Hair Symposium

No material is more intimate, immediate, or incendiary than human hair. Materially speaking it is fairly simple: strands of dead cells anchored in living follicles, the lengths composed mainly of keratin protein, the same stuff that’s in fingernails and feathers. We all have hair sprouting all over us, in varied quantity, quality, color, and disposition. In these happenstance details, and in the ways that we manage this ever-growing resource of our bodies, lie untold personal hopes and vanities, cultural affinities and conflicts.

At this annual symposium, co-organized by Center for Design and Material Culture at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Material Intelligence magazine, and the Chipstone Foundation, a group of scholars and artists convened to consider the deep matter of human hair. A particular emphasis on narratives from Asia (Japan, China and India) and the African diaspora will explore braided histories of skill and identity. The event concluded with a panel on artistic practice, showing the many ways that hair is used as a creative medium.

All are free to attend. Proceedings will lead to the December 2025 issue of the magazine, available at materialintelligencemag.org

Speakers and panelists include:
Elizabeth Block
Vaishnavi Patil
Yuhang Li
Sarah Mesle
Rachael Schwabe
Faisal Abdu’Allah
Melanie Bilenker
Sanne Visser
Shani Crowe
Indira Allegra

Material Intelligence is a digital magazine that celebrates the human capacity to understand and shape the physical world around us. Each issue dives deep into one commonplace material, with contributors who come from every discipline and walk of life. Together the stories they tell illuminate vital, at times unexpected connections: between art and science, history and contemporary life, the tangible and the intangible. Material Intelligence is published by the Chipstone Foundation.

Annually, Material Intelligence partners with a public-facing institution to convene a cross-disciplinary gathering of specialists with an interest in materiality. Typically these proceedings form the basis of a quarterly edition of the magazine. Past symposia have included events on Obsidian, co-organized with the Center for Art Research, University of Oregon (2022); “Animal Vegetable Mineral,” with the School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2023); and on Steel, with the University of Birmingham, UK (2024).

The goals of these events are threefold: to stage dynamic conversations across subject areas; to elevate visibility for excellent work being done on materiality; and to raise visibility for the Material Intelligence initiative itself.