A Typology of Convergences: Towards a Unified Field Theory of Cultural Transmission

For the past decade, author, cultural critic, and art theorist, Lawrence Weschler has been exploring the way images (but also poems, musical themes, etc.) set a context for the reception of subsequent instances. We see by way of what we have already seen. We create by way of our entire prior sensorium. In this talk, Weschler will build on his award-winning book, Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences, to consider a spectrum of such convergent effects, from apophenia (the tendency of humans to see patterns where none exist) through co-causation, fractalization, influence (forward and backward, direct and unconscious), homage, apprenticeship, allusion, quotation, appropriation, cryptomnesia (verbatim appropriation without realizing you’re doing so), through outright plagiarism. Mr. Weschler’s visit to the Kansas City Art Institute is organized by the Spencer Museum of Art with support from the Richard J. Stern Foundation for the Arts - Commerce Bank, Trustee.