spring meeting. The Society of Dialogical Aesthetics is a member society in the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA).
The Society aims to increase dialog on aesthetics through organizing conferences, round trips and other events, without forgetting publications. The first main event of SoDA was The First Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics, held May 2-5, 2024, in Velence, Hungary. The topic was Trying Out New Paths in Aesthetics. The Second Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics will be organized between 28-31 August 2025 in East Helsinki, Finland. The main conference of 2026 will be organized in Warsaw, and there are plans in further countries and regions for the fall of 2026 and spring 2027. Stay tuned for futher updates.
If you are interested to become a member or if you have any questions, contact us at [email protected]. Membership is gained through participation in a conference, and it lasts for three years.
The Society aims to increase dialog on aesthetics through organizing conferences, round trips and other events, without forgetting publications. The first main event of SoDA was The First Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics, held May 2-5, 2024, in Velence, Hungary. The topic was Trying Out New Paths in Aesthetics. The Second Coffee Break Conference of Aesthetics will be organized between 28-31 August 2025 in East Helsinki, Finland. The main conference of 2026 will be organized in Warsaw, and there are plans in further countries and regions for the fall of 2026 and spring 2027. Stay tuned for futher updates.
If you are interested to become a member or if you have any questions, contact us at [email protected]. Membership is gained through participation in a conference, and it lasts for three years.
The current Board of the Society:
Chair: Max Ryynänen
Max Ryynänen is Principal Lecturer (equivalent of Reader in the UK, but based on pedagogical merits) in Theory of Visual Culture at Aalto University Finland, and adjunct professor of aesthetics at the universities of Helsinki, Jyväskylä, and Eastern Finland. He is the ex president of the Finnish Society of Aesthetics and Finland’s representant in the Nordic Society of Aesthetics. Ryynänen’s books are based on an extended way of using aesthetics and mingling with cultural studies, film studies, and idea history. The methodological outreach is global, ranging from American pragmatism to Indian philosophy, and phenomenology/hermeneutics to Japanese aesthetics. His book On the Philosophy of Central European Art: A History of an Institution and Its Global Competitors (Lexington Books, 2020) studied in a class, gender and ethnicity sensitive way the history of the art system, and what kind of cultural systems it overshadowed globally. Bodily Engagements with Film, Images, and Technology: Somavision (Routledge, 2022), deals with the role of vision and bodily reactions in e.g. cinema and contemporary art. A Philosophy of Cultural Scenes in Art and Popular Culture (written with Jozef Kovalcik; Routledge, 2023) is an inquiry into the role of art scenes and cultural scenes of various kinds, and their cultural nature. Realism, Myth, and the Vernacular in Pasolini’s Film and Philosophy (Palgrave, 2024) provides a philosophical analysis of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s life work, focusing on e.g. his cultural philosophy and aesthetic interests. Ryynänen is also co-editor of e.g. Aesthetics Across the Disciplines (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023, with Zoltán Somhegyi), The Changing Meaning of Kitsch (Palgrave, 2023, with Paco Barragán), and Cultural Approaches to Disgust and the Visceral (with Susanne Ylönen and Heidi Kosonen, Routledge 2022) – three books, which are attempts to shed light on the role and nature of aesthetics in the contemporary world. Currently, Ryynänen works on a book on the aesthetics of martial arts and edits a book on the philosophy of Gianni Vattimo. For more info, see homepage: http://maxryynanen.net
Vice Chair: Zoltán Somhegyi
Zoltán Somhegyi is an art historian with a PhD in aesthetics and a Habilitation (venia legendi) in philosophy. He is Associate Professor of Art History at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Szeged in Hungary. As a researcher, he is focusing on the aesthetics of ruination and decay as well as environmental aesthetics and landscapes. In addition, he is also interested in contemporary arts and art criticism. He has written art critiques and art fair reports, essays and articles on contemporary visual arts and architecture and catalogues for artists. He curated exhibitions in six countries (Hungary, United Arab Emirates, Croatia, Italy, Slovakia and Austria) and participated in international art projects. He served as Secretary General of the International Association for Aesthetics (IAA) (2016-2022), and continues to act as the Association’s Website Editor.
Since 2023, he has also held the position of Deputy Secretary General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH). He was senior researcher in the project Perspectives in Environmental Aesthetics (2022-2025), and his current research project, Art and Catastrophe – Challenging Aesthetics Around Environmental Destruction, is supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences through a three-year grant (2024-2027). Among his recent books are Reviewing the Past. The Presence of Ruins (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020); Aesthetic Theory Across the Disciplines (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023; co-edited with Max Ryynänen); and The Routledge Companion to The Philosophy of Architectural Reconstruction (Routledge, 2024; co-edited with Lisa Giombini).
