[ecrea] Ex certa scientia: Literature, Science and the Arts – An International Conference

*Relational Forms II*

*/Ex certa scientia/**: Literature, Science and the Arts –*

*An International Conference *

* *

*13-15 December 2012*

*Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto*

*Confirmed keynote speakers:*

* *

*George Rousseau (University of Oxford)*

*Hélia Correia (novelist, Lisbon)*

* *

*(other guest speakers to be confirmed soon)*

* *

This conference aims to respond to the intense interest that 
interdisciplinary and intermedial designs have obtained in many of the 
areas of study pertaining not only to literature and the arts but also 
to the sciences. It will lay a significant emphasis on the ways in which 
the discourses of literature, film, painting, music and other such 
cultural practices become interwoven with the discourses of science; 
and, conversely, on the ways in which the practices and theories of 
science reach beyond their more conventional boundaries and into the 
fields of artistic creativity and the humanities.

The conference will welcome contributions focusing on specific instances 
of interdisciplinarity and intermediality within the general context 
outlined above. It will also be open to studies that interrogate the 
theoretical and critical tools that have traditionally been applied to 
the study of intermedial relations and/or the relationships between the 
various relevant fields.

Specifically, the conference is meant to commemorate the 350th 
anniversary of a major event in the history of science and scientific 
institutions: the granting of the Charter to the Royal Society of London 
by King Charles II in 1662. The range of the conference, however, will 
be considerably broader: the programme will accommodate participants 
with interests as diverse as literary studies, the arts, the language of 
art history and art criticism, writing and performance, the philosophy 
of science, and the history of scientific inquiry and scientific 
institutions.

As indicated by the number in its title, this conference is the second 
in a series of academic events that reflect the ongoing concerns of the 
eponymous research group (/Relational Forms/), based at CETAPS (the 
Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies).

The organisers will welcome *proposals for 20-minute papers* *in 
English* on any of the areas mentioned above. Suggested (merely 
indicative) topics include:

• literature, the visual arts and the sciences: fascinations and 
perplexities

• the politics and poetics of discourse: scientific, literary, artistic

• the institutional framework: academies in literature, the sciences and 
the arts

• the loci of display / circulation: museums, galleries, publications

• object and subject in literature, the visual arts and the sciences

• representations of science and scientists in literature and the arts

• the implications of the arts and the humanistic disciplines for 
scientific research

• the cultural significance of scientific discoveries

• anthropological foundations of literature, science and the arts

• points of contact in the histories of the sciences, literature and the 
arts

*Submissions should be sent by email to* (relational /at/ letras.up.pt) 
<mailto:(relational /at/ letras.up.pt)>

Please include the following information with your proposal:

• the full title of your paper;

• a 250-300 word description of your paper;

• your name, postal address and e-mail address;

• your institutional affiliation and position;

• a short bionote;

• AV requirements (if any)

*Deadline for proposals*: 30 June 2012

*Notification of acceptance*: 15 July 2012

*Deadline for registration*: 15 October 2012

*Registration Fee*: 80 Euros

*Student fee*: 65 Euros

*Registration details will be posted online in September 2012*

All delegates are responsible for their own travel arrangements and 
accommodation. Relevant information will be provided later on the 
conference website – http://web.letras.up.pt/scientia

*Organised by the*

*Relational Forms 
<http://www.cetaps.com/index.php/research-groups/37-research-groups/67-relational-forms-intertextual-and-inter-arts-dynamics-in-the-cultures-of-ireland-and-britain> 
research group*

http://www.cetaps.com/

* *

*Local Executive Committee:*

Rui Carvalho Homem

Jorge Bastos da Silva

Miguel Ramalhete Gomes

Márcia Lemos

*For further queries please contact*:

CETAPS – Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies

Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

Via Panorâmica, s/n

4150-564 PORTO

PORTUGAL

Phone / Fax: +351-22-6077183 <tel:%2B351-22-6077183>

(relational /at/ letras.up.pt) <mailto:(relational /at/ letras.up.pt)>