[Commlist] CfP: Exposing the Film Apparatus: what, when, where, and how?

* Call for papers *

Exposing the Film Apparatus: what, when, where and how?

We are inviting proposals for contributions to a volume edited by 
Giovanna Fossati, Annie van den Oever and Erkki Huhtamo.

In 2016 we published Exposing the Film Apparatus: The Film Archive as a 
Research Laboratory, which sprang from a workshop in 2013 under this 
title. It addresses the rather new awareness of the prominence of media 
technologies in culture and discusses how such an awareness impacts the 
archival and curatorial consciousness of those working in film archives, 
science, technology, and media museums at the time. It seems to us 
though that there have been significant changes in the field of 
archives, apparatus collections as well as in the world of the arts, 
museums, teaching, and research since then, raising newly relevant 
questions that need to be addressed.
We recognize three fields which we would want to focus our attention on 
in this upcoming volume: (1) archiving and curating, (2) research and 
teaching, and (3) artist practices and experimentation. Our aim is to 
contribute to the mapping of these developments in the fields of 
collecting, curating, archiving, exhibiting, and the use of apparatus 
collections in research and teaching.
We want to focus on new developments from a fresh, global, diverse and 
inclusive post-colonial perspective and we are specifically interested 
in topics and questions understudied so far – and we hope that you will 
bring examples to this project we might have missed otherwise. We also 
want to address a series of simple, general, practical questions: which 
public and private entities prioritize the apparatus collections today 
and how? Who studies these collections? How are they archived and 
curated? How (if at all) are apparatuses kept operational in a time they 
were (technically) not made for?
Furthermore, we want to take the impact of the covid-19 pandemic into 
account as it has evoked new questions and concerns in all three of 
these fields.

Sections of the book will be dedicated to different themes -- archiving 
& curating, research & teaching, artist practices -- and each section 
will be introduced with an essay by one of the editors. In line with the 
format adopted for the 2016 book, we will feature thirty contributions 
in total, each focusing on a different device. The length of each 
separate contribution will be about six pages (2400 words). A full-page 
illustration of the technology discussed will be included with each 
essay as a focal point. Moreover, a short technical description and a 
theoretical framework will be added to each essay to announce its topic 
and approach.

This call for papers addresses archivists, curators, projectionists, 
theorists, film and media historians, media artists, archaeologists, 
educationists, and new media scholars.

Each contributor is invited to reflect upon a specific device. The 
technical and theoretical reflection on the device will differ 
(depending on the author’s interests and expertise. We stimulate and 
support a great variety of different approaches.
Proposals may include the following topics:
- Histories of use and representation
- Global media cultures: non-Western media archaeology and histories of use
- Best practices in archiving histories of use
- Sustainable approaches for demonstrating working devices in heritage 
institutions
- The reception and evaluation of a device by critics or specific audiences
- Object-oriented archaeologies of media technologies
- Hands-on media history in practice-based research or education
- Intersectional media archaeology
- The development of a certain dispositif
- Artist practices and experimentation
- Artist-driven media archaeologies
- Changing policies and priorities in acquiring, preserving and curating 
film apparatus collections

Of further importance are ever relevant questions about the role of 
apparatus collections or archival devices in the history and development 
of film and cinema, or their role and significance as an object of 
teaching and research, restoration, and archiving both inside and 
outside of the archive or museum.

This book is meant for use in film archives, film, technology, media and 
modern art museums, libraries and universities. We aim at a visually 
attractive book that stands out in art museums and art schools, 
presenting a detailed and relevant inventory of devices used by artists, 
scholars, amateurs, and cinematographers.

* Submissions
We invite you to submit a 300-word proposal, including 3 bibliographic 
references, 3 keywords, as well as a short biography of 100 words at the 
following email address: (exposingthefilmapparatus2024 /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(exposingthefilmapparatus2024 /at/ gmail.com)>.
The deadline for proposal submissions is 10 January 2023. On the basis 
of the proposals, writers will be invited to submit full manuscripts 
(2400 words) – you will be contacted no later than 1 February 2023. The 
deadline for the full manuscript is 1 September 2023, after which each 
contribution will be peer-reviewed. We aim to present the book at the 
Eye International Conference in May 2024.

Please note that we do not accept complete manuscripts for consideration 
without an invitation.

* Time frame publication:
Presentation book: May 2024
Peer feedback: 15 November 2023
Peer reviews: (6 weeks) until 15 October 2023
Submission all individual manuscripts: 1 September 2023
Response proposal: no later than 1 February 2023
Submission abstract: 10 January 2023
Call for papers: 22 November 2022

No article processing charges (APC) required.


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