[Commlist] DRHA conference 2019 - radical immersions

*Call for Proposals – DRHA conference 2019 – Watermans Arts Centre, 
London – 8-10 September 2019*

**

*RADICAL IMMERSIONS*

*Navigating between virtual/physical environments and information bubbles*

http://www.2019.drha.uk/

Over the past years, immersive technologies have been hyped as consumer 
gadgets, entertainment media and the future of exhibition practices. The 
free distribution of VR headsets with smartphones and the increasing 
interest of museums, festivals and other cultural organisers towards 
‘immersive digital content’ have quickly turned VR and AR devices and 
applications into widely recognized cultural artefacts. The promotion of 
‘full immersion’ in the physical spaces of exhibitions and museums has 
led to some venues relying solely on interactive projections and 
audience interaction. However, just like many earlier ‘new media’ before 
them, the hyperbolic promises attached to these technologies’ supposed 
capacity to deliver immediacy and trigger a paradigm shift in media 
culture have thus far hardly become reality.

Meanwhile, social media platforms enable the formation of communities 
where members immerse themselves in alternate networks of signification 
in which conspiracy theories are embedded in seemingly consistent 
information clouds. While these information bubbles are often – but not 
necessarily correctly – associated with economically and socially 
disenchanted communities that reject intellectualism, they can also be 
read as reflections of some of the keystones of post-structuralist 
thought, especially in their fostering of a rhizomatic approach to ‘fact 
finding’ and a consistent suspicion that the everyday is in fact a 
‘hyperreal’ constructed by entities of power.

The Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts (DRHA) conference 2019 
will examine these two perspectives on immersion in digital culture, and 
aims to identify some of their broader ideological frameworks as well as 
develop detailed insights into the workings of specific technologies in 
relation to their promises.

*KEYNOTE SPEAKERS*

*Prof Matthew Fuller (Goldsmiths University of London)*

*Dr Maria Chatzichristodoulou (aka Maria X; London Southbank University)*

*RADICAL IMMERSIONS is convened by Dr Dani Ploeger and Dr Elena 
Papadaki, and hosted by The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 
cooperation with Watermans Arts Centre.*

*CALL FOR PAPERS AND POSTERS*

We are inviting papers and poster presentations that address questions 
including, but are not limited to, the following:

- How are the promises and expectations of VR, AR and other immersive 
consumer technologies embedded in broader