Working Lecture #1 – L’élégance de la matière

Each crease shows a great elegance for those who know how to contemplate it. For the physicist, the artist or the art historian, this physical phenomenon carries fundamental questions with unexpected consequences. From one keyword to another, our three guests will engage in the exercise of exquisite cadavers: a first speaker will bring a notion into play, unfold its meaning, and pass it on to the second speaker, then the third, and so on. An Ulpian way of questioning the notion of beauty in three different fields of research, to stimulate analogies and metaphors that allow us to enrich our perspective on the world. With the participation of: Benoît Roman, CNRS research director, member of the Physics and Mechanics of Heterogeneous Media laboratory at ESPCI Paris - PSL. Dominique Peysson, visual artist & art researcher. Guitemie Maldonado, Professor of art history at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. This conference was organized by the Chaire Beauté-s, supported by PSL University and made possible by the sponsorship of the L'Oréal group. Organization: Justin Jaricot, Scientific Coordinator of the Beauty-s Chair. Clélia Zernik, President of the Steering Committee of the Beauty Chair. The Working Lectures inaugurate a new format of conferences at the service of actual research and interdisciplinarity. The Beauty Chair invites an academic or artistic personality to present a current working hypothesis, and gives him/her the possibility to invite one or more colleagues of his/her choice, from different disciplines, to stimulate and question his/her reflection. These conferences can take various and playful forms: round table, presentation of scientific projects or working hypotheses, etc. The title "Working Lecture" refers explicitly to "Working Papers": scientific working documents that are "work in progress" versions of academic articles, book chapters or journals. These papers are intended to encourage discussion and contribute to the advancement of knowledge on a specific topic, outside the traditional publishing circuit. The Working Lectures are part of this principle of production and dissemination of knowledge, consistent with the prospective dimension of the Research Chair on Beauty studies (Chaire Beauté·s).