[Commlist] CfP – NECSUS Autumn 2022_#Materiality

NECSUS
Autumn 2022_#Materiality
*Call for submissions *
edited by Josephine Diecke, Dr. Bregt Lameris, and Dr. Laura Niebling

With this special section of NECSUS we would like to provide a platform 
for the debate on media and materiality as it has been evolving with the 
digital turn. By approaching the topic of materiality and its effects on 
the basis of material objects, different paths and debates open up. 
Whether through a historical analysis of an object’s meaning, its 
relationship with the media environment, or its access and (digital) 
reproduction with the help of interfaces – questions of the material and 
immaterial constitution of objects arise from almost all perspectives. 
In this special section we would like to bring them together in order to 
explore the numerous levels of materiality in the media objects 
surrounding us.

Starting from the object itself, we aim to open up a range of 
perspectives on its (im-)materialilty, particularly acknowledging that 
media histories not only run simultaneously, but have plural meanings in 
the process. To invite and bring together some of the views currently 
discussed in media studies and beyond, we ask: What kind of materiality 
does an object bring with it and which cultural spaces surrounding it 
have to be considered? How do we contextualise a material object with 
analog or digital approaches?

Although the materiality of media has always mattered, the discursive 
boundaries between materiality/immateriality, old/new, waste/innovation, 
and obsolete/modern seem to gain new significance in the digital era in 
particular. Previously established and standardised media objects are 
disappearing from public and private spaces, which is something Samual 
Wilson called the ‘crises of materiality’. Furthermore, digital media 
are increasingly discussed with regards to their material status and 
environmental footprint due to their mode of production. In this 
context, the transition from analogue to digital has opened up new paths 
for investigations into the conservation and preservation of analogue 
media practices with the help of digital tools.

Over the past decades, interdisciplinary research at the intersection of 
media archaeology and science and technology studies (STS) has emerged, 
while other projects combined natural sciences and (digital) humanities 
to closely investigate media objects as historical sources. Our interest 
also lies with the range of so-called ‘experimental media 
archaeological’ initiatives, which have been launched to (re)gain agency 
over techniques and tools, often in the form of collaborations between 
academia and archives. We especially invite articles on these approaches 
of re-configuring tacit material knowledge in the context of media 
history. To this end, the role of materiality shall also be addressed, 
as it is particularly negotiated, exhibited, and discussed in many ways 
in the museum context, up to and including entire institutions dedicated 
to the topic itself.

In recent years, the materiality of media and the corresponding 
artifacts and concepts have been culturally charged with new values, 
connotations, and symbolic perspectives, including and reaching beyond 
their historical functions for example as user objects or design tokens. 
These manifold values and positions are the topic of an extensively 
growing media theoretical debate with new experimental practices of 
media research, art, and curating. Equally, artistic practices are 
returning to analogue formats with an increasing number of analogue 
laboratories and stand-alone artists pushing a practice-oriented 
counterculture of experimental filmmaking with photochemical processes, 
providing a varied range of new kinds of knowledge. We also invite 
perspectives into these practices of artistic re-production of material 
knowledge.

In this special section we will reflect on this constellation of ideas, 
concepts, and practices that is currently developing with regard to 
media materialities. We wish to emphasise that we are interested in 
contributions concerning a broad range of audiovisual media, such as 
film, video, new/digital media, and the entire range of sound 
technologies and equipment. This call for submissions invites 
contributions dealing with, but not limited to, #Materiality and the 
following topics:

# New (digital) materialisms, obsolescence, sustainable media, and 
ecological sensibilities, in relation to consumer culture

# Media art, found footage, and experimental film

# DIY culture as well as re-use and re-mixed culture, including 
questions on material aesthetics

# Experimental media archaeology, embodiment, and tacit knowledge, and 
the tactility and haptics of media knowledge production via materiality 
and objects

# Preservation and restoration, curating and exhibiting the materiality 
of media, history and practice of playback machines and practices

# Dispositif and apparatus theory

# Phenomenology

We also invite submissions on the intersection between academic research 
and artistic practice. Submissions may address the audiovisual essay as 
an old and new method of doing media studies; also, practice-based 
research or research-creation as evolving methods of knowledge 
production and performance. We look forward to receiving abstracts of 
300 words, 3-5 bibliographic references, and a short biography of 100 
words by *15 March 2022* to (g.decuir /at/ aup.nl) <mailto:(g.decuir /at/ aup.nl)> On 
the basis of selected abstracts, writers will be invited to submit full 
manuscripts (6,000-8,000 words, revised abstract, 4-5 keywords) which 
will subsequently go through a double-blind peer review process before 
final acceptance for publication.

NECSUS also accepts proposals throughout the year for festival, 
exhibition, and book reviews, as well as proposals for guest edited 
audiovisual essay sections. We will soon open a general call for 
research article proposals not tied to a special section theme.  Please 
note that we do not accept full manuscripts for consideration without an 
invitation. Access our submission guidelines at 
https://necsus-ejms.org/guidelines-for-submission/ 
<https://necsus-ejms.org/guidelines-for-submission/>

Linda Kopitz | Lecturer | Editorial Assistant NECSUS | Department of 
Media Studies | Universiteit van Amsterdam |
Turfdraagsterpad 9 | 1012 XT Amsterdam | The Netherlands | 
(l.kopitz /at/ uva.nl) <mailto:(l.kopitz /at/ uva.nl)> | +31 611074255

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