Artaxis Conversations 2018 took place from 11 AM until 9 PM (EST) on Tuesday October 9th, during National Clay Week. On Artaxis’ Facebook page, we released 47 video talks in batches of 4 – 7 presentations, each grouping was then followed by a short, but live-streamed, Q & A session with one of the group’s presenters. The full schedule and all of the videos are posted below.
The theme of the 2018 National Clay Week was “Industry”. Artaxis was interested in presenting a broad perspective on what this means. But what does “industry” mean? The word alone conjures images of Karl Marx and soot-covered factory workers: Capitalists against the Proletariat. Indeed, invocation of the word carries with it the baggage of all manufacture since the onset of the industrial revolution, and this vision has largely dominated the social perception of “Industry.” Historically, the definition of industry originated with the individual, in the idea of the skillful, the clever and ingenious, and in the notion of hard work. And what Industry may mean in the future is only now emerging.