Symposium: Animal Mimesis. Intersections of Aesthetics and Anthropology

The difference between man and animal plays a crucial role in Western philosophy. As early as in Aristotle's Poetics, this distinction is bound up with issues of mimesis. Aristotle considers mimesis as a property that distinguishes man from other animals, but also defines the human susceptibility to imitation as the basis of the production of art. Ever since, anthropological and aesthetic concepts have tended to overlap when it comes to mimesis. In the tradition of philosophy and aesthetics, however, thinkers have alternated in attributing mimesis to humans and animals. Instead of being an intellectual capacity in the Aristotelian sense, mimetic processes can also be conceptualized as mere reproduction. This 'low' kind of mimesis has often been compared to imitative animal behavior. Covering such aspects as animals as metaphors of imitation as well as the subversive potential of animal mimesis, this conference will explore the outstanding, yet often unrecognized importance of the theory of mimesis for the dynamic field of Human-Animal Studies, and vice versa.

Program

Thursday, 30 June

9.45-10.30: Christopher Balme: Welcome Antonio Chemotti, Katharina Krčal, Manuel Mühlbacher: Introduction

10.30-11.30: Martin J. Kemp (Oxford): Ubiquitous Signs: The Rudiments of Physiognomy in Art
Chair: Daniel Becker

11.30-12.00: Coffee Break

12.00-13.00: Kyung-Ho Cha (Bayreuth): Animal Mimesis: Between Art and Science
Chair: Katharina Krčal

13.00 -14.30: Lunch

14.30-15.30: Katelijne Schiltz (Regensburg): Ut cancer: Retrograde Movement in Music
Chair: Antonio Chemotti

15.30-16.30: Elizabeth Eva Leach (Oxford): Interacting with Peacocks in the Vœux du paon and Bestiaire d’amour of Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 308: Knights, Ladies, Gods, and a Cow
Chair: Antonio Chemotti

16.30-17.00: Coffee Break

17.00-18.00: Kári Driscoll (Utrecht): The Blood of the Animal: Metaphor, Mimesis, and the Origin of Poetry
Chair: Gawan Fagard

19.00: Dinner Reception at Seidlvilla

20.00: Animal Music: A Zoological Piano Recital with Tobias Koch

Friday, 1 July

9.30-10.30: Jay Geller (Nashville): The Red Peter Principle: Jewish Mimetics?
Chair: Katharina Krčal

10.30-11.00: Coffee Break

11.00-12.00: Antonia Ulrich (Potsdam): Nietzsche’s Mimicry
Chair: Florencia Sannders

12.00-13.30: Lunch

13.30-14.30: Roland Borgards (Würzburg): Mocking Mimesis: Robinson’s Parrot and the Rise of the Modern Novel
Chair: Manuel Mühlbacher

14.30-15.00: Coffee Break

15.00-16.00: Julika Griem (Frankfurt/Main) & Hanna Engelmeier (Bochum): The Structure of Scientific Imitations: Hoaxes as Subversive Mimesis
Chair: Simone Niehoff

16.00-16.30: Closing Remarks and Conclusion