[ecrea] CFP: Stocks, Screens, and Servers: The Materiality of Media

From Christopher Cwynar <(cwynar /at/ gmail.com)>

The Velvet Light Trap editorial board would like to announce that the
submission for issue #70 has been extended to October 15 (it was originally
September 15).
We continue to welcome any papers that address one or more aspects of the
topic outlined
below. Please do not hesitate to write us at
Thevelvetlighttrap@gmail.comshould you have
any questions pertaining to this message or the CFP.

- VLT Editorial Board

The Velvet Light Trap #70

CFP: Stocks, Screens, and Servers: The Materiality of Media

As culture becomes increasingly digitized=97 from downloading and streaming
videos and music to digital film production and cloud computing=97 argument=
s
for
the =93dematerialization=94 of media are becoming commonplace. However, med=
ia
have
always been, and remain, embedded in and structured by material objects,
networks, and practices that delimit their uses and meanings. Any cultural
artifact bears traces and consequences of the material conditions of its
production,
distribution, and reception, whether the size and weight of the camera that
shot a film=92s images, the geography of the shipping or cable network thro=
ugh
which it was transported or transmitted, or the spaces occupied by physical
record or DVD collections. Even ostensibly =93dematerialized=94 digital med=
ia
find
material existence in hard disks, server farms, and wires=97 as well as in =
the
proliferation of new media devices, from smart phones to iPads.

The perception of the diminished materiality of media presents us with an
opportunity to reconsider (and reaffirm) the material dimensions of media,
both
in terms of the present moment and from an historical perspective. To this
end,
The Velvet Light Trap seeks articles
considering the implications of the materiality of media, welcoming studies
of
film, television, and new media from a range of approaches=97 including
historical, theoretical, ethnographic, and/or textual.

Potential areas of inquiry include (but are by no means limited to):

-  the effects of technological and other material
factors on film/media craft practices and style

-  screen technologies and other exhibition devices,
old and new

-   issues in the political economy of the manufacture
and disposal of media objects and devices (e.g., labor conditions, e-waste)

-   logics and operations of physical networks of
distribution and transmission

-   media infrastructures and cultural geography

-  physical interactivity with media interfaces

-  the imitation of material objects in the digital
realm (e.g., album art and liner notes)

-  the resurgence of physical formats once presumed
=91dead=92 (e.g., vinyl, cassette tapes)

-  material dimensions of reception and fandom (e.g.,
collecting, scrapbooking)

-   the aestheticization of media commodities

-   materiality, memory, and nostalgia

-    material media objects, cultural capital, and taste

-     material collections, archiving, and film/media
historiography

-   the exploration of materiality by particular
artists and/or texts

-   materiality and avant-garde cinema

-   media materiality and policy

Submissions should be between 6,000 and 7,500 words (approximately 20-25
pages double-spaced), in MLA style. Please submit one electronic copy of th=
e
paper, along with a one-page abstract, saved as a Word .doc file; remove an=
y
identifying information so that the submission is suitable for anonymous
review. The journal's Editorial Board will referee all submissions. Send
electronic manuscripts and/or any questions to (thevelvetlighttrap /at/ gmail.com)=
.
All submissions must be received by October 15.

The Velvet Light Trap is anacademic, peer-reviewed journal of film,
television, and new media studies.
Graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University
of
Texas-Austin alternately coordinate issues. The Editorial Advisory Board
includes such notable scholars as Richard Allen, Henry Benshoff, Mia
Consalvo,
David Desser, Radhika Gajjala, Darrell Hamamoto, Joan Hawkins, Barbara
Klinger,
Jon Kraszewski, Joe McElhaney, Diane Negra, Michael Newman, Alisa Perren,
Aswin
Punathambekar, Yeidy Rivero, Nicholas Sammond, Beretta Smith-Shomade,
Cristina
Venegas, and Michael Williams.



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