John Stiff American Coverlet

John Stiff American Coverlet Object #: 2019.005.16 Carly Neil, Mathis Art Gallery Graduate Student Intern Fall 2023 This coverlet was accessioned into the Mathis Gallery collection in 2019. It was woven in 1843 by John Stiff in Milford, Pennsylvania. It… Read More

Insignificant Things in the Archives of Atlantic Slavery

Barra Boat

Friends of Art History Lecture What forms of visual evidence can, and should, one use to materialize and memorialize the history of Atlantic slavery? In this talk, Matthew Rarey argues that this question, far from being a contemporary ethical challenge,… Read More

“Unveiling Black Milwaukee: Perspectives on Music, Art, and Sports” panel

Wednesday, February 21 2024 6:30pm - 7;45PM

Lubar Entrepreneurship Center

Please join the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies for “Unveiling Black Milwaukee: Perspectives on Music, Art, and Sports” on February 21st, 6:30-7:45pm in the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. Panelists include Dr. Kidiocus King Carroll, Assistant Professor in AADS; Jamila Benson, Program Director for the Wisconsin Black Historical Society; and Dr. Robert “Biko” Baker, Visiting Assistant Professor in AADS and Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Systems Change and Peace Building. The panel will be followed by a Q&A. Free and open to the public–we hope to see you there

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Student Experience and Talent, and the Departments of History and Art History.

 

Robo-Buddhism: Kokoro, Technology, and Spirituality in Japan Today

Wednesday, April 10 2024 4pm

Lubar S151

Public lecture by Dr. Jennifer Robertston, Professor emerita, Departments of Anthropology and Art History, Michigan State University

Kokoro (心) is widely and innovatively used in everyday parlance and figures in many Japanese idioms. Kokoro connotes intellectual, emotional, and spiritual states and attributes. Kokoro is also a key lexeme in Japan’s two main religions: the animistic native Shintō and Buddhism. In August 2017, SoftBank’s humanoid robot Pepper role-played as a Buddhist priest at a funeral services expo under the supervision of a human priest who assessed whether the robot was able perform “with kokoro.” When theorizing human-robot interactions, roboticists also include kokoro as a crucial quality and effect of social engagement. Kokoro figures centrally in the titles of several Japanese books on robots and AI. Several cognitive roboticists are working to “imagineer” (imagine + engineer) robot kokoro through innovative software algorithms and creative interpretations of AI. Pepper was conceived as a humanoid robot “with kokoro.” Technology and robots have been developed and applied for both secular and religious purposes, although the appropriation of robotic technologies and AI for religious purposes is perhaps less recognized than their secular applications. This presentation explores how religious technologies and affective human-robot relations are conjointly imagineered theoretically and in practice.