italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
Association for the Study of Modern Italy
Annual Conference 2013
CALL FOR PAPERS
22 – 23 November, Senate House, University of London
ICONIC IMAGES IN MODERN ITALY: POLITICS, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
This conference will explore the many different ways in which images and symbols have circulated in modern Italy since 1800. The intention is to consider images of all types and explore their role in generating perceptions of Italy and the Italians, creating a shared visual culture, articulating political battles and ideologies, embodying gender differences and giving shape to commercial culture. It is expected that a significant part of the conference will be devoted to photography (Alinari brothers, Luce Institute, humanist photography, street photography and paparazzi images, and glamour imagery) and to iconic photographs (for example, Mussolini harvesting, Aldo Moro as prisoner of the Red Brigades). However, space will also be devoted to other media including popular illustration and cartoons, advertising, party symbols and election posters, postcards, art, magazine and book covers, graffiti and cinema. The aim is to explore the genesis and meaning of images which for one reason or another have become widely known and which occupy - or have occupied - a place in the collective imaginary. These may include particular advertising campaigns, movie stills or scenes, brand images and star portraits as well as images, moments or people who for a brief moment captured national or international attention. Religious imagery is important as are images and visual clichés inherited from the recent and remote past. Among these will be triumphs (in sport for example) and tragedies (such as disasters and certain deaths), and representations of the physical environment, including changing cities and the landscape.
The conference will aim to attract contributions on a wide range of topics with the intention of bringing the visual and symbolic dimension of different events and experiences to the fore, as well as exploring case studies, professional trajectories and the present-day visual landscape.
Possible topics include:
Photographers and their practices in the fields of news, fashion, cinema, architecture and so on.
Photographic images of Italy and the Italians as travel records, ethnography, folklore and so on.
Material culture: representations and symbols of Italy.
Street photography of the type pioneered by William Klein’s New York (1955) and Robert Frank’s Les Americains (1958) but also present in postwar Rome and Florence.
Industrial, corporate and advertising images.
Images of politicians and political events.
Masculine and feminine visual archetypes.
Photographic derivatives including carte de visite, postcards, magazine and book covers, advertising posters, calendars.
Portraits of famous individuals and of ordinary people.
The stories behind iconic images.
Propaganda images.
The changing visual environment in the digital era.
Photographic exhibitions and museums.
Images and image-makers in literature and cinema.
Photography and art.
Italian glamour photography.
Photography, illustration and the press
Scholars and researchers from a variety of disciplines (e.g. Italian studies, film, media and communication studies, literature studies, cultural studies, politics, sociology, history) are invited to contribute papers discussing case studies, overview papers exploring developments in Photography as well as contributions of theoretical approaches to the topic.
Papers may be of 20 minutes length, but short (10 minutes) contributions on single images are also welcome.
All speakers whose proposals are accepted will be required to register for the conference and pay the conference fee by 1 November 2013
Please send your 200-300 word proposals and a brief biography (including present status and any institutional affiliation) specify if you plan a paper or short presentation in English or Italian by 15 July 2013 via Email to:
• Alessandra Antola Swan, Royal Holloway University of London,
Email: [log in to unmask]
• Martina Caruso, Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts of London,
Email: [log in to unmask]
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