Podcasts about pataphysics

This is a preview. For full episode and more ⁠subscribe here⁠ Episode with teacher/all-around smart guy Zoyd Wheeler on the continued relevance of Baudrillard's funniest book America as well as his essays Pataphysics of the Year 2000 and Murder of the Real-tying it into the resurgence of folklore, fake aliens, funk brasilero, Halloween, and desert-horizontal.

This week on The Sound Kitchen you'll hear the answer to the question about the meaning of “pataphysics”. There's a meditation on bird song, a poem from listener Adeyola Opaluwah, the “Listeners Corner” with Paul Myers, and Ollia's “Happy Moment”. All that, and the new quiz question, too, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy!    Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll hear the winner's names announced and the week's quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you've grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your musical requests, so get them in! Send your musical requests to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts which will leave you hungry for more.There's Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we'll surprise you with!To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you'll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is english.service@rfi.fr  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St Edward's University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English - that's how I worked on my French, reading books which were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it's a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald's free books, click here.Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni (audrey.iattoni@rfi.fr) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me (thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!And don't forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the independent RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven't yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognized RFI English club, go to the Facebook link above, and fill out the questionnaire !!!!! (if you do not answer the questions, I click “decline”).There's a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don't like to do!This week's quiz: On 22 April, I asked you a question about Ollia Horton's article “Designer Philippe Starck shakes up Paris icons in playful exhibition”. The exhibit, “Paris Pataphysics”, was at Paris' Musée Carnavalet. You were to re-read her article and send in the answer to this question: what is “pataphysics”?  The answer is,  as Ollia informed us, the "science of imaginary solutions". The "philosophy", invented by French writer Alfred Jarry, is marking its 150th anniversary this year.“Pataphysics has a taste for beauty and for the impossible made possible,” according to Philippe Starck. “This science is in the image of life, allowing serious things to be taken lightly, and light things seriously.”In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question, suggested by Muhammad Saleem Akhtar, president of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listeners Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan. His question was: “What is the one piece of advice you would like to give to your fellow humans?”The winners are: RFI Listeners Club member Tasneem Saleh from Nilphamari, Bangladesh. Tasneem is also the winner of this week's bonus question. Congratulations, Tasneem!Also on the list of lucky winners this week are S. B. Sharma, president of the RFI Listeners Club in Jamshedpur, India, and RFI Listeners Club member Jean-Maurice Devault from Montreal, Canada. Rounding out the list of lucky winners this week are two RFI English listeners from Bangladesh: Abdul Mannan from Chapainawabganj, and Muhina Mahin Shaila from Naogaon. Congratulations winners!Here's the music you heard on this week's programme: The andante allegro from the Harp Concerto by George Frederick Handel, performed by Nicanor Zabaleta with the Orchestre de Chambre Paul Keuntz, conducted by Paul Keuntz; "The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children's Corner by Claude Debussy, performed by the composer; “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and “If We Only Have Love” by Jacques Brel, sung by the troupe of the original off-Broadway cast.Do you have a musical request? Send it to thesoundkitchen@rfi.fr This week's question ... you must listen to the show to participate. After you've listened to the show, re-read Paul Myer's article “Roland Garros: 5 things we learned on Day 2 - Alcaraz express” to help you with the answer.You have until 26 June to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 1 July podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.Send your answers to:english.service@rfi.frorSusan OwensbyRFI – The Sound Kitchen80, rue Camille Desmoulins92130 Issy-les-MoulineauxFranceorBy text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country's international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don't forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here.  

