This week the second international congress of Numanities, organised by Kaunas University of Technology International Semiotics institute is taking place. Almost 140 participants from 30 countries and 4 continents are present at the Congress, representing 60 academic institutions.
“In popular music it is commonly maintained that the real parameter for assessing the qualities of an emerging band is not their first album, but rather the second one”, says Dario Martinelli, head of International Semiotics Institute at KTU, the organiser of the Congress.
Semiotician and musicologist thinks, that with the second edition of the Congress, the team felt similar pressure: the do’s and don’ts of were inevitably related their reflections upon the first one. However, the numer of the participants and their enthusiastic response to the invitation serves as approval to the event.
The Congress theme this year is “Creativity, Diversity, Development”. Continuing the exploration of the complex processes of transition in research, everyday practices, policies, and educational approaches that humanities are going through, the focus is on those particular processes where the notion of creativity emerges in its various forms (artistic expression, social necessity, strategy of survival, scientific methodology, etc.), and particularly allows social and cultural development within contexts of diversity, minority, otherness, outsideness and originality. Creativity generates diversity generates development. And the other way round.
Like last year, the spirit of “appropriate technologies”: a bit of tradition, a bit of innovation is beeing carried on. Besides lectures, the participants are being offered a rich social programme, including special lecture concert by Eero and Eila Tarasti and their musicians to celebrate Jean Sibelius’s 150th anniversary, night at the theatre with a representation of Max Frisch’s Biographie, and a fun, informal evening with our friends at the cultural association „Largo“.
As it is a congress about creativity, there are also a few resident artists producing real-time artworks based on the presentations, topics, discussion: Silvia Barbotto, Mindaugas Gapševičius, Juan Pablo Diaz, Lina Rukevičiūtė (their works may be seen in the corridor, second floor). It is an idea inspired by Semiotic Society of America, who arranged a similar activity during the last annual meeting, in Seattle.
Like last year, the Congress offers also an OpLab!, on the topic of user experience, which is being coordinated by Majid Behboudi. SemTra, another “event within the event” – symposium on semiotics and translation will be hosted this year as well. This year it has reached its 11th edition: a remarkable achievement for which Pirjo Kukkonen and Ritva HartamaHeinonen, its directors, have to be warmly thanked.
Following last year’s success of the initiative, the BookFairTrade, too, will now be a regular feature in every edition of ICoN. The books can be exchanged via a simple “gift economy” principle. Also, the participants are encouraged to bring items for children (clothes, toys, children books), which will be donated to the children house “Atžalynas” in Kaunas. This is the solidarity project of ISI to help one of the most challenging problems that Lithuania is facing (orphans and children from dysfunctional families).
The keywords of the Congress are: Creativity, Diversity and Development. The topics of the papers:
The language of the Congress is English. The lectures are taking place at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (A. Mickevičiaus St 37).
Download the programme of the Event.
