Time and Entanglement
International Society for the Study of Time (ISST)
Nineteenth Triennial Conference
University of Cagliari, Sardinia June 28-July 3, 2026
The International Society for the Study of Time (ISST), renowned for its interdisciplinary scope, invites scientists, scholars, artists and practitioners to explore the theme of “Time and Entanglement” at its 19th Triennial Conference at the University of Cagliari in Sardinia, Italy. Our four-day format of plenary presentations fosters sustained, in-depth discussion among participants. For this reason, we thus expect participants to register for the full duration of the conference. Midway through the event, we take a day off and provide participants with a selection of time-related excursions in the historic Cagliari area.
For its 2026 Triennial, the ISST seeks to foster a rich interdisciplinary conversation around the terms time and entanglement. Conceptually, entanglement is inherently temporal, as it evokes a process of entities interweaving into complex relationships. Entanglement provides a productive lens for engaging with time due to its broad scalar range and the temporal perplexities it generates. On the one hand, entanglement challenges conventional notions of time at specific scales, as in the case of quantum entanglement. On the other hand, entanglement forces us to think across multiple temporal scales simultaneously, as in the case of ecological entanglement. Conversely, time serves as a tool for exploring entanglement, offering a powerful method to understand a range of entities or processes and their interactions. Thinking about elemental or environmental entanglements through temporal rather than spatial frameworks can deepen our understanding of the different entities involved and provide a more robust, holistic insight into the overall situation or process.
As an inclusive, interdisciplinary, and international community, the ISST invites presenters to interpret or address the conference theme in ways that draw on their original perspective or expertise. Possible topics and approaches include but are not limited to:
Quantum Entanglement: the superposition of states within a system and the intimate interaction of particles across vast spatial distances —seemingly defying the time-like (causal) separation decreed by the speed of light —famously prompted Einstein to call quantum entanglement “spooky action at a distance.” This aspect of quantum entanglement has been explored in relation to time travel and other temporal notions that defy common sense. More recent theories speculate that quantum entanglement may actually create time itself, with time emerging for an object through its quantum entanglement with another object acting as its clock, or that space-time emerges from quantum entanglement.
Ecological Entanglements: In environmental humanities and Anthropocene studies, entanglement encapsulates the inseparable relationships between human-nonhuman or animate-inanimate entities that constitute environments. How does entanglement as a concept complicate or question anthropocentrism or refigure human/non-human agencies and relations? Anthropocene human-geologic entanglement is fundamentally a temporal phenomenon, a commingling or confusion of multiple scales: e.g., fossil fuel capitalism analyzed in terms of time as extracting materials formed over millions of years in a matter of decades; the temporal conflicts underscored by geologic epochal upheaval, including catastrophic environmental or climate change and species extinction. In this context, we may ask how thinking about multispecies entanglements in temporal terms opens up new insights or suggests pathways for meaningful actions and political interventions. What ethics or politics emerges from a temporal perspective about entanglement? Jonas Salk’s canonical question “are we being good ancestors?” underscores the impact of present decisions on future generations and demands long-term or “cathedral” thinking. How is this question addressed through policy making, sustainable practices and intergenerational dialogue across contemporary philosophies, technologies, collectives (ex. Long Now Foundation), artists (ex. Katie Paterson’s Future Library)?
Social and Technological Entanglements: How has the interconnection between scientific knowledge, technological systems, and society evolved over time? Building on the idea that scientific facts are shaped by the social contexts of scientists, rather than being purely objective, this approach explores how scientific discoveries and technologies influence and are influenced by law, politics, ethics, and culture. Technologies often span multiple timeframes—impacting users immediately while also contributing to long-term social changes. How does the temporal situatedness of specific historical contexts shape scientific knowledge and technological innovation?
Political and Historical Entanglements: The term “entangled histories” (Randeria and Conrad) highlights the many indications that human history is best conceived as a mesh of intertwined trajectories. For the historian, entanglements create the challenge to survey and coordinate not only different timelines, but also different perspectives on time and history. For the societies and people involved, they often play out as a struggle of power between diverging time regimes and morphologies of time. How have entanglements impacted visions of the past, present, and future, or the “shape” of time in general? What conflicts and modes of co-existence have they created between different temporalities? What are the patterns and rhythms of historical entanglements, between the extremes of convergence (balanced or unbalanced?) and renewed separation (forced or voluntary)? How were and are time and social, cultural, or legal norms intertwined? What is the significance of the entanglement of time and temporality for the order of things and for the exercise of political power, for example, in the context of constitutional orders? To what extent are such phenomena themselves the subject and at the same time the mark of historical change?
Narratives of Entanglement: Literature and film frequently explore how entangled identities, histories, and ecosystems generate new perspectives on coexistence, justice, and time. For instance, a novel that emphasizes the interconnectedness of colonial histories, migration, and globalization to illustrate the creation of hybrid identities; or a film that adopts nonlinear storytelling to present interconnected narratives spanning time, revealing how individual actions reverberate across a layered and intertwined time and space. Can such narratives also be identified when it comes to legitimating norms and political orders? Can narratives about the entanglement of time and collective social, religious, political, or legal orders in turn be an expression of processes of temporalization?
Entanglement and J.T. Fraser’s “hierarchical theory of time”: drawing on ethologist Jakob von Uexküll, Fraser’s theory posited a nested hierarchy of six distinct temporal umwelts. What rethinking of Fraser’s theory is initiated by a contemporary understanding of entanglement? What temporalities emerge when umwelts become entangled? Conversely, how can Fraser’s theory account for, respond to, and help understand entanglement?
Entanglement as inherent interrelatedness: Scholars and artists across disciplines increasingly work from the premise that any individual entity, process, or life-form is entangled with others in ways ranging from genetic, chemical, physical, and biological to ecological, geological, and cultural. How can such entanglement and interrelatedness be understood in terms of time? What new temporalities or forms of temporality emerge from such entanglements?
Guidelines & Timeline for Proposals:
We invite submissions for 20-minute presentations in a variety of formats, including scholarly papers, debates, performances, creative work overviews, installations, and workshops. Proposals for interdisciplinary panels are particularly encouraged, though each paper within a panel must receive approval from the selection committee.
All presentations will be delivered in English and should balance specialized expertise with accessibility for a general intellectual audience. Proposals should be no longer than 300 words and must be submitted electronically. Authors’ names should not be included in the proposal, as the ISST employs a blind review process for selecting papers.
Additionally, the conference welcomes exhibition proposals from professional artists across all mediums. Exhibiting artists are also required to present a paper about their work. Along with your proposal and paper abstract, please provide details regarding your technical requirements and include visual support material with a description list (maximum of 10 images). All materials should be consolidated into a single Word document or PDF, and artists’ names should not appear in the description list. Works will be evaluated based on artistic merit, relevance to the conference theme, and technical feasibility.
The deadline for submissions is August 15, 2025, with notifications of acceptance sent by December 15, 2025. Please upload your proposals here. The ISST is also seeking session chairs, whose names will be included in the printed conference program.