What if we see care as art.. and art as care? Watch the aftermovie!

20 february 2025

At the end of January, over 500 care ethicists, artists, designers and makers, artistic researchers, performers, philosophers, educators, and policy makers gathered for the third international Care, Aesthetics, and Repair conference of the Care Ethics Research Consortium (CERC), hosted by the University of Humanistic Studies.

Alongside academic talks by more than 230 speakers, the event presented a wide range of artistic contributions, including live performances, theatre, dance, film, video, photography, music, sculpture, installation art, drawing, kintsugi, clothing mending, bio-based art, and other creative expressions. The conference also featured an online edition with participants worldwide. 

Together, participants explored the question: What if we see care as art… and art as care?  The conference showed that artistic practice is a vital source of knowledge—a perspective that strongly resonates with the mission of Meaningful Artistic Research, the collaboration between HKU and UvH.

Conference organiser Louis van den Hengel: “We look back on an inspiring event where disciplinary boundaries were dissolved in order to collectively explore what it truly means to care. The conference was an invitation to think, feel, imagine, and create together—calling on participants to craft new ways of attending to our shared vulnerabilities and to put care and care ethics into action as an affirmative act of worldmaking.”

The next CERC conference will take place in 2026 in South Korea.

At the end of January, over 500 care ethicists, artists, designers and makers, artistic researchers, performers, philosophers, educators, and policy makers gathered for the third international Care, Aesthetics, and Repair conference of the Care Ethics Research Consortium (CERC), hosted by the University of Humanistic Studies.