Jason Pizzarello is a Connecticut-based playwright and co-founder of Stage Partners, a digital licensing house for new plays (yourstagepartners.com). He is currently developing his plays Lost Near Daytona, Found (Semi-finalist, Arts in the Armed Forces Bridge Award) with The Tank /dir. Meghan Finn, and his outdoor immersive children's play Off the Trail (grant recipient, Frances R. Dewing Foundation) with CT's Stamford Museum & Nature Center. Other plays include: Bethel Park Falls (Everyday Inferno Theatre Company/NYC Central Park, published with Playscripts); After People Like You (Blue Riders at Classic Stage; Finalist, AITAF). He has also developed his writing with Soho Rep Writer/ Director Lab, Irondale Ensemble, Fordham Alumni Theatre Company, HERE Arts Center, The Flea Theater's Pataphysics, New Group's Playwriting Workshop, and the Veterans Writing Workshop. Over thirty of his plays for young actors are published and have been performed over 3,000 times in all 50 states and in over 25 countries, including a Norwegian and Bengali translation. When he's not writing, he proudly serves as a logistics officer with the New York Army National Guard, and is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan/ Operation Enduring Freedom. Jason's military-themed drama BRAT won VetRep's inaugural full-length playwriting competition. BRAT is the story of a mother and son - both veterans of the forever war in Afghanistan - as they struggle to reintegrate into the civilian world and mend their broken relationship. Jake signed up to follow in his mother's footsteps, but doesn't get what he expected when he returns home to confront everything, and everyone, that's been waiting for him. Our judges said the following about BRAT: "Mysterious, emotionally sound, haunting — it's also clearly a very personal piece. The language is lean and spare, the opening is terrific, and the last scene is gripping." Follow Jason https://www.instagram.com/jasonpizz/ (here) https://www.yourstagepartners.com/ (Stage Partners website)

Series 2 Episode 4 of The Penteract Podcast, hosted by Anthony Etherin.In this episode, Anthony speaks with Andrew Hugill, author of 'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide (MIT Press, 2012), and Christian Bök, author of 'Pataphysics: The Poetics of an Imaginary Science (Northwestern University Press, 2001).The three pataphysicians present an introduction to 'Pataphysics, discussing its origins in the work of Alfred Jarry, its meaning and definitions, its key principles, and its appearance throughout science and the arts. Listen to episodes of The Penteract Podcast on YouTube, and please consider subscribing to the channel.Follow this podcast on Twitter and discover more about Penteract Press by visiting our website and our Twitter.And, if you like what you hear, please support this series via Anthony's Patreon page!Support the show (http://patreon.com/Anthony_Etherin)

The vibe is real. Playa magic. Secret sauce. Atypical serendipity. Whatever you call it, it's being studied by social scientists around the world and written about in the annals of academia. The vibe is real, but that doesn't mean we must deny our Dada roots. We can celebrate porta-loo beautification, and its absurd juxtaposition, as a legit Burning Man art experience. We can define Burning Man using a random phrase generator. We can yield a toilet plunger like a royal scepter. We can invent a vibe-sensing device that has no sensors. Stuart Mangrum talks with Dr. Graham St John, cultural anthropologist, author of many books and academic articles about Burning Man culture, festival culture, EDM, psychedelics, and other scholarly adjacencies. Listen in and learn the true meaning of “efflorescence” and “ephemeropolis” and “pataphysics.”Burning Progeny ProjectWurst Storm Rising (Journal of Festive Studies)The Big Empty (aeon Magazine)dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music CultureBlack Rock Gazette, Sept 5, 1999Burning Man Phrase Generator, Javier F. BarreraLIVE@BURNINGMAN.ORGLIVE.BURNINGMAN.ORG

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Mentioned Authors/Articles: HarryBlank - http://www.scpwiki.com/this-page-intentionally-left-blank SCP Y - http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-5789 SCP 5045 - http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5045 SCP 5243 - http://www.scpwiki.com/scp-5243 -- Thumbnail Art by http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/calibri-bold-s-mega-cool-author-page All SCP wiki works are licensed creative commons 3.0 attribution/share-alike. The SCP wiki can be found here: http://www.scp-wiki.net/​​​ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/scpodcast8/support

