Christian Ruby is a philosopher and a member of the Association for the Development of Cultural History (ADHC, 2006), the Entre-Deux association, the Tunisian Association of Aesthetics and Poetics (ATEP), and the scientific committee of the Institute for Art and the City. He is a member of the association PAC (Cultural Presence and Action), a regular contributor to the Observatoire des politiques culturelles, and director of the journal Raison. He is a member of the editorial boards of the reviews Espaces-Temps, Les Cahiers (1993-2005), Bulletin critique du livre en langue française (1985-2008), Mercure (2006-2008).
Associated paragraph
“If Christian Ruby is interested in questions of the public and spectator, it is not only to show how it functions, but also to underline the shifting stakes and recall the political and social heart all of the spectator’s thoughts, of any proposal of aesthetic education. In short, going against the generalization of current cultural practices that quantify effectiveness, Christian Ruby proposes critical thought. Has the place of the spectator become blurred and precarious due to the implications of contemporary art and the omnipresence of cultural industries and consumption? Does there only exist one model of the spectator, now lost, maintained by just a few nostalgic people? Answering such questions is only possible if we first clarify the long-dominant models of the spectator from which we judge the present. The cultural and philosophical history of the spectator, in the European context, teaches us at least this: no one is a spectator per se. One becomes a spectator in relation to works, and the configuration one takes can change.”
Selected publications
- La figure du spectateur, Elements of European Cultural History, Paris, Armand Colin, 2012.
- L’archipel des spectateurs, Besançon, Nessy, 2012.
- Becoming contemporary? La couleur du temps au prisme de l’art, Paris, Editions Le Félin, 2007.
- Réélaborer la question de la politique, Brussels, PAC, 2009 (accessible on the website of Présence et action culturelle, Brussels).