Call: Conference 04.–06.06.2026 »Beyond Strength: Imaginaria of Weak Forces in Art, Literature, and Science«, Warburg-Haus, Hamburg

1 July 2025

The CAS »Imaginarien der Kraft« (UHH) invites applications for the interdisciplinary Conference »Beyond Strength: Imaginaria of Weak Forces in Art, Literature, and Science«, which will take place from June 4 to 6, 2026 at the Warburg-Haus in Hamburg.

Concepts of weakness today are often associated with a pathological or degenerative condition: a state of exhaustion, powerlessness, vulnerability, or the drying up of creative energies. Conversely, references to weakness have always offered opportunities to reflect on subtle forces beyond dominance or control: about the small, the potential, the (re)emerging. Weakness should therefore not only be understood as the opposite of strength. It also constitutes its own forms of agency. The conference takes this observation as a starting point to examine the connections and productive ambivalences of weak forces and their aesthetic articulations.

Please send your proposals with a 1–2-page abstract, with the keyword ‘weak forces’ in the subject line, by September 30, 2025 to: imaginarien.der.kraft"AT"uni-hamburg.de.

>> Announcement of the Conference »Beyond Strength: Imaginaria of Weak Forces in Art, Literature, and Science« (PDF)