[ecrea] Call for Papers "Elvis lives in Amsterdam"

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

**

*Elvis lives in Amsterdam*

*Manifestations of the imaginary musician*

**

/University of Amsterdam, 29 November - 1 December 2018/

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Conference convenors:

Rutger Helmers and Oliver Seibt

**

 From Marvel’s Kiss comics of the late 1970s to Cate Blanchett and 
Heath Ledger acting out different facets of Bob Dylan’s public persona 
in Todd Hayne’s experimental film /I’m not there/; from continuous 
assertions that the guy on stage isn’t the real Paul McCartney to 
YouTube videos showing Nigerian Michael Jackson impersonators; from Hans 
Sachs, the sixteenth-century Meistersinger, still performing regularly 
in Wagner’s opera, to a virtual band like Gorillaz; from Adrian 
Leverkühn’s pact with the devil in Thomas Mann’s /Doktor Faustus/ to the 
unsolved mystery of Chet Baker’s defenestration from Amsterdam’s Prins 
Hendrik Hotel.

During this conference, hosted by the University of Amsterdam’s School 
of Cultural Analysis (ASCA), we aim to have an interdisciplinary 
discussion about the various ways in which our understanding of 
musicians taps into the imaginary, and what case studies about musicians 
can teach us about the imaginary constitution of our everyday experiences.

The broader phenomenon of the imaginary musician, as we see it, covers 
four related areas, which can be encountered in many different cultures 
and ages, and in a variety of media such as literature, theatre, film, 
and live performance:

●“Paul is dead”: Musical conspiracy theories

●“The King is dead, long live the King!”: Impersonators and tribute bands

●“The Real Slim Shady”: “Fictive” and “virtual” musicians

●“Rock me, Amadeus”: “Real” musicians as fictional characters

Our interest will not be to debunk myths, but to understand what role 
imaginary representations of musicians play in our personal lives, in 
society and the arts in general. In discussing collective as well as 
individual imaginations of musicians, we are especially interested in 
the concurrence of the dimensions of “the real”, “the fictive”, and “the 
imaginary” in music cultures. Theories of the imaginary as, for example, 
those by Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Lacan, Wolfgang Iser, or Cornelius 
Castoriadis could thereby serve as theoretical background that allows 
for an interdisciplinary communication about the topic.

The conference will include three confirmed keynotes by Nicholas Cook 
(Musicology, University of Cambridge), Lydia Goehr (Philosophy, Columbia 
University), and Nick Prior (Sociology, University of Edinburgh), and is 
planned to feature an ongoing exhibition about musicians as characters 
in comic books and graphic novels, a musical event, and an affiliated 
masterclass for postgraduate students.

We welcome contributions from a variety of disciplines (music studies, 
media and communication studies, literature studies, and the social 
sciences) on whatever kind of music. Please submit a proposal for a 20 
to 25-minute presentation in any format no later than *31 May 2018 *to 
*(e.a.presley-fgw /at/ uva.nl) <mailto:(e.a.presley-fgw /at/ uva.nl)>*. Proposals 
should include: your name and academic affiliation, the title of your 
contribution, an abstract of 200 to 300 words, and five keywords. Please 
also specify which of the four categories of imaginary musicians your 
presentation will relate to, and the format of presentation (lecture, 
performance). The conference language will be English. A publication of 
selected papers will be considered.

**

Please refer to our conference website for the latest information: 
asca.uva.nl/programme/conferences/elvis-lives-in-amsterdam 
<http://asca.uva.nl/programme/conferences/elvis-lives-in-amsterdam/elvis-lives-in-amsterdam.html>or 
bit.ly/2GXE1UO <https://bit.ly/2GXE1UO>

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