Our guest at the table tonight is Emily Brewton Schilling, artist, writer, and daughter of Philadelphia avant-garde artist and Pataphysician James E. Brewton (https://www.artandhonor.com/emily-bre...​).Emily is an artist, writer, and daughter of Philadelphia avant-garde artist and Pataphysician James E. Brewton (1930-1967). Brewton shot himself on May 11, 1967, three days before the opening of a show he organized with Jim McWilliams, The Society for the Commemoration of Festivals and Fetishes at Socrates Perakis Gallery in Philadelphia. “Artist’s Suicide Gives Tragic Overtone to Exhibit,” was the headline of Dorothy Grafly’s review in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. By the time he died, Brewton had “had several one-man shows, and museum curators were beginning to exhibit interest,” as Nessa Forman wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer. “There was an artist,” Forman continued, “who was ahead of his time, who was brilliant, sensitive and nonviolent, who loved his art and just wanted to paint.” Two posthumous exhibitions were held, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fina Arts (PAFA) in 1968 and Kenmore Galleries in 1971, after which most of Brewton’s work was scattered and sunk out of sight. Although devastated by the loss of her father, Emily was raised in ignorance of his life and work. In 2008, while living in Florida, Emily came across Thomas Chimes: Adventures in ’Pataphysics (Yale University Press, 2007) by Michael R. Taylor. Amazed that other Philadelphia artists were interested in ’Pataphysics in the 1960s, she contacted Taylor, then curator of modern art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Taylor encouraged Emily to begin looking for her father’s artwork. Beginning with knowledge of only 16 works’ whereabouts, Emily dedicated herself to the quest and has since found hundreds of artworks. In 2014, Emily and Patricia Weingrad—who co-curated the Brewton memorial in 1971—curated Brewton’s first solo exhibition in 43 years, Graffiti Pataphysic, For All Mankind, at Slought, Philadelphia. The show was part of “Philadelphia à la Pataphysique,” a celebration organized at the University of Pennsylvania. The 2014 celebration led to the creation of the Philadelphia Avant-Garde Studies Consortium (PASC), as well as a forthcoming book, Pataphysics Unrolled, edited by Katie L. Price and Michael R. Taylor (Penn State Press, Spring 2022), which includes a chapter by Taylor about Brewton.Emily grew up in the Philadelphia area, and began her career working at WMMR radio station in the early 1980s and writing weekly art reviews for The South Street Star. She served as public relations and program director at The Philadelphia Art Alliance in the late 1980s, and later worked as a corporate employee communications writer for many years. Now living in New York, Emily has edited several books, fiction and nonfiction, and compiled a catalogue raisonne of Jim Brewton’s artworks. She is a founding director of the James E. Brewton Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit, and is finishing a memoir about the hunt for her father’s work. Emily is delighted to join Tina Brock at the virtual table on “Into the Absurd: An Existential Dinner Conversation.”~~~~~~~We'll explore in 50-minutes what it means to create and to think about art during this time. Join us for this weekly virtually existential gathering until we can share stories on the stage again.If you're on the IRC's mailing list, look for an email each Wednesday detailing the upcoming week’s guest on Into the Absurd, with links to websites and information. To keep up with who’s on deck, join the IRC mailing list: https://www.idiopathicridiculopathyco...​. To explore past episodes of Into the Absurd, visit our Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/pg/Idiopathi...​ORThe IRC's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...​And while you’re there, be sure to SUBSCRIBE, so you don't miss any future episodes.

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Mathew Clouser is a poet and bon vivant. His works include Dereliction Omnibus, and the forthcoming Who Do You Think Works Here? He has worked in varying editorial capacities at The Rio Review and DUENDE. He lives in Austin, Texas where he is a volunteer with Chicon Street Poets. Take a listen as we discuss his recent thesis on mischief in poetics, the world of Pataphysics (to understand it is to misunderstand it), the evolution of language and form, and the perpetual abstract world. “Is a tree weird in the forest if no one is there to see it?” -Mathew Clouser, The Hearsay Poetry Podcast. Referenced Literature:Trickster Makes This World, Lewis HydePataphysics: A Useless Guide, Andrew HugillZong!, M. NourbeSe PhilipMat can be found canoodling with the Bookhouse Boys collective, and on-line @sumocartwheel.

