This interdisciplinary conference will explore the interconnectedness of humans and nonhumans. These interconnections are explored through research and practice in academia, and are engaged daily in our human lives. The impacts of these interconnections are being rendered increasingly visible via the effects of global economies, the growing impacts of climate change, and the possible futures of the sixth mass extinction.

The theme of Interconnectedness will be explored through panels of presenters, keynote speakers, and a roundtable discussion. The panels will be exploring questions such as: How can we as humans visualise and experience the nonhuman? How does your research implicitly or explicitly engage with nonhumans? What is the added benefit or utility to your research from nonhumans? How do nonhumans influence your research? Is there a reciprocal influence? What are the differences between ‘nonhumans’ and ‘others’ and how does your research engage with a philosophy of ‘others’? What can we learn from the nonhuman? What changes in your research by engaging with the nonhuman? How do the sensual capacities of the other translate into human technologies [e.g. echolocation (in the physical, artistic, emotional, philosophical realms, etc)]? What religions or mythological frameworks encompassing nonhumans influence or inform your approach to research? What are the boundaries of the human/nonhuman (animal transplants, chimerism, technological developments, legal rights, cyborgs, intellectual property rights . . .)? What is the role of zoons in research (human/nonhuman/technological collaborations)? How do varying definitions of human impact research ethics? What methodologies might we employ to identify and ethically interact with the nonhuman? What are the processes of negotiation with the nonhuman in research? What are the impacts on output? What are the relationships between humans and nonhumans yesterday, today, and tomorrow?

Event Programme:

09:15 Opening Statements by Dr. Sarah Fortais and Dawn Gaietto

09:30 Panel One - Mediating Affect

Untitled, Professor Sharon Morris, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

Experimenting with the Limits of the Body in Cancer-Detection Dog Training, Katrina Holland, Department of Anthropology, UCL

How to make the invisible visible: the challenges of public engagement with microfossils, Rehemat Bhatia, Department of Earth Sciences, UCL

10:30 Morning Break

10:45 Panel Two - Local Knowledges

Sheparding, Marking, and Kinship; Notes on Engaging a Region through Artmaking, Matthew Beach, School of Geography, QMUL

CLOSED|EYE|DRAWING, Graydon Wetzler and Yayu Tseng; PhD, NYU Performance Studies; and designer, artist, and book translator.

11:30 Not material, but actors? Animals in contemporary art
Dr. Volker Sommer, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, UCL

12:30 Owl Pellet Workshop. Led by Dr. Sarah Fortais, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Panel Three - Presence and Human-ness

you are variations - towards version 08, Christina Della Giustina, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

Halfway through the magnifying glass: Infrahumanising and ultrahumanising organisms and machines, Dr. Kathleen Bryson, Evolutionary Anthropology, UCL

Unhumaning human nature, Nicholas Laessing, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

15:00 Break

15:15 Panel Four - Transformation

On the Anthropomorphism of Achaemenid Persian Gods: As Seen by Herodotos, Mateen Arghandehpour, Department of Greek and Latin, UCL

Speaking with the others, Eloise Fornieles, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

16:00 What is it like to be a Pigeon? And why should we care?
Dr. Jon Day, Department of English, King’s College London

17:00 Roundtable Panel

Professor Kristen Kreider, Goldsmiths, University of London

Dr. Volker Sommer, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, UCL

Dr. Jon Day, Department of English, King’s College London

18:00 Drinks Reception