EPFL ArtLab
Thursday 14 February
9:00 am – 6:00 pm
In the framework of the exhibition Thinking Machines. Ramon Llull and the ars combinatoria, the EPFL CDH and the EPFL ArtLab organize a symposium in conjunction to the launch of the publication DIA-LOGOS Ramon Llull’s Method of Thought and Artistic Practice initiated by the ZKM Karlsruhe and published by Minnesota Press. Through the outstanding production of the Catalan philosopher, theologian, polymath from Majorca, this international symposium offers a platform to explore the inter-disciplinary reverberations of Llull’s work.
The morning session is dedicated to the analyses of Llull’s academic figure, and to the legacy of his combinatorial system in the minds and practice of contemporary creators, as well as in the history of informatics, formal logic, media archaeology, and computational thinking.
The afternoon session offers new perspectives on the history of computing machines, drawing connections between the Renaissance invention of printing and the modern science of encryption.
The final session will reflect on cultural heritage at risk and its preservation and digitization in conflict zones. This section will constitute an exceptional event, as it will see the participation of the executive director of the Maronite Library of Aleppo (Syria), who will bring for the first at the EPFL his rare expertise to the discussion, thus raising consciousness on the endangered written heritage in conflict zones and on the need of further measures for securing such textual memory.
Guided tours through the exhibition and the launch of the edited volume DIA-LOGOS Ramon Llull’s Method of Thought and Artistic Practice, will offer a dynamic platform for intercultural and institutional exchange.
With:
- Nicolas Ducimetière, Vice director Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cologny
- Macarios Jabbour, Executive director Maronite Library Aleppo, Syria
- Béla Kapossy, Dean EPFL College of Humanities
- Sarah Kenderdine, Lead of the EPFL Laboratory for experimental Museology eM+
- Bill Sherman, Director of the Warburg Institute and Professor of Cultural History in the University of London’s School of Advanced Study
- Roland Tormey, Coordinator of the EPFL Teaching Support Centre
- Amador Vega, Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
- Siegfried Zielinski, Michel Foucault Professor of Media Archaeology and Techno-Culture at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee (CH)
* The publication DIA-LOGOS Ramon Llull’s Method of Thought and Artistic Practice was generously supported by Ernst von Siemens Stiftung.
Contacts:
Coordination: [email protected]
Communication: [email protected]
