Making Matters. Processes and Meaning of Crafting in Graeco-Roman Antiquity | September 14–15 2026
The international conference Making Matters. Processes and Meaning of Crafting in Graeco-Roman Antiquity explores the changing relationships between people, artefacts, and processes of making in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds against the backdrop of contemporary debates on creativity and technological agency in the age of generative AI. As the latter increasingly blurs the boundaries between human and non-human production, these debates also draw attention to the historical contingency of such distinctions and the importance of the process of production itself.
By approaching making as a culturally and historically situated process, the conference seeks to deepen our understanding of the complex material cultures of Graeco-Roman antiquity, in which artefacts embodied, transmitted, and transformed knowledge, skills, and social meaning. Adopting an expanded and inclusive concept of the artefact that encompasses both material and immaterial forms of production, ‘Making Matters’ aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among archaeology, classical philology, anthropology, material culture studies, and the history of technology and craft.
Structured around seven thematic sections, the conference examines creativity, collaboration, narration, change, and technique as key dimensions of making and craftsmanship in antiquity and seeks to advance new perspectives by bringing together scholars from different disciplines.
The program (PDF, 532 KB) can be downloaded here.
Program
| Monday | 14 September 2026 |
| 8:00 – 8:45 | Registration |
| 9:00 – 9:30 | Welcome and Introduction (Corinna Reinhardt & Sophie Preiswerk) |
| Session 1 | Exploring the Anthroplogy of Making | |
| 9:30 – 10:15 | Catherine Lara (French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris) Between the group and the individual: ethnoarchaeological reflections on the interpretaion of pottery chaînes opératoires |
| 10:15 – 11:00 | Daphne D. Martin (University of Oklahoma) Carving Divinity in Bone: Processes of Sacrifice, Making and Dedication at the Sanctuary of Artemis Ortheia in Sparta |
| 11:00 – 11:30 | Coffee Break |
| Session 2 | Collaboration in the Making | |
| 11:30 – 12:15 | Corinna Reinhardt (University of Zurich) Creativity in Replication: (Re-)making clay figurines at Hellenistic Myrina |
| 12:15 – 13:00 | Arnau Lario-Devesa (University of Barcelona) Collaboration and professional “symbiosis” within Ancient Roman craftsmanship: the case study of urban Hispania |
| 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break |
| 14:00 – 14:45 | Markus Hafner (University of Zurich) How to Do Words with Things: Cognitively Extended Ekphrasis in the Second Sophistic |
| Session 3 | Narrations and Metaphors of Making | |
| 14:45 – 15:30 | Sydnie Chavez (Yale University) Weaving the plot: Textile Metaphor in Odyssey 9 |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 16:45 | Bettina Reitz-Joosse (University of Groningen) Madeness and (co)Crea-vity in Roman Literature |
| Session 4 | Crafting Change, Tackling Technique | |
| 16:45 – 17:30 | Benjamin Engels (Christian-Albrechts University Kiel) Crafting the Composite: Attic Figure Vases Between Norm and Creativity |
| 18:30 – 19:15 | Keynote Lecture: Caspar Meyer (Bard Graduate Center, New York City) Crafting Relations: Why Ancient Making Matters Now |
| Reception & Apéro Riche at RAK, Rämistrasse 70, 8006 Zurich | |
| Tuesday | 15 September 2026 |
| 9:00 – 9:45 | Laureline Pop (University of Lausanne) Tracing Workshop Traditions in Sculpture: The Thessaloniki Region |
| Session 5 | Manufacturing Knowledge | |
| 9:45 – 10:30 | Mareile Flitsch (University of Zurich) Heating matters – The Chinese Kang and the Roman Hypocaust? Some reflections of knowledge making and skill in transcultural and transtemporal perspective |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break |
| 11:00 – 11:45 | Eleni Hasaki (University of Arizona) Studying (with) Makers: Integrating Artisans into the Archaeology of Making |
| Session 6 | Technique and Gestures | |
| 11:45 – 12:30 | Marco Serino (University of Turin) Gestures Matter: Exploring Painting Techniques in South Italian Red-figure Workshops Through Computational Imaging and Experimental Archaeology |
| 12:30 – 13:45 | Lunch Break |
| 13:45 – 14:30 | Nikolaus Dietrich (University of Heidelberg) Attic Vase-Painting in the Making: Naked techne on Low-Quality Black-Figure Lekythoi |
| Session 7 | Making artifacts, creating figures | |
| 14:30 – 15:15 | Sophie Preiswerk (University of Zurich) Making Sculptures: Succeeding and Failing in Archaic Figuration |
| 15:15 – 16:00 | Ruth Bielfeldt (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) Making Shadows |
| 16:00 – 16:30 | Coffee Break |
| 16:30 – 17:30 | Final Discussion and Concluding Remarks |
| 19:30 | Conference Dinner |
A Zoom broadcast is planned. To receive the access link, please kindly fill out this form and we will send you the link in the days leading up to the event: https://forms.gle/68wy5f9BWwQQ1BHY8
The conference forms part of the research field Agency: Creation, Creativity and Community (at the Institute of Archaeology, Classical Philology and Ancient Studies (IAKA).
Organizers:
Corinna Reinhardt (corinna.reinhardt@iaka.uzh.ch)
Sophie Preiswerk (sophie.preiswerk@iaka.uzh.ch)
Venue: Auditorium / Aula, RAA-G-01, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zurich
