Lecture with Jordan Zlatev & Sara Lenninger - The Northern Drawing School Convention
Schedule
Thu Aug 21 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC+02:00Location
Botulfshörnan, Stadshallen, Stortorget 9, Lund | Lund, SN
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Lecture with Jordan Zlatev & Sara Lenninger - CogSemThe Northern Drawing School Convention
Cognitive Semiotics and Humanism – Jordan Zlatev
Humanism claims that human nature is essentially distinct from that of other animals, with reason and ethics as essential aspects of it. Currently, this is often considered outmoded, leading to post-humanism and even anti-humanism (cf. Tallis 2012). Even much of modern semiotics falls into this trend: representatives of biosemiotics claim that that there is nothing unique about human semiosis and, even more extremely, some semioticians do not see essential differences between the “sign processes” of machines and those of human beings. In contrast, cognitive semiotics (e.g. Sonesson 2012) is strongly humanist. Relying on my work in this tradition (e.g., Zlatev 2018) I argue that (i) only animals are semiotic agents and not machines, (ii) only human beings are sign users by nature, while other animals can at best enculturated into this and (iii) language constitutes the highest form of semiosis, and that when properly constrained by humanistic values, can be used for betterment.
Jordan Zlatev is Professor of General Linguistics and Director of Research for the Division of Cognitive Semiotics at Lund University, Sweden.
Semiotic Approaches to Drawing – Sara Lenninger
Drawing is a process in which meanings shift, grow, and take form. It may begin by chance, but at some point it becomes a partly deliberate activity. This presentation considers drawing from two primary semiotic standpoints. The first is grounded in Peirce’s semiotics, emphasizing drawing as semiosis; a processual activity involving iconicity, indexicality, and symbolicity. The second approach is cognitive semiotics, which highlights drawing as an intersubjective and collaborative meaning-making experience shaped by human culture.
Sara Lenninger is a Swedish researcher and associate professor of cognitive semiotics at Kristianstad University.
For this year’s convention, Drawing & Language, the Northern Drawing School invites you to join three open evening lectures Wednesday–Friday.
OPEN LECTURE SCHEDULE:
August 20th: Exhibitions and Visitors’ Creativity– Frida Talik
August 21st: CogSem – Jordan Zlatev & Sara Lenninger
August 22nd: Visual Voice – Freja Erixån
The lectures are produced in collaboration with Svenska Tecknare, Hfk Bremen, Lund University, Teckningsmuseet i Laholm.
The Northern Drawing School (NDS) — Network for Analogue and Artistic Drawing in Higher Education, in the Nordic and Baltic Region (and elsewhere).
What: Lecture with Jordan Zlatev & Sara Lenninge
When: August 21st, 19.00 - 20.30
Where: Botulfshörnan, Stadshallen, Stortorget 9, Lund
Registration: FREE ENTRANCE, No pre-registration
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Where is it happening?
Botulfshörnan, Stadshallen, Stortorget 9, Lund, SwedenEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
