Dear all,

Please find below a HASS x STEM interdisciplinary symposium on Exo-Mnemonics 
that may be of interest.

Exo-Mnemonics: Memory, Media Machines, A Symposium
10am-5pm, 6 Monday – 7 Tuesday November

Conference Room 1, Level 9, Peter Shergold Building, Western Sydney University, 
Parramatta Campus, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta



With a special film screening event in association with National Art School:
Remote Vision: a Film Screening from Stephen Cornford and Harun Farocki
6:30-8:30pm, Monday 6 November
Cell Block Theatre, National Art School, Cnr Forbes and Burton Street, 
Darlinghurst



2023 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Andy Clark’s and 
David Chalmers’s pathbreaking 1998 paper ‘The Extended Mind’. Initially 
controversial, Clark’s and Chalmers’s essential thesis – that the mind cannot 
be understood exclusively in terms of internal, psychological states, but 
extends into the external world, and includes the material objects, 
environments, and ecologies that play a role in memory and cognition – is now 
widely recognised in cognitive science and analytic philosophy of mind. It has 
informed both research and technological innovation in fields as diverse as 
computer science, artificial intelligence, biomedical engineering, robotics, 
and neurology. But the principles behind the extended mind have a much more 
expansive pedigree than Clark’s and Chalmer’s followers have heretofore 
acknowledged.

How have ideas of mind and memory as instantiated in the external, material 
world been taken up among different disciplines, institutions and industry? How 
does such a concept of mind inform and be informed by research practices and 
design? Is the idea of mind and self technologically extended in contemporary 
society or our experiences and approaches to art? How do various 
institutions—including the university, the artworld, and industry—engage and 
respond with exo-mnemonic technologies?

Speaking to such questions, this symposium brings together researchers, 
artists, and industry professionals across the traditional HASS-STEM divide to, 
as it were, extend the extended mind hypothesis. It seeks to establish the 
collaborative processes necessary to engage and develop not only on how the 
theory of the extended mind might be thought today, but on the creative and 
practical applications it offers.

The symposium begins on Day 1 with a series of short discussion papers, a 
seminar presentation, and special evening film screening in collaboration with 
the National Art School; Remote Vision, curated by NAS Lecturer in Drawing, Ben 
Denham, brings together two films that reflect on the role of new and 
developing imaging technologies in the contemporary world. A screening of 
Stephen Cornford’s Spectral Index (2023) will be followed by a discussion with 
the artist regarding his film and its relationship to Harun Farocki’s work, 
before screening Harun Farocki’s War at a Distance (2003).The symposium will 
finish with a masterclass seminar, discussion panels and a roundtable 
discussion engaging with and responding to emerging exo-mnemonic technologies 
on Day 2.

For a summary of the event details, please see the programme below.

We welcome all attendees with an interest in these conversations from any 
academic discipline, as well as from industry and art.

Lunch will be provided on both days. Please RSVP to Norma 
(n.lam-...@westernsydney.edu.au<mailto:n.lam-...@westernsydney.edu.au>)  by 31 
October with any dietary restrictions along with the dates of attendance for 
catering purposes.



To register your place for the film screening, please visit: 
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/remote-vision-a-film-screening-from-stephen-cornford-and-harun-farocki-tickets-739771234677?aff=oddtdtcreator




Exo-Mnemonics Symposium
10am-5pm, Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 November 2023
Conference Room 1, Level 9, 1PSQ Peter Shergold Building, Western Sydney 
University, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta

Remote Vision: a Film Screening from Stephen Cornford and Harun Farocki
6:30pm-8:30pm Monday 6 November
Cell Block Theatre, National Art School, 156 Forbes St, Darlinghurst
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/remote-vision-a-film-screening-from-stephen-cornford-and-harun-farocki-tickets-739771234677?aff=oddtdtcreator<https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/remote-vision-a-film-screening-from-stephen-cornford-and-harun-farocki-tickets-739771234677?aff=oddtdtcreator>

