22 June 2026
Comillas Pontifical University
Comillas Pontifical University and the University of Deusto have launched the Interdisciplinary Chair in Art and Transcendence, an academic initiative that aims to strengthen the dialogue between artistic creation, intellectual reflection and the big questions about the meaning of human existence.
At Comillas Pontifical University, the chair is affiliated with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Theology (Comillas CIHS) and is co-directed by Bert Daelemans SJ, Professor in the Faculty of Theology, and Milagros García Vázquez, Professor of Aesthetics at Comillas CIHS. It has been established with a clear interdisciplinary vocation and aims to position art as a privileged space for encounter, knowledge and experience. “Art is not merely a form of expression and sensory perception, but a phenomenon that invites participation in an experience and makes it possible, through its symbolic and sensory dimensions, to engage with fundamental questions about the human person and their relationship with the transcendent,” said Daelemans.
The mission of the Chair in Art and Transcendence is to explore, promote and foster dialogue between art, academic reflection and the human experience of transcendence, drawing on disciplines such as philosophy, theology, anthropology and the social sciences. In this regard, “the project stems from the need to approach the artistic phenomenon from a cross-cutting perspective, ensuring it is not reduced to a consumerist framework and recognising its cultural, social, ethical and even political dimensions”, explained the director of the new chair.
Its main objectives include fostering interdisciplinary research into the relationship between art and transcendence, promoting academic and cultural activities, encouraging artistic creation, and establishing an active dialogue with artists, critics and national and international institutions. Furthermore, “we aim to transfer knowledge to society through training, outreach and collaboration with various cultural stakeholders”, said García Vázquez.
The project will involve lecturers and researchers from various faculties at the university, as well as external experts and artists, such as Eduardo Delgado, an architect and lecturer at the University of Zaragoza, and the harpsichordist Yago Mahúgo, which reinforces its open and multidisciplinary nature. Furthermore, it will be developed in close collaboration with the University of Deusto, with which it shares common objectives and areas of work.
To support its activities, which will include academic conferences, seminars, exhibitions and artistic creation projects, the Chair will draw on the university’s academic, cultural and technical resources, further strengthening Comillas and Deusto as leading institutions in the study of the relationship between art, thought and transcendence.
The establishment of this chair reflects the commitment of Jesuit universities to a holistic education that combines academic excellence with reflection on the major cultural challenges of our time. In a plural and constantly changing world, the initiative seeks to reaffirm the role of art as a space for dialogue, meaning and encounter between different forms of knowledge.
The official launch of the Chair took place during the “Architecture of the Sacred on the Centenary of Gaudí’s Death” conference, which featured lectures, a roundtable discussion, workshops, an art exhibition, music and cultural experiences centred on the architecture of the sacred. It was, moreover, a unique encounter with renowned experts, artists and creators such as Ignacio Yepes, Cristina Almodóvar, Yolanda Lalonso, Leandro Alonso and Ignacio Llamas, who have helped us to view art from a transcendent perspective.
During the event, Antonio Allende, Rector of the University, stated that the Chair would be “a space for encounter and for the transfer of knowledge to society, where questions about what it means to be human can be explored with both freedom and rigour”. He also noted that we live in a world “shaped by technological transformation”, in which the big questions about meaning, beauty and hope remain more open than ever, and “art is one of the privileged spaces where these questions are posed and explored”.
