Call for papers 
Provocation as Art.
Scandal, Shock and Sexuality in Contemporary Visual Culture

2nd Ekphrasis Conference on Cinema and Visual Culture
28-29 May, 2015, Cluj, Romania

The Faculty of Theater and Television of the Babeș-Bolyai University is announcing the Call for Papers for the Annual Cinema and Visual Culture Studies Conference to be held May 28-29, 2015. This 2015 conference is designed to discuss the irreverent nature of art, cinema and visual production in various media environments. The purpose of the conference is to deal with the various obstructions of the creative spirit, both in the context of the passivity of the consumer society and in a highly censored and politically correct environment. Often art is vilified, accused of blasphemy and obscenity, threatened with violence, prosecuted and even imprisoned, yet the function of art has to be a source for scandal and provocation. The main goal of the conference is interrogating the limits of what is acceptable or not in art, of what it means to use art as a form of disrupting the established order. Researchers are invited to explore the provocative nature of art, by looking deeper into the means by which artistic expressions challenge the social barrier, and understanding the breaking force of any work of art, in media and in cinema.
 
A special feature of the debate is announced as part of this conference, and it will be dedicated to the philosophy and aesthetics of Lars Von Trier. This part of the conference is dedicated to the three trilogies of Lars von Trier, with a special interest for his so called Depression Trilogy (Antichrist, Melancholia and Nymphomaniac).
 
Prospective authors are invited to submit their abstracts on the following subjects:
 
Impertinent nature of the artistic act
Shocking images and provocations
Sexually explicit images in art cinema
Controversy and clichés
Challenging the canons
Scandalous nature of aesthetics
Defying the limits of reception in visual arts
Risk taking in artistic expression
Disturbing representations in media and cinema
Dissent and political irreverence in art and visual culture
Radicalism and provocations of existing artistic taste
Perversity and cultural passivity in visual media
Fascination for the monstrous and the unknown in visual representations
Taboo breaking in art
Antagonism and the dialectics of provocation in art

Abstracts (up to 500 words) are requested in English for all papers related to any aspect the conference topics. Approaches from a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary studies are accepted if related to any aspect of art, cinema, media, visual culture, and any sub-genre of those fields. Researchers from all disciplines, as well as PhD students and artists who are active in research activities are welcome to participate. The sessions of paper presentations will include about 4 theoretical papers, while practitioners will be presenting their findings in distinct workshops. Each panel will have an invited key speaker (to be confirmed). The information requested with abstract submission must include the name(s) of the author(s), any institutional affiliation, mailing address and email, proposed title of presentation (changes are allowed up to the registration deadline). 

Abstract Submission Deadline: February 15th, 2015



Keynote speakers

James Elkins ( School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
“Using Images to Incite”

Linda Badley (Middle Tennessee State University, US)
“Fill All My Holes”: Nymph()maniac’s Sadeian Discourse



Registration Deadline: April 15th, 2015
The language of the conference is English. Please note that there will be a conference fee of € 150. The fee does not include accommodation and will be paid in cash at the conference registration desk or on line. Discounts and reduced fees to be discussed with each applicant. Early bird fees are € 100 if paid by the end of January 2015.

Contact: Associate Professor Doru Pop
Email: [log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]
VENUE: “Babes- Bolyai” University
4 Mihail Kogălniceanu St., 400084, Cluj- Napoca, 
http://teatrutv.ubbcluj.ro/conferences/provocation/