For more information, see: www.zoltansomhegyi.com
Since 2023, he has also held the position of Deputy Secretary General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH). He was senior researcher in the project Perspectives in Environmental Aesthetics (2022-2025), and his current research project, Art and Catastrophe – Challenging Aesthetics Around Environmental Destruction, is supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences through a three-year grant (2024-2027). Among his recent books are Reviewing the Past. The Presence of Ruins (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020); Aesthetic Theory Across the Disciplines (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023; co-edited with Max Ryynänen); and The Routledge Companion to The Philosophy of Architectural Reconstruction (Routledge, 2024; co-edited with Lisa Giombini).
For more information, see: www.zoltansomhegyi.com
Secretary: Saumya Suyal
Saumya Suyal is a PhD candidate in Philosophy in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. She earned her B.A. (Hons.) in Philosophy from Hindu College, University of Delhi, and her M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Hyderabad. She is pursuing her doctoral research under the supervision of Professor Prashant Bagad.
Her Ph.D. thesis focuses on a critical analysis of the contemporary models of aesthetic appreciation of nature, with a focus on exploring the debates between cognitive and non- cognitive models. She is also interested in ecofeminism, ecocriticism, the philosophy of wonder, immersion, and myths. Along with this, she is exploring the potential influence of Indian philosophical thought, in particular a reflection of the more marginalised understanding, on the aesthetic appreciation of nature. The larger and long-term philosophical quests involve an attempt to understand how aesthetic encounters with the natural world can inspire deeper ethical relationships with the environment.
Her love for nature and admiration for experiencing nature in various ways are the major motivations behind her interest in environmental philosophy. The few Himalayan treks and hikes that she has done have played an important role in shaping her outlook, both theoretically and practically, in appreciating nature. Besides academia, she has a deep interest in music, which equally helps in enriching her thinking. She also enjoys running, more so in the green, lush areas with minimal human influence.
Her Ph.D. thesis focuses on a critical analysis of the contemporary models of aesthetic appreciation of nature, with a focus on exploring the debates between cognitive and non- cognitive models. She is also interested in ecofeminism, ecocriticism, the philosophy of wonder, immersion, and myths. Along with this, she is exploring the potential influence of Indian philosophical thought, in particular a reflection of the more marginalised understanding, on the aesthetic appreciation of nature. The larger and long-term philosophical quests involve an attempt to understand how aesthetic encounters with the natural world can inspire deeper ethical relationships with the environment.
Her love for nature and admiration for experiencing nature in various ways are the major motivations behind her interest in environmental philosophy. The few Himalayan treks and hikes that she has done have played an important role in shaping her outlook, both theoretically and practically, in appreciating nature. Besides academia, she has a deep interest in music, which equally helps in enriching her thinking. She also enjoys running, more so in the green, lush areas with minimal human influence.
Project Manager: Sara Berti
Sara Berti was born in Bologna in 1982. After studying in Bologna, and living in Budapest, Berlin, Izmir and in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates), currently she is residing in Velence, Hungary. Since 2006 she is continuously working as an artist at an international level, exhibiting in personal and group shows, art fairs and biennials. As a sculptor, she was part of the 54.Venice Biennial representing Italian Art in Hungary in 2011.
After having graduated in Sculpture (2006) and having a Master in Teaching Sculpture (2008), she has accumulated international experience in various levels not only as an exhibiting artist but also in teaching sculpture and art. She has a strong motivation in transmitting art and its techniques as well as in the finding of common points between cultures. She regularly leads workshops, also at university level and in museums, and she has been invited for international academic conferences. Her work is strongly based on multimedial artistic research (with old and new techniques like bronze or 3D pen) with outcomes of more than 100 internationals exhibitions as well as with an extraordinary enthusiasm in teaching art. Her artistic research concentrates on bridges between cultures, trying to find universal languages in particular by looking through the complexity and symbolism of geometry in relation with the anthropometry, on the basis of Vitruvian studies. She likes to play with strong lines, contrapposto compositions, almost impossible balances as forms of an aesthetic language that is possibly realised in particular in bronze. Since 2019 she is Co-founder and Co-editor of ContemporaryIdentities, an international online art magazine (www.contemporaryidentities.com).
For more information, see: www.saraberti.net
After having graduated in Sculpture (2006) and having a Master in Teaching Sculpture (2008), she has accumulated international experience in various levels not only as an exhibiting artist but also in teaching sculpture and art. She has a strong motivation in transmitting art and its techniques as well as in the finding of common points between cultures. She regularly leads workshops, also at university level and in museums, and she has been invited for international academic conferences. Her work is strongly based on multimedial artistic research (with old and new techniques like bronze or 3D pen) with outcomes of more than 100 internationals exhibitions as well as with an extraordinary enthusiasm in teaching art. Her artistic research concentrates on bridges between cultures, trying to find universal languages in particular by looking through the complexity and symbolism of geometry in relation with the anthropometry, on the basis of Vitruvian studies. She likes to play with strong lines, contrapposto compositions, almost impossible balances as forms of an aesthetic language that is possibly realised in particular in bronze. Since 2019 she is Co-founder and Co-editor of ContemporaryIdentities, an international online art magazine (www.contemporaryidentities.com).
For more information, see: www.saraberti.net