Drawing Research Network Call 

The Directors of the DRN & TRACEY are pleased to announce the 2012 Drawing Research Network Conference. The conference will be taking place at Loughborough University on September the 10th and 11th 2012, hosted jointly by the School of the Arts and the Design School.

The conference theme, of Drawing Knowledge, attempts to engage with the twin questions of what constitutes drawing and what constitutes knowledge; of how knowledge authenticates drawing acts and how drawing might be constructive of knowledge. The theme questions whether traditional epistemological schemes can be addressed through the agency of drawing or whether drawing challenges these schemes with a new vision of its own. The call suggests the following as starting points in the discussion, as possible themes, as prompts and as provocations:

• Is drawing utilised sufficiently as a fundamental tool for thinking across disciplines? What cross-disciplinary case studies are there into the uses of drawing as a problem solving tool capable of generating and testing ideas?
• What role can drawing play at each stage of the design process, and in enhancing design thinking?
• How aware are we of conventions?
• How is drawing as an experimental approach and attitude distinct from drawing as an outcome and discipline (e.g. Frayling's Research through Art and Design or Research for Art and Design*)?
• How has the practice of drawing in education changed, and how do we ensure its continued relevance in an increasingly digital age?
• Is the teaching of drawing distinct from the teaching of art and design, and what current role does it play?

The conference invites a range of different forms of submission. We are calling for:
• Drawn submissions addressing or challenging the conference theme
• Full theoretical, historical, educational papers or reports on practice addressing the conference theme
• Performative drawing submissions addressing or challenging the conference theme
• Drawing pieces for inclusion in the DRN 2012 Juried ‘Digitally Projected’ virtual drawing exhibition (see the exhibition call attached below)

In the first instance proposals for submissions are invited to the Directors of the DRN by the 2nd of April 2012. All papers will be put through a peer review process. A selected sample of submissions will be published as part of a special edition of the journal TRACEY, or be included in the TRACEY/PROJECT space. All contributions that are accepted for the conference will be carried as part of the Conference Proceedings via the DRN website.

Physical submissions should be sent to:
c/o Simon Downs –
The School of the Arts
Loughborough University
Loughborough
LE11 3TU
UK

Electronic submissions should be sent to:
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]

Both the electronic and physical submission should include the following information:
∆     Author(s) / Artist(s)
∆     Institutional Affiliation (if any)
∆     300 word outline of proposed submission
∆     Submission type:
◦     Drawn / Practice-based submissions
◦     Theoretical, philosophical or contextual papers
◦     Proposals for a performative piece
◦     Drawn pieces for inclusion in the exhibition (see below)
* Frayling, Christopher., Research in Art & Design, Royal College of Art Research Papers, Vol 1, Number 1, 1993/4, ISBN 1874175551
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ANNOUNCING: An Open Call for ‘Digitally Projected’ virtual drawing exhibition for the DRN, Drawing Research Network, Conference 2012 – DRAWING KNOWLEDGE
Theme ‘the real and the illusory’ – to be curated and selected by Sue Gollifer, University of Brighton, UK

This call is for an exhibition of ‘drawings’ that reveals the varied approaches to the medium of and its practice, in the light of digital enhanced applications. But with specific reference to work that builds on the idea of drawing as being a problem solving generational tool for creating new knowledge across all forms of art and design disciplines.

To be considered for this exhibition, please submit your works (up to 5) on this theme to Deborah Harty: [log in to unmask] Please save them in the following sizes and file formats: JPG/TIFF/PDF – 120 dpi -1024/2 or 512 pixels wide, and 768/2 or 384 pixels high

Also to include in a separate word format document:
1.    Name and affiliation
2.    Email and www site
3.    Titles of works
4.    Brief bio max -100 words
5.    Brief description - 50 words per image.