Life: Imagined. Discovered. Created.
This Arts & Science-wide conversation was held in person at Hemmerdinger Hall on May 13, 2022.
All academic disciplines engage with the concept of life. The spring 2022 Big Questions event invited scholarly and creative refractions on LIFE, framed in the words of the Arts & Science tagline. The invitation was as broad as the topic is vast, welcoming all the variegated shades of meaning to be found in the words imagined, discovered, and created.
From the lab to the cultural imagination, from the cosmos to consciousness, across the reach of time, what figurations of life are dominant? Emergent? Oppositional? What intellectual, creative, or scientific histories do these figurations belong to or depart from? How are the political, environmental and cultural elements of our own historical moment shaping speculative accounts of the forms, meanings, and futures of life? How are these accounts in turn transforming our various disciplines?
An introduction and contextual framing of the questions above launched into curated panels featuring video presentations submitted by individuals or groups of faculty exploring innovative research topics relevant to this conversation. After each panel, the floor was opened for continued conversation and further reflection.