Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences

Bio-inspired art pictures with petri dishes on a benchtop

The group “Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences” promotes new areas of intellectual and creative exchange through interdisciplinary collaborations between the arts, humanities, and sciences. Our premise is that science has much to learn from the fine and performing arts and vice versa. Meanwhile, a range of humanistic fields—from media studies, critical theory, and philosophy to art history, ethnography, and comparative literature—have become increasingly relevant to the emerging practical and theoretical problems raised by advances in biology, engineering, and the natural sciences.

“Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences” facilitates the inclusion of scientific knowledge in the humanities while exploring the ways art can inform and challenge established forms of knowledge production. Our areas of interest include but are not limited to the use of emerging science and technology in the fine and performing arts; the capacity for art and the posthumanities to affect policies and attitudes around climate change; the ability for humanistic fields to critically reflect on the ethics of biotechnology, informatics, and artificial intelligence; and the potential to create new forms of knowledge and experience based on transdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and creative practice.

The goal of the “Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences” group is to develop a forum for cross-disciplinary collaborations in the arts, humanities, and sciences through:

  • Lectures and discussions: inviting lecturers from a variety of fields across the arts, humanities, and sciences; organizing physical spaces for intellectual exchange; and developing interdisciplinary methods that may lead to collaborative projects.
  • Residencies support: creating a network of artists, humanists, and scientists to support with expertise and facilities the realization of cross-disciplinary projects that exist along the borders of art and science.
  • Exhibitions and programs: we facilitate public artistic displays, music and theater performances, film screenings, and gallery exhibitions that speak to intersections between the arts and sciences. Our goal is to engage interdisciplinary audiences across the Syracuse University community and beyond.