Peter Blegvad discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Small presses in the UK https://www.thisissplice.co.uk/about-splice/small-presses-in-the-uk/ Amateurs https://fs.blog/2017/08/amateurs-professionals/ Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/wilson-bentley-pioneering-photographer-snowflakes Lucia Berlin https://www.lrb.co.uk/v40/n23/patricia-lockwood/sex-on-the-roof Sally O’Reilly https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/learn/writer-in-residence/sally-oreilly/ Chris Cutler’s Probes series of podcasts https://rwm.macba.cat/en/probes_tag Peter is a writer, graphic artist, songwriter and broadcaster. He has been making music since the mid 70s with Slapp Happy, Faust, Henry Cow, John Greaves, The Golden Palominos, John Zorn, Andy Partridge and others. His weekly comic strip, Leviathan, ran in the Independent on Sunday from 1991-98 and The Book of Leviathan was published in the UK and the US in 2000. A Mandarin translation was published in 2010. A French translation won le Prix de Révelation at Angoulême Festival in 2014. The Pedestrian, a photo-based strip, is online here: http://www.electrocomics.com/strips.htm He has supplied BBC Radio 3 with ‘eartoons’ since 2002, and has won two Sony awards for his radio work, one in 2003 and one in 2012 (the latter for Use It Or Lose It a collaboration with Iain Chambers). He taught Creative Writing at the University of Warwick for 15 years and was Senior Tutor in Visual Writing at the Royal College of Art, London from 2012 - 2015. He has taught several illustration workshops at the Die Hochschule Luzern – Design & Kunst. In 2011 he was elected president of the London Institute of Pataphysics. An introduction to his life-long multi-media epistemological project Imagine, Observe, Remember is online here: http://www.amateur.org.uk This podcast is powered by ZenCast.fm

This week on Suite (212), Juliet talks to legendary writer and artist Stewart Home about the nine novels - including one of his own - that he has chosen and edited with Gavin Everall for Book Works' Semina series of experimental texts, 'in which the novel has a nervous breakdown'. Joining them are Bridget Penney, author of the first entry, Index (2008) and Book Works' Lizzie Homersham. SELECTED REFERENCES Stewart Home: https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ BRIDGET PENNEY, Index (2008) - https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/interviews/penney.htm Semina: https://www.bookworks.org.uk/publishing?commission=313 Hamja Ahsan - https://www.bookworks.org.uk/node/1917 Sophia Al-Maria - https://sophiaalmaria.wordpress.com/ Art in Ruins - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_in_Ruins Ed Atkins Atlas Press - https://www.atlaspress.co.uk IPHGENIA BAAL, Merced Es Benz (2017) - https://www.aqnb.com/2017/04/27/this-is-why-i-dont-get-invited-to-weddings-iphgenia-baal-on-love-the-shitty-state-of-culture-falling-out-of-sync-in-merced-es-bez KONRAD BAYER, The Head of Vitus Bering (1962) - https://www.atlaspress.co.uk/index.cgi?action=view_backlist&number=6 Wallace Berman - https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/26/arts/design/26semi.html Hannah Black - http://arcadiamissa.com/hannah-black Chevalier d'Éon - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jun/06/portrait-18th-century-early-transvestite Sophie Collins - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sophie-collins MARA COSON, Aliasing (2018) - https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/books/04/04/19/on-mara-cosons-aliasing-a-sort-of-book-review Dostoyevsky Wannabe - https://dostoyevskywannabe.com/small-print Jimmie Durham - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Durham The Franklin expedition - https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/culture/franklin Maria Fusco - http://mariafusco.net CASPAR HEINEMANN, Novelty Theory (2018) - https://www.the87press.com/product-page/novelty-theory-caspar-heinemann Susan Hiller - https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/susan-hiller-1286 Andy Holden - https://andyholdenartist.com/dancoxlibrary MAXI KIM, One Break, a Thousand Blows! (2008) - https://www.bookworks.org.uk/node/136 Jarett Kobek - https://themillions.com/2017/05/tk-on-jarett-kobeks-soft-cuddly.html Peter Kravitz - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kravitz JANA LEO, Rape New York (2010) - https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/rape-new-york Tom Leonard - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/04/tom-leonard-obituary London Institute of Pataphysics - https://www.atlaspress.co.uk/theLIP/ Katrina Palmer - http://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/interview-with-katrina-palmer Cornelia Parker Penny-Ante Editions - http://penny-ante.net HOLLY PESTER, Go to reception and ask for sara in red felt tip (2015) - https://www.bookworks.org.uk/node/1843 Adrian Piper Laure Prouvost - http://www.laureprouvost.com Erica Scourti - http://www.ericascourti.com ALEXANDER TROCCHI, Cain's Book (1960) - https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/a-moveable-void-tom-mccarthy-on-alex-trocchis-cains-book/ Mark Waugh - https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/interviews/waugh.htm Slavoj Žižek Urica Zürn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unica_Zürn

3t-6h-8t-(1h-2h)-4t-7h-5t0.00.00 - Introduction to the Podcast & “The Inner Lobby 3: Rabbits Part 1 (X 8/73)” //0.02.54 - “The Earth Hotel Sonata (translated) v130” //0.07.07 - Opening Monologue: “Imaginary Solutions” //0.09.16 - “Evil” - Joel Nelson et al //0.14.13 - News from the EH //0.21.23 - Dates //0.26.13 -“The Cost of It All” - Flag Day (Brad Davis, Joel Nelson) //0.30.34 - Interview with Joel Nelson, recorded post Pataphysical Freakout Tour, early July 73//01.10.04 - (break): “Kinetic Irony (for Davey Williams)” - Joel Nelson //01.13.40 - Interview continues //01.45.15 - Post-interview music: “Amazing Grace,” Transmuseq Live, 2007 LaDonna Smith, Davey Williams, Anne LeBaron //01.48.15 - Reading: “Magic and Loss - The Summation” - Lou Reed //01.51.28 - “Forgotten” - Dylan Burchett Duo //“Evil” Joel Nelson, performed at Mills College, Littlefield Concert Hall, V 73. Players are Naomi Harrison-Clay (sax), Timothy Russell (Drums), Lee Hodel (Bass), Maia Ziaee (Synthesizer)Henry Cow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cow_discographyUbu Roi - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ubu-roiAlfred Jarry - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-JarryBob Ostertag - https://bobostertag.bandcamp.com/Expression (John Coltrane) - https://www.allmusic.com/album/expression-mw0000197323Interstellar Space (John Coltrane) - https://www.tinymixtapes.com/delorean/john-coltrane-interstellar-spaceA Power Stronger Than Itself - https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo5504497.htmlRoscoe Mitchell - Nonaah for solo sax - https://www.allaboutjazz.com/roscoe-mitchell-nonaah-by-clifford-allen.phpSurrealism and Pataphysics in the South - FIND IT!

This week on Between the Line, Drew sits down with Dan Anderson a 600 set photographer and photojournalist to discuss the ever meandering career. They discuss being part of the bridge generation, Nic Cage, Hurricane Katrina and much more. Opening song: “Photograph” by Pataphysics from their album My Phone’s About To Die

>>> The Pataphysics of the Future

With a comfortable middle-class upbringing, I drifted between colleges, squandering opportunities and burning bridges, unable to find a sense of purpose. I landed in Sonoma County, California, hunkered low in a rusted trailer on a Christmas tree farm. One day I met an old Greek living up the road; rumor had it he was a well-traveled genius, passionate and unpredictable. In the irreverent Demetrius Toteras, I found a kindred spirit, and demanding mentor. Toteras introduced me to Classical Thought and his specialty, the philosophy and theater of the Absurd. My apprenticeship began slowly; I struggled, tiring easily, his words pointed and troubling. Yet despite learning I was a worthless nincompoop, I persisted, hooked on my discoveries.

What was Old is New Again. A Meeting of Art and Scholarship | Conference Fri, 21.11.2008 – Sun, 23.11.2008 What lies beyond metaphysics? A great deal for Alfred Jarry (1873-1909), a playwright and culture jammer who coined the term Pataphysics. It is a philosophy that takes in everything written and everything sung and everything done, and like metaphysics has the virtue of meaning whatever you want it to mean. Pataphysics offers a voyage of discovery and adventure into realms where philosophers seldom venture, including art, activism, and onto the street. Dada, Futurism, Surrealism acknowledged the influence of Pataphysics, and nowadays the tradition is carried on by US-based ensembles Act-up/New York, Billboard Liberation Front, Yes Men, Cacophony Society, Negativeland, Improv Everywhere, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. The biting satire of their parodies and absurd theater make effective social commentary. Every religion, political ideology, philosophy, and scientific theory embodies a set of structured beliefs. These belief systems maintain a symbiotic liaison with the arts. Throughout history, communal beliefs have relied on music, theater, painting, and dance in order to propagate accepted doctrines, and the arts in turn have shaped the articles of faith. The conference brings together artists and scholars in an unusual forum. The arts addressed deal primarily with media, the major art form that has only come to the fore in recent decades. The scholarship concerns antique matters, such as Sumerian music, early Egyptian medicine, and the omens, codes of law, and creation myths of Mesopotamia. The divergent perspectives of the participants augur well for innovative ideas emerging from this close encounter between scholarship, the arts, and the belief systems of early and modern times.