Overview
I have rivers but no water; forests but no trees; cities but no buildings. What am I?
A map. (origins of riddle unknown)
In his 1931 paper “A Non-Aristotelian System and Its Necessity for Rigor in Mathematics and Physics”, Polish American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski introduced the now-iconic phrase, “a map is not the territory.” While Korzybski’s original focus was on general semantics, the metaphor he coined has since gained far greater reach, prompting deeper reflections on the relationship between representation and reality. This question, which has occupied thinkers throughout history—from Plato’s allegory of the cave to Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulation and simulacra—remains central in understanding our entanglements with the world.
In the context of today’s rapidly shifting landscapes—shaped by advancements in digital technology, ecological crises, and societal transformations—Entangled Cartographies takes this relationship between map and territory as a jumping off point to investigate fluctuating and transmutative topographies. The conference puts forward topics of sentience, society, reality, and cosmology, where cartography, both literal and metaphorical, could serve as a critical tool for navigating and untangling these new converging landscapes.
We call for proposals that address complex issues within these topics that bring together artists, academics, and students from the arts, humanities, social sciences and natural sciences to explore strategies of co-existence.
This project is a partnership between the Design, Technology, Radical Media Lab (Duke Kunshan University), V2_Lab for the Unstable Media (Rotterdam, Netherlands), and Presence Lab (DKU, Duke University). The conference is generously funded by the Humanities Research Center at Duke Kunshan University.
Conference Theme and Tracks
Track I: Ambient Intelligence
This track explores the notion of distributed sentience and ambient intelligence and their various manifestations across scales, materialities, and temporalities through metaphysical, mechanistic, and materialistic frameworks.
Track II: Networked Societies
This track explores new notions of society, public space, and ethics that can aid in our understanding of relational and social dynamics within large and complex networked systems.
Track III: Constructed Environment and Reality
This track explores the notion of ambient intelligent environments and constructed realities through philosophical and technological lenses.
Track IV: Techno-Ontologies and Cosmology
This track explores new approaches to reframing the notion of technology itself and its ontological and cosmological implications.
Call for Papers:
Current students and faculty are invited to submit abstracts for consideration.
- Papers must be written in English.
- Papers must be unpublished research that has not been presented in any previous DKU research conference.
- Papers should be centered around the conference theme of one of the four tracks.
- Papers that rely principally on quantitative research methods will not be considered.
- Fill out the application form below.
Entry Form:
https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bQ1wVwOvUNJDZrg
Timeline:
- Tuesday, September 30, or before: Submit application form with paper title and 300-word abstract.
- Friday, October 10: Acceptance decisions announced.
- Saturday, October 25: Final papers (1500-2000 words, A4 or Letter Size paper, 12 point font, double-spaced, excluding notes and bibliography) must be submitted.
- Thursday, November 6, and Friday, November 7: Conference takes place at DKU.
Contacts:
Benjamin Bacon – benjamin.bacon@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Vivian Xu – vivian.xu@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Rui Hu – rui.hu@dukekunshan.edu.cn
Join us in reimagining maps as tools for navigating today’s shifting landscapes!