Day 1
 10am-5pm Monday 6 November, 1PSQ WSU
 6:30-8:30pm Film Screening at the National Art School

10-11:30am

Introducing Exo-Mnemonics
Exo-Mnemonics and the Archive Machine, by Dr Charles Barbour, Associate 
Professor in School of Humanities and Communication Arts (WSU)

Exo-Mnemonics: A Transdisciplinary Wager, by Dr Chris Fleming, Associate 
Professor in School of Humanities and Communication Arts (WSU)

Distributed cognition in practice: Can the extended view help improve aged 
care?, by Dr Celia Harris, Associate Professor and Director of Impact and 
Engagement at The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development (WSU)

11:30- 1pm

Universally Acknowledged: Data, Literature, Truth, by Dr Tyne Sumner, ARC 
Research Fellow, School of Culture and Communication (UniMelb)

Respondent: Dr Michael Falk, Senior Lecturer in Digital Studies (UniMelb)

1 – 1:45pm

Lunch

1:45-3:15pm

Exo-Mnemonics, Science, Design
Designing the Extended Mind among Affirmative and Transformative Making; Some 
examples of cognitive load/offload and critical making, by Dr Mauricio 
Nova-Munoz, Lecturer in the School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment 
(WSU)

The neuropharmakon, extimacy and extraction, by Dr Sam Lieblich, artist and 
psychiatrist in independent practice

3:15-4:45

Exo-Mnemonics, Politics, Society
Digital Twins and Data Brokers, by Dr Tamara Watson, Associate Professor in 
Cyber Security and Behaviour, Criminology & Policing (WSU)

Objectifying Memory: Fetish and the Artificial General Intellect, by Dr Liam 
Magee, Associate Professor at the Institute of Culture and Society (WSU)

Generation, Movement, Epistemology: The Computational Condition of 
Anti-Aesthetics, by Zoe Elena Horn, PhD Researcher, ARC Centre of Excellence 
for Automated Decision-Making and Society and Prof. Ned Rossiter, Director of 
Research at the Institute for Culture and Society (WSU)

6:30-8:30pm

Remote Vision: a Film Screening from Stephen Cornford and Harun Farocki
Cell Block Theatre, National Art School, Cnr Forbes and Burton St, Darlinghurst

Please register your place:
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/remote-vision-a-film-screening-from-stephen-cornford-and-harun-farocki-tickets-739771234677?aff=oddtdtcreator




Day 2
 10am-5pm Tuesday 7 November, 1PSQ WSU

10-11:30am

Atmospheric Modulation (loops, cycles, oscillations)
Masterclass by Dr Ben Denham, Lecturer in Drawing (NAS)



11:30-1pm

Exo-Mnemonics, Philosophy, Art
Creative practice and making memory: a short reflection on the functions of 
creativity and information, Dr Jason Tuckwell, School of Humanities and 
Communication Arts (WSU)

Writing the self and mnemonic devices, Dr Jacinta Sassine, Lecturer at School 
of Law (WSU), and Dr Norma Lam-Saw, School of Humanities and Communication Arts 
(WSU)

1-1:45pm

Lunch

1:45-3:30pm

Roundtable: Exo-Mnemonics Across Institutions
This roundtable will explore how various institutions – including the 
university, the artworld, and industry – are engaging with and responding to 
emerging exo-mnemonic technology. It will also offer an opportunity for 
participants to reflect on the event and plan how the project might be extended 
in the future.

Industry Speaker: Michelle Cheng, Service Designer Consultant
Industry Speaker: Robert McCaw, Barrister
Dr Roger Dawkins, Associate Dean Learning and Teaching and Senior Lecturer in 
Digital and Social Media, Communication, Creative Industries & Screen Media 
(WSU)

3:30-4pm

Afternoon Tea (and event end).

Kind regards,
Norma Lam-Saw
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