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The CFP for the College Art Association 2017 annual conference in New York City, February 15-18, is open for submissions. We are pleased to direct your attention to a panel welcoming submissions from a broad base of practices and research areas that may be of interest to designers and design researchers: Operating Manual for Living in the Worst-Case Scenario Chairs: Maya Oppenheimer, Royal College of Art; Emily Candela, Royal College of Art; Francesca Laura Cavallo, Kent University Originally produced for wartime civil protection campaigns, the survival manual has evolved over recent decades alongside the escalating need for official disaster management policies. New forms of adventure-seeking and media coverage of global threats have bred an industry-turned-genre. The survival manual embodies a society haunted by potential worst-case scenarios, in which scenario design is becoming a prominent feature of the “safety industry”; from FEMA’s “family disaster plan” to online resources made by so-called “prepping” enthusiasts. Props, prompts and the reassurance of expertise are key to the survival manual’s scenario design. These elements are deployed to neutralize the likelihood of accidents via the imagined control of speculative scenarios. This mirrors the emphasis on designed scenarios for behavior regulation found across constituencies thought to train, measure or inform: the laboratory, the classroom, even the summit conference. The panel focuses on how scenario design and behavior regulation are negotiated in the format of the survival manual, considered in an expanded sense, which also includes the deployment/design of instructions and expertise in speculative contexts. Including artistic and design contributions to the imagination of the worst-case scenario, the session will forge interdisciplinary dialogue on discourses addressing the design of behavior from multiple fields including design studies and art history. Critics, artists, designers and historians are invited to submit proposals (for 15-minute slots) exploring imaginative strategies for surviving global, interplanetary or mundane worst-case scenarios that will generate critical reflection. Submissions may include papers, performances, demonstrations, or presentations of practice. Potential Subject Areas: 1) Art History-Decorative Arts/Textiles/Design History; 2) Interdisciplinary-Studio Art & Design; 3) Interdisciplinary-Museum Studies/Curatorial Studies/Art Criticism Deadline for submission: 30 August 2016 Email: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask] Full call for papers and submission information: http://bit.ly/29orooj