Fallout: Chernobyl and the Ecology of Disaster, April 29-30, 2021
Two-day online international conference devoted to the afterlife and reverberations of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in a variety of fields, including the sciences, literature, film, and the arts. Organized by Sara Pankenier-Weld and Sven Spieker (GSS).
Nabokov’s Idioms: Translating Foreignness, February 19, 2016
This this one-day symposium in honor of renowned Nabokov scholar and GSS emeritus Don Barton-Johnson investigated Nabokov’s writerly practice as a broadly conceived effort of translation. An émigré writer whose works were translated into many languages, Nabokov was himself a notorious translator. Yet translation, in his work, is much more than the mere transposition of a literary text from one language into another – it is a creative principle. Organized by Sara Pankenier-Weld and Sven Spieker (GSS).
Metamorphosis, December 3-5, 2015
This interdisciplinary conference brought together a wide array of scholars and artists to discuss Kafka’s "Metamorphosis" text in its literary-historical context, and to read it as an exploration of metamorphoses that problematize borders between species and between living organisms and machines. Organized by Elisabeth Weber, Wolf Kittler (GSS) and Julie Carlson (English).
Video After Video in the Post-Media Age and visit of German filmmaker Clemens von Wedemeyer to UCSB, May 12 - Friday, May 16, 2008
This international conference, which coincided with the visit by Berlin-based filmmaker Clemens von Wedemeyer to campus, explored contemporary art in what is being referred to as the "post-media age." Von Wedemeyer made a film with a crew of UCSB students during his residency. Organized by Sven Spieker (GSS).
Torture and the Future. Perspectives from the Humanities, “Critical Issues in America” series of thirteen public events, January-June 2007
This series was dedicated to exploring how the humanities, literature and the arts engage with the complex issues surrounding human rights and their violation in today’s world. Organized by Elisabeth Weber (GSS).
Science as Navigation: Leonhard Euler's Journeys, Symposium on the Occasion of Euler's 300th birthday, November 30, 2007
The conference investigated the central role played, in the life and work of the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), by the description, calculation and analysis of sites or places (topoi). Organized by Sven Spieker (GSS).
Eye or Ear: Walter Benjamin on Optical and Acoustical Media, December 1, 2006
This one-day international conference investigated the relationship between language theory and radio in Benjamin’s thinking. Based on Benjamin's Kunstwerk essay, we seem to know much more about Benjamin’s understanding of optical media than about his approach to acoustic devices as the telephone, the wireless telegraph, radio, or sound film. The conference aimed to address this gap in Benjamin scholarship. Organized by Sven Spieker and Wolf Kittler (GSS).
Calculating Images. Representation by Algorithm in Science and Art, March 4-5, 2005
This international conference investigated the digital image at the interstice of art and the sciences. Organized by Sven Spieker (UCSB).
Irreconcilable Differences? Jacques Derrida and the Question of Religion, 2003
This first-ever conference devoted to Derrida's views on religion and philosophy brought together scholars from the United States, Canada, France, and the Netherlands. Organized by Elisabeth Weber (GSS) and Tom Carlson (Religious Studies).
Packrats and Bureaucrats: Study in the Archive and visit of artist Ilya Kabakov to UCSB, February 5-6, 2001
This conference was devoted to the archive and its histories and contexts in 20th-century art. Held in conjunction with Ilya Kabakov’s residence at UCSB. While at UCSB, Kabakov created the public sculpture Mother and Child with UCSB students. Organized by Sven Spieker (GSS).