Grace Grace Grace describes his talk:In this talk, I will make a distinction between three processes related to how we perceive, understand, and act in the world: symbolization, signalization, and sigilization.First, Whitehead’s notion of symbolic reference (symbolization) invites us to understand symbols not as universalizing abstractions, but lived abstractions that emerge through the play of perception between the concrete and abstract world (a child points to an apple and calls it “banana”).On a more molecular level, we should consider the continuous interplay of sensing, understanding, and acting: signalization (consider for example the vast surplus of information conveyed by the arm in an orchestral conductor’s downbeat).Finally, I will discuss the process of sigilization as a certain perspective towards the intentional operationalization of symbols: sigilization (here, we may think of symbol making practices with catalyze and yet seek to guide the creative advance of the unforeseeable).These distinctions are offered in service of sketching a generative framework to creative practitioners, community members, and thinkers to understand their work and its social impacts emphasizing an ethics of care for the abstractions that potentialize experience and the possibility of personal/social/ecological transformation.

 

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