Practices of interpretation are central to both the humanities and social sciences, whose typical objects of interpretive activity range from artworks, texts and musical scores to rituals, economic behaviour and all manner of “data”. Yet the phenomenon of interpretation is no less puzzling than it is familiar and raises a host of fundamental questions: Can there be a science as well as an art of interpretation? Is interpretation an essentially human activity? Is there a difference between interpretive activity and programmable forms of data processing? Is interpretation by its nature a creative enterprise? Is it possible to develop something like an algorithm for interpretation? Do practices of interpretation as practiced by different disciplines share an essential common core? These and a host of related questions will occupy us at this year’s event.