Call for Papers

Artists & Writers: Interdisciplinary Exchanges  .

Tijdschrift Kunstlicht

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In the past, developments in the visual arts and literature frequently ran parallel to each other. Although painters and poets have always worked together (in the Renaissance, for instance, the painter Dosso Dossi and the poet Ludovico Ariosto produced collaborative plays), the exchange between visual artists and writers reached unequalled heights in the 20th century avant-gardes. The exchanges between Pablo Picasso and Guillaume Apollinaire hastened the development of Modernism, and even after his death the poet remained a great influence on Picasso (P. Read 2010). While in the 1950s Clement Greenberg called for the elimination of literary elements in the visual arts, American painters and poets worked frequently and closely together, the results of their exchanges leading to important shifts in the nature of postwar American literature and visual art (H. Smith 2000). However, it is precisely the works and practices that resulted from these encounters that have remained marginalized in the study of art and literature. What would happen if we were to centralize them? What discoveries would we make about the artists, their networks, and their heritage?

One explanation for the results of these exchanges remaining in the periphery of scholars’ fields of vision, is the fact that they fall neither completely within the study of art, nor within the study of literature. However, the increasing presence of multimedia expressions in society calls for the opening up and questioning of existing disciplinary boundaries, and for the forming of new alliances. Which new or developing theories can help us better understand interdisciplinary projects from the past, the present, and the future (W.J.T. Mitchell 1994; J. Heffernan 2006; G.R. Kress and T. van Leeuwen 2006; B. Reed 2010)?

Kunstlicht invites academic reflections on works and practices that resulted from encounters between visual artists and writers, and academic reflections that lay bare artists’ and institutions’ networks of exchange. We also look forward to essays that focus on theoretical examinations and examinations of theory. Both analyses of historical cases as well as reflections on the present will be considered. Furthermore, we encourage authors to propose research beyond these guidelines.

Proposals (200 – 300 words) can be sent to redactie[at]tijdschriftkunstlicht.nl before 23 March 2012. Selected authors will be asked to write a 2,000 – 3,000-word paper (excluding notes). Papers may be written in either English or Dutch.

Authors who are published in Kunstlicht receive three complimentary copies. Kunstlicht does not provide an author’s honorarium. Two years following publication, papers will be submitted to the freely accessible online archive.

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Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence .

AHRA Conference
London Metropolitan University
November 15-17

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The 9th AHRA Conference Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence will be hosted by the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Design at London Metropolitan University, from 15-17th November 2012. Keynote speakers include Keller Easterling, Felicity D. Scott, Alexander Brodsky, David Crowley and Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss.

This conference aims to reflect on the relevance of the concept of dissidence for architectural practice today. Although dissidence has been primarily associated with architectural practices in the Eastern Bloc at the end of the Cold War period, contemporary architectural and other aesthetic practices have in recent years developed a host of new methodologies and techniques for articulating their distance from and critique of dominant political and financial structures. Architecture and the Paradox of Dissidence asks how we can conceive of the contemporary political problems and paradoxes of architecture in relation to their precedents? Devoid of the agency of action, Cold War dissidents articulated their positions in drawings of fantasy-like paper architecture, while contemporary forms of architectural practice seem to gravitate towards activism and direct-action in the world. The political issues – from interventions in charged areas worldwide to research in conflict zones and areas undergoing transformations – currently stimulate a field of abundant invention in contemporary architecture. Both, Cold War dissidents and contemporary activists encounter problems and paradoxes and must navigate complex political force fields within which possible complicities are inherent risks. This conference seeks to map out and expand on the methodologies of architectural action and reinvigorate the concept of dissent within the architectural/spatial field of the possible. …

Proposals (500 words) and CV’s should be sent to Dr. Ines Weizman (info[at]dissidence.org.uk) by March 12.

For more information, download the full Call for Papers (AHRA12 CFP) or visit the website.

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