Limina Conference

In chaos theory, strange attractors can describe provisional patterns emerging from chaos as terms are brought together in equations. Applied to the humanities, the term ‘strange attractors’ not only suggests the influence of chaos theory and intersections with scientific theory, it also raises images of unlikely combinations, emerging connections and unstable meanings.

This conference was held on Friday 25 May 2007 at The University Club (UWA).

The poster for the 2007 conference can be downloaded here [PDF].

A quintessentially liminal space, the beach provokes ideas of margins, exchange and openness. The beach is a site of possibility and unexpected surprise, where anything might wash up, but equally, the beach is unpredictable and often dangerous. It is also a location that defies permanence - its shape is perpetually changing, its inhabitants constantly on the move, a landscape relentlessly in motion. Furthermore, in an Australian context, the beach is a deeply contested site, suggesting a struggle over issues of ownership, belonging, nationality and culture.

The conference took place on Wednesday 17 May 2006, at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Western Australia.

A Special Edition arising out of this conference - 'On the Beach' - was launched on 25 May 2007.