Conference: The Aesthetics of Bio-Machines and the Question of Life

Dates: 13-14 June 2024
Location: Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Plads 8, 2300 København S, Room 15A.0.13
Registration: no later than 7 June 2024 via event.sdu.dk/biomachines
Program (pdf)

Today we are immersed in life-simulating digital technologies, such as virtual assistants (Siri, Alexa), generative self-learning computer systems (chatbots), and adaptive robots that use artificial intelligence to learn from their surroundings (robot vacuum cleaners). In new and intriguing ways, these digital technologies raise the question of who and what is alive, and how we as humans cohabit with them. This humanities-based conference will investigate these “life-forms” from an aesthetic perspective by focusing on how we may understand the sensory capabilities of such technologies and the way these are negotiated in literature, art, and film. Over the course of two days, we will bring together a wide range of scholars, researchers and artists who explore life-simulating technologies from an aesthetic perspective, including keynote speakers Joanna Zylinska (Professor of Media Philosophy and Critical Digital Practice at King’s College London) and Cally Spooner (Visual artist).

The conference is organised by the research cluster “Bio-machines and the Question of Life” (The Velux Foundations) in close collaboration between the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Copenhagen.

Contact

For further information contact conference organisers Naja Grundtmann (nag@sdu.dk), Johan Lau Munkholm (johanlau@sdu.dk) or Patrick Sloan (pasl@sdu.dk).