[ExI] CONF: The Large, The Small and the Human Mind

[natasha at natasha.cc]

My colleague Rene' Stettler has put together an amazing conference in  
Lucerne, this January. Other friends/colleagues are David McConville,  
is presenting his amazing Dome project, and Pier Luigi Luisi and Kevin  
Kelly who are keynotes, plus the WOW factor of Peter Weibel will be  
there leading the panel.


"The Large, the Small and the Human Mind"
The 8th Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics

Saturday, January 16, 2010, 12 ­ 7 p.m.
Sunday, January 17, 2010, 12 ­ 7 p.m.

Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne  Early Register:
http://www.neugalu.ch/e_bienn_2010.html#9

Roger Penrose¹s hotly disputed book The Large, the Small and the Human Mind
(1997) contributed to a new scientific world-view of physics and a more
complete understanding of conscious minds at the boundary between the
physics of the small and the physics of the large. In a similiar vein, the
Swiss Biennial 2010, The Large, the Small and the Human Mind, will trigger
debate about the unequal status that we have attributed to the physical
world ³out there² and our many beliefs and mental conceptions ³in us² about
this world, and it explores the fingers of science, rationality, ontology,
epistemology, reflexivity, ethics, ecology, and politics that point to the
realities of our beliefs.

The New Gallery Lucerne organises this two-day conference which brings
together a group of internationally renowned scientists, sociologists,
philosophers, ecologists, writers, artists, and policy-makers. From the
debate about the pursuit of a ³Theory of Everyhing² (TOE) in physics,
extreme objectivity, our relationship to the ³Universe,² to ³human,²
³nature,² ³human culture,² and the ³human mind,² The Large, the Small and
the Human Mind will touch on the world¹s first climate war, the destructive
side of globalization, and the contradictions of our striving for unlimited
economic growth and consumption. ³When the sage points at the Moon,² says
the Chinese proverb, ³the fool looks at his fingertip.² The Large, the Small
and the Human Mind offers a critical look at the fingertip, and from it to
the Moon. From the question of how to free Pandora¹s Hope, to the meaning of
Leonardo¹s science for our time, and the significance of the Space Age for
humanity, the Swiss Biennial will reflect on these topics from an
interdisciplinary perspective with the aim to create a deeper and finer
sense of possibility.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Michel Bitbol (physicist and philosopher of mind, Director of Research,
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique [CNRS], Paris)
Fritjof Capra (physicist and systems theorist, Berkeley)
John Horgan (science writer/author, Director of the Center for Science
Writings [CSW], Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, USA)
Kevin W. Kelley (artist, author, and entrepreneur, San Rafael / USA)
Bruno Latour (sociologist, Scientific Director and Professor at Sciences Po,
Paris)
Pier Luigi Luisi (Professor Emeritus ETH Zurich, Professor at the
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Roma)
Robert Poole (historian, University of Cumbria, Lancaster / UK)
Harald Welzer (social psychologist, Director of the Center for
Interdisciplinary Memory Research, Essen)
Margaret Wertheim (science writer, curator, cultural historian of physics,
Director of the Institute for Figuring, Los Angeles)

Confirmed Presenter
David McConville (artist, Director of Noospheric Research, The Elumenati,
Asheville / USA)

Confirmed Chairpersons
Christina Ljungberg (University of Zurich)
Josef Mitterer (University of Klagenfurt)
Isabelle Stengers (Free University of Brusells)

Confirmed Leader of the Panel Discussions
Peter Weibel (Chairman and CEO, Center for Art and Media [ZKM], Karlsruhe)

A New Gallery Lucerne conference in association with the Swiss Museum of
Transport, the City of Lucerne, the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (BAK),
and the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne, Coronado Hall

CHF 90.00 (CHF 65.00 concessions) ­ Booking required
http://www.neugalu.ch/e_bienn_2010.html#9

The Large, the Small and the Human Mind continues the Swiss Biennial¹s aim
to involve people from all faculties, schools of thought and walks of life
in a critical dialogue concerned with science, technological innovation,
art, and society which they have long sought themselves but for which there
has been no point of contact to date. The Swiss Biennial sees its role as
that of a touchstone for such dialogues. Its interdisciplinary activities
and projects are concerned with new challenges posed by widely varying
fields of knowledge and research. Find the Swiss Biennial on Science,
Technics + Aesthetics on http://www.neugalu.ch

New Gallery Lucerne and The Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics
P.O. Box 3501, 6002 Lucerne / Switzerland, Tel. +41 (0) 41 370 38 18
Image credit: Jacket photograph, Earth, from Apollo 4 (November 1967) ©
NASA.