on behalf of Frances Kamm [[log in to unmask]]
Merging Media: An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Study of
Hybrid Arts
Call for Papers
Saturday 1st
February 2014
University of
Kent, Canterbury
*Confirmed
keynote speaker: Dr Duncan White (University of Arts London)*
Although we
naturally recognise different artistic media as distinct forms – music,
painting, sculpture, film, dance, theatre, architecture, animation, and so on –
we also understand that these mediums can nevertheless have a meaningful
dialogue in the creation of new artworks. Over the course of art history there
have been numerous occasions when different media forms have merged or been
juxtaposed for artistic purposes. These intermedial examples have seen word and
image intertwined on the page in the illuminated books of William Blake;
experimentation with the partnership between painting and music in Modest
Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition; performance and music mixed
in Variations by John Cage; the deconstruction of paintings through
digital visual manipulation in Peter Greenaway’s lectures; and the recent
National Theatre Live and Royal Opera House theatrical performances being
broadcast onto cinema screens. These instances – and many more – demonstrate a
long tradition of medium boundaries being crossed, media being combined to
accentuate one another, or the creation of a new medium altogether.
It is particularly relevant to consider the subject of merging media at a time when
discussions of media archaeologies, media convergence and the transmedia
phenomena permeate contemporary academic debates. This conference seeks to
engage with these topics by exploring the theories and histories of hybrid art,
as well as the effect new technologies have upon our understanding of this
concept. The emergence of digital technologies is an important strand in this
investigation because it has both facilitated the creation of new art forms
(such as 3D digital animation) and generated the remediation of older forms
(for example, the digitisation of literature for consumption on computerised
devices, and new forms of interaction with fine art
online through virtual galleries).
This one-day
conference is for postgraduate students and early career researchers whose work
incorporates the interdisciplinary topic of artistic hybridity and
intermediality. We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations (individual
papers or pre-formed 3-paper panels) or performance pieces from candidates across
arts and humanities. We welcome papers, panels and performances that
investigate “merging media” through a variety of interpretations. Possible
research topics for submission can include, but are not limited to:
· Hybridity of forms: case studies which explore instances where two
or more established art forms are combined. What is the effect of this
hybridisation?
· Hybridity and technology: the impact of new technologies upon
intermedial art forms, both past and present. Does technology facilitate
the “merging” of media for artistic purposes, or is this an inevitable
side-effect of – and an unavoidable trajectory towards – a larger media
convergence culture?
· Hybridity and history: specific case studies of merged media from
the past, from Wagner's conception of gesamtkunstwerk – where all
art-forms are united as one total art – to the revolutionary intermedial
'decadence' of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable, and others.
· Hybridity of performance: how performance is incorporated with
various art media, from architecture in site-specific performances, to video in
multi-media productions. How do we engage with performance through technology?
How does the notion of “intermedial” relate to the performance of art?
· Hybridity and the audience: what effect does a “hybrid art” form
have upon its audience? How does merging media provide new opportunities for
engaging with artworks?
· Hybridity and remix culture: how various art forms are recycled and
reused in the establishment of new works of art (e.g. the reprocessing of
“found footage” for the purposes of art; fan-made hybrid products).
· Hybridity and modes of production: ways in which hybridisation
impacts upon the production or creation of an artwork. What relationship does
this production have with the development and influence of new technologies?
What implications do intermedial modes have upon the idea of a singular artist?
Which organisations or institutions inspire or enable the creation of hybrid
art?
· Hybridity and sites of exhibition: what is the relationship
between the intermedial art and how it is exhibited? Is there a convergence
between performance and exhibition? How is the exhibition of such work impacted
by technology? Or is it technological itself (such as the internet)?
· Hybridity and theory: work on the historical or future discourse
of intermediality. What implication does contemporary “merging media” hold for
theory? How should hybrid arts be theorised and which elements – such as
production, exhibition or audience interaction – should be centralised in this
scholarly debate?
Please send
abstracts (300 words) for proposed papers, panels or performances and a short
biographical note to [log in to unmask]
Deadline for submissions is 13th
December 2013. Should
you have any queries, please contact us at the e-mail address above.
Conference
Organisation Committee
Emre Caglayan, Frances Kamm, Keeley Saunders,
Pete Sillett
(This event is funded by The School of
Arts and KIASH)
Website:
http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/mergingmedia/
Twitter: @mergingmedia14
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