The international conference Making Matters. Processes and Meaning of Crafting in Graeco-Roman Antiquity explores the changing relationships between people, artefacts, and processes of making in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds against the backdrop of contemporary debates on creativity and technological agency in the age of generative AI. As the latter increasingly blurs the boundaries between human and non-human production, these debates also draw attention to the historical contingency of such distinctions and the importance of the process of production itself.
By approaching making as a culturally and historically situated process, the conference seeks to deepen our understanding of the complex material cultures of Graeco-Roman antiquity, in which artefacts embodied, transmitted, and transformed knowledge, skills, and social meaning. Adopting an expanded and inclusive concept of the artefact that encompasses both material and immaterial forms of production, ‘Making Matters’ aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among archaeology, classical philology, anthropology, material culture studies, and the history of technology and craft.
Structured around seven thematic sections, the conference examines creativity, collaboration, narration, change, and technique as key dimensions of making and craftsmanship in antiquity and seeks to advance new perspectives by bringing together scholars from different disciplines.
For the conference program, as well as information on how to register for the Zoom livestream, please visit: https://www.iaka.uzh.ch/de/veranstaltungen/Tagungen/Making-Matters.html