Simulacrum #31-3: Mimesis

Our earliest learning steps are of mimetic nature: it is by example that we learn to bring a spoon of food to our mouth, or to unite the palms of both our hands to clap. The people and things around us at in our early years constitute the origin of our habits, ticks and expressions. Once we become self-sufficient beings, the act of imitation carries out oftentimes just as unconsciously: your smiling, sneezing, or yawning can elicit my smiling, sneezing, or yawning. But next to these small gestures, imitation can also be a fundamental transmitter of artistic skills, crafts, language, and traditions. What alternative theories on mimesis can offer us tools with which to understand systems of passing on cultural and embodied knowledge in the arts?