Sixth International Conference on Consciousness, Theatre, Literature, and the Arts
Three Days of Discussions, Presentations, and Ideas
Dozens of scholars, academics, and experts came to St. Francis College from as far away as Russia, the Middle East, Africa, and Australia for the Sixth International Conference on Consciousness, Theatre, Literature, and the Arts from June 10 to June 12.
More than 20 countries were represented at panels that covered topics including: Rebellious Theatre; Women in Poetry, Drama and Prose Fiction; and Consciousness.
Two performances highlighted the three day event. Aurelia Baumgartner, a German scholar known as the “dancing philosopher,” and others delivered a, “finely crafted and choreographed performance that can only be described as art and music in motion,” said St. Francis English Professor and conference co-organizer Gregory Tague.
Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon (Temple University) delivered a one-woman poetry performance; sharing a dramatic account of her African-American family across generations.
Baumgartner and Williams-Witherspoon were two of the three Keynote lectures at the conference. The third was co-organizer Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, from University of Lincoln, UK who addressed the question: Can there be theatre without conflict?
Plenary sessions included Karen Saillant, who offered a moving narrative about her work in opera theatre; Thomas Phillips and Ken Kirschner, who performed computerized, minimalistic music live; and Marc Silberschatz, who conducted a workshop on interactive play.
The journal, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, provides a forum for new work relating the arts and literature to the exploration of consciousness currently flourishing in many disciplines such as philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and physics. (More on the journal)
Attached photos: Members of the audience come on stage to dance with Aurelia Baumgartner.
St. Francis College, founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, is located in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Since its founding, the College has pursued its Franciscan mission to provide an affordable, high-quality education to students from New York City’s five boroughs and beyond.
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St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
www.sfc.ed