On the evening of Monday, March 16 at 6:00 pm, the American Academy in Rome opens its doors for the only public-facing event of a three-day multidisciplinary walking seminar,  Material Intelligence on the Eve of Artificial General Intelligence, which investigates the kind of knowledge that comes from material things and not from words alone. This public conversation offers a first window into an intensive working program that brings artists, humanists, and scientists together in Rome to reflect on the forms of knowledge that emerge through our encounters with materials of the past.

The conversation, which will also be livestreamed on Zoom, features Stefanie Hessler, curator, writer, and Director of the Swiss Institute in New York; Hideo Mabuchi, physicist and Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University; and Wolfgang Schäffner, Chair of the History of Culture and Knowledge at Humboldt University. Each represents a project that aims to understand the world through material remains: Hessler will speak about her project for the St Louis Triennial, Schäffner the “Matters of Activity” Excellenzkluster that he directs at the Humboldt University, and Mabuchi, the Academy’s “Material Intelligence” seminar. The conversation will be moderated by Peter N. Miller, President & CEO of the American Academy in Rome. 

While the public conversation on March 16 offers an opportunity for shared reflection, the remainder of the program (March 16–18) consists of closed workshops, seminars, and site visits with invited participants, taking advantage of Rome as a uniquely dense material archive of the human experience.

Major support is provided by an Anonymous Donor.