Event type: Conference / Symposium

Address: Woburn Suite, G22/26, Ground Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

Speakers: Karin Harrasser (Linz), Stefan Herbrechter (Heidelberg), Olivia Vieweg (Weimar)

Event dates: 23 March 2023 – 24 March 2023, 10:30AM – 7:00PM

‘Not all of us can say, with any degree of certainty, that we have always been human, or that we are only that. Some of us are not even considered fully human now, let alone at previous moments of Western social, political and scientific history.’ As the philosopher Rosi Braidotti reminds us, one of the central achievements of posthumanism and ‘the post-human’ has been to enrich and diversify our sense of what it could have meant to be human, and what it might still mean. 

At a time of intersecting global crises, this conference seeks to re-evaluate the categories of humaness and ‘the human’ through the lenses of the posthuman and the transhuman. With a particular focus on German literature, culture, film, and thought from the 18th century to the present, it will explore posthuman(ist) conceptions and figurations of gender, sexuality, interpersonality, ecology, ontology, and – of course – artificial intelligence. The conference’s keynote speakers are Karin Harrasser (Linz) and Stefan Herbrechter (Heidelberg), and it includes a writer’s workshop with prize-winning graphic novelist Olivia Vieweg.

Programme (PDF)

Registration fees:

Standard rate: GBP 35.00 | Friends of Germanic Studies/Friends of Italian at the ILCS: GBP 30.00 | Students: GBP 15.00 

All are welcome to participate in this two-day event. for which advance online registration is essential. Registration fees include lunch and reception on the first day, and refreshments on the second. Anyone wishing to attend the conference dinner on the first day is asked to indicate their interest whilst booking; the cost of GBP35.00, not including drinks, is payable in cash on the day. 

Registering for the conference includes an option to book for the workshop with Olivia Vieweg (there is no need for separate booking). Further details on the workshop can be found at: https://ilcs.sas.ac.uk/events/endzeit-author-workshop-graphic-novelist-olivia-vieweg

Conference Dates: May 13, 2023 & May 14, 2023

A transdisciplinary conference seeks to foster transdisciplinary and intercultural conversations among artists, technologists, humanists, and natural scientists presenting their work in areas such as literature, philosophy, ethics, psychology, music, fine arts, bodywork, and intercultural knowledge. The conference accepts papers and art works that encourage scholars, artists, intellectuals, scientists, and technologists to reflect on the emerging cultural and humanist paradigm that views the “human” (in its various forms) as a part of a larger interconnected system and an emerging posthuman era. Is life evolving beyond humanism? To a non-dualist view of humans as part of a systemic view of nature, life, technology, science, and humanity. 

The conference is designed to actively break down traditional barriers, prejudices, and misunderstandings between these different fields of human expertise. A chance to foster a complex systemic understanding of life, nature, humanity, technology, and science, as well as to engage with some of the most powerful voices in art, science, philosophy, and medicine on issues concerning life, the environment, culture, and their mutual relationships.

Artists who use biotechnological, digital, electronic, or robotic tools to alter entities in the lifeworld, as well as cryptoart, bioart, deep learning generated music, and cyborg performances. Scholars and artists, technologists and performers are encouraged to present their work at the conference and bring it to life in a shared human, living, or digital space. All contributing to a new understanding of human beings as non-dualist entities and parts of a bigger systemic thinking of nature, life, science, and humanity and to reflect on the role of a novel form of humanism in the era of Technology, Art and the PostHuman.

The conference will host two unique events:

1. Keynote by Prof. Stefan Lorenz Sorgner together with composer Sven Helbig
2. Final concert to close the conference by Sven Helbig and Choir

Abstracts for presentations, artworks, performances, concerts should be sent to futureandinnovation@johncabot.edu.

Deadline: March 6, 2023

If you are interested in attending the event, please send an email to futureandinnovation@johncabot.edu. Participation is free of charge.