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*** CALL FOR PAPERS AND DEMONSTRATIONS ***
Extended deadline: Friday, 30 May 2014

Conformity, Process and Deviation: Digital Arts as ‘Outsider’

CHArt 2014 conference, part of the UNDERGROUND
Arts & Humanities Festival, King’s College London, Strand
Saturday, 18 October 2014

Digital engagement with art is thriving. Much of it is actively subversive of the traditional frameworks that enable art to be created and responded to – whether casually or professionally. This subversion takes various forms, including notions of value, uniqueness, fixity and location. The CHArt 2014 Conference wishes to explore the role of digital technologies in the underground creation, display, consumption and study of art. The online ‘urban dictionary’ defines underground as follows: "A genre in music and other forms of media intended for an elite audience, that is often characterized by its high levels of originality and experimentation, and does not conform to typical standards, trends, or hypes as set by the popular mainstream media.” If emerging conformity and new processes must be disrupted; then what is mainstream; and what is not? – and who can tell?

Contributions are welcome from all sections of the CHArt community: art historians, artists, archaeologists, architects and architectural theorists and historians, philosophers, archivists, curators, conservators, educators, scientists, cultural and media theorists, content providers, technical developers, users and critics.

CHArt invites theoretical papers and demonstrations of academic and artistic work addressing – metaphorically or literally – questions of subversive content, design and communication, including:
Subversive engagement with digital arts and culture;
Originality and experimentation v. standards, trends and hypes;
Disruptions of the commonplace or the mainstream;
Visual digital subcultures;
Submerged identities;
Visualising the underground;
Elite audiences v. multi-peer connectivity;
Working in partnership with or against diverse organisations;
Cross-disciplinary subversive interventions (art/science; big data/visualisation; design/interaction).

Submissions should be in the form of a 300-400 word synopsis of the proposed paper or demonstration, with brief biographical information (no more than 200 words) of presenter/s, and should be emailed to [log in to unmask] by Friday, 30 May 2014.

Postgraduate students are encouraged to submit a proposal. CHArt can offer assistance with the conference fees for up to three student delegates. Priority will be given to postgraduate students whose proposals are accepted for presentation. An application form and proof of university enrolment will be required. For further details about the Helene Roberts Bursary please email [log in to unmask]

Please note that submissions exceeding the stated word count will not be considered.

CHArt | Computers and the History of Art (www.chart.ac.uk) was established in 1985. CHArt’s mission is to examine and raise awareness of innovative digital techniques that support the study, administration, curation and display of all forms of art and design. CHArt acts as an independent international forum for new discussion. The scope of CHArt is necessarily broad to encompass all aspects of the history of art and design, but is also constrained by a focus on how technology supports engagement with this field. Membership of CHArt is open to anyone, but CHArt particularly welcomes those who devise, use, support, research or teach relevant digital processes.

CHArt is hosted by the Department of Digital Humanities
King’s College, University of London
26–29 Drury Lane
London WC2B 5RL
[log in to unmask] 

The Arts & Humanities Festival at King’s College London is an annual event which brings together academic practices across the College with external partners. It showcases the research going on throughout the Faculty of Arts and Humanities with an emphasis on practical applications and public engagement. A range of events take place across the Festival, including exhibitions, performances, lectures, readings, roundtables, debates, film screenings, Q&A sessions and guided walks/ tours. More information at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/ahfest/index.aspx

Deadlines:

30 May 2014   Submission of proposals
16 June 2014   Acceptance notification
27 June 2014  Speakers to confirm attendance, strictly with payment. All successful proposers will be eligible for the reduced registration fee of £100 (£50 for postgraduate student speakers).
18 August 2014  Paper submission. Papers submitted by this date will be considered for publication.