Joseph J. Tanke Appointed Fall Critical Studies and Humanities Fellow

Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Aug. 25, 2014 – Cranbrook Academy of Art is pleased to announce the appointment of University of Hawaii, Manoa, Associate Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Philosophy, Joseph J. Tanke, as the Critical Studies and Humanities Fellow for the fall semester of 2014.

Tanke has published and lectured extensively on issues in aesthetics, art theory, continental philosophy, and the history of philosophy. He is the author of Foucault’s Philosophy of Art: A Genealogy of Modernity (Continuum, 2009), and Jacques Rancière: An Introduction—Philosophy, Politics, Aesthetics (Continuum, 2011). Dr. Tanke has recently completed (with Colin McQuillan) a major new anthology of aesthetic theory, The Bloomsbury Anthology of Aesthetics (Bloomsbury, 2012), a textbook for courses on the philosophy of art. This summer, Tanke taught a seminar on comparative aesthetics at Renmin University in Beijing.

While at Cranbrook, Tanke’s fellowship will focus on both classical and contemporary theories of aesthetics. He also has plans to curate an exhibition that will reconstruct the visual and theoretical universe of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment (1790), a text that has been at the center of a number of different artistic movements, theoretical approaches to art, and the construction of different art-historical periods.

“We look forward to welcoming Joseph to campus. By having someone with such a deep background in philosophy working with our students enhances their work in the studios and their conversations in critique,” says Sarah Turner, Dean of Cranbrook Academy of Art. “This Fellowship creates rich opportunities for students to have a sustained and active role in exploring the ideas of a noted scholar from outside of the Academy.”

In the spring of 2015, the Academy will welcome another Critical Studies and Humanities Fellow from the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Jaimey Hamilton Faris is an Associate Professor of Critical Theory and Contemporary Art. While at Cranbrook, she will focus her research around questions of material and subjective relations within our current global economic system.

The Critical Studies and Humanities Fellowship at Cranbrook Academy of Art was launched in 2009 to bring the most current intellectual issues within contemporary art, design and architecture to Academy students through sustained conversations with the Fellow-in-Residence.

According to Turner, the overall success of the program has been the motivating factor in bringing in two different fellows this year, rather than extending one fellowship over two semesters. “This allows us to bring two different voices and unique perspectives to campus. The Fellows still have an extended period of time with our students, allowing them tofully participate in the community of the Academy.”

Cranbrook Academy of Art
Cranbrook Academy of Art is the country’s top ranked, graduate-only program in architecture, design and fine art. Each year, just 75 students are invited to study and live on our landmark Saarinen-designed campus, which features private studios, state-of-the art workshops, a renowned Art Museum, and 300 acres of forests, lakes, and streams, all a short drive from the red-hot art, design, and music scene of Detroit. The focus at Cranbrook is on studio practice in one of 10 disciplines: Architecture, 2D and 3D Design, Ceramics, Fiber, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Print Media, and Sculpture. The program is anchored by celebrated Artists- and Designers-in-Residence, one for each discipline, all of whom live and practice on campus alongside our students. For more information, visit us at www.cranbrookart.edu.