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SUMMARY:The Matter of Mimesis - Speaker to be confirmed
DTSTART:20151217T090000Z
DTEND:20151217T180000Z
UID:TALK60510@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Speaker to be confirmed
DESCRIPTION:This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together schol
 ars from the sciences\, social sciences and humanities in order to address
  material practices of mimesis. Aristotle\, in one of the first definition
 s of the concept\, argues that mimesis\, or the imitation of nature\, refe
 rs to both form and material. Thus far\, scholarship has mostly focused on
  the role of form in mimetic practices\, while the mimetic role of materia
 ls\, despite the many disciplines in which these are central to making and
  knowing\, remains significantly understudied.\n\nMaterials play a fundame
 ntal role in mimetic practices\, from the earliest known examples to some 
 of the most recent. Ancient ceramic vessels\, for instance\, some nearly f
 our millennia old\, imitate the visual appearance of other materials like 
 metal or straw\, while medieval artisans gave wood the costly appearance o
 f marble\, or made paper seem like gilded leather. The industrial revoluti
 on and chemical innovation created many new opportunities for material mim
 esis\, crowned with the invention of plastics\, which can be transformed i
 nto almost anything imaginable. Today\, computer science allows us to flip
  pages of digital paper and navigate the visible world in three dimensions
 \, while material science has invented biomaterials that replace the cells
  of our bodies\, smart materials that can assume the appearance of their s
 urroundings\, and drugs that imitate the material of neurotransmitters\, t
 o name but a few. The role of materials in mimesis is by no means limited 
 to the past: the practice will continue to have an impact in the future wh
 ich cannot be foreseen.\n\nMore information at http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk
 /events/26170
LOCATION:CRASSH\, Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 
 9DP
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