*Call for Participation*
* *
*'Making Sense of Visual Culture'
An interdisciplinary conference sponsored by the Graduate Program in
Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester
April 1st-3rd, 2011, Rochester, New York
Sound, taste, touch and smell. The institutionalization of the field of
Visual Culture has coincided with a proliferation of methods to investigate
a range of sensory experience. More than conceiving of Visual Studies as an
historical intervention into disciplinary art history, we seek to explore
its ongoing development as a clearing house for investigation of what the
visual does, and doesnâ??t do. With these concerns in mind, the Graduate
Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester
invites scholars from across disciplines to discuss the evolving
institutional and methodological contours of our field. From April 1st-3rd,
2011, â??Making Sense of Visual Cultureâ?? will
address large-scale disciplinary
questions as well the development of new approaches to an expanded range of
sensory objects, phenomena, and practices.
*In order to create a space for new voices on these topics, we have decided
to eschew the standard figure of the keynote speaker and its implied
authority. Instead, we invite innovative work by graduate students and
non-tenured faculty for a series of round-tables, workshops, and panels that
will address the two major, interlinked concerns of the conference: sensory
experience and the future of the field.***
*To this end, we envision this CFP functioning not just as a traditional
call for papers, but also as a call for participation. There are many ways
to participate in this discussion, even if you cannot join us in April. *
1. We are circulating a questionnaire. All responses will be posted to an
open access website to create a broad dialogue. We are asking all scholars
with an investment in the future study of visual culture to respond. Select
respondents will be invited to participate in a roundtable discussion at the
conference.
2. We solicit 300-word abstracts for 20-minute paper presentations on work
that exemplifies, challenges and expands the field of visual studies.
Possible topics include, but are not limited, to:
- multi-sensory approaches to material culture and memory
- the â??hegemony of the visualâ??
- the practice of visual culture as method, discipline or sensibility
- visualizing sensory experience
- cultural difference and the senses
- epistemology of the senses
- histories of perception
- lending form to affect
- synesthetia
- the interface of vision and touch
- changing practices of visualizing information
- the present and future of medium specificity (in both artistic and
scholarly practices)
- the role of technologies in sensory perception
Please include a brief CV with your submissions. Deadline: January 15,
2011. Please email these documents to *
(submissions /at/ makingsenseconference.com)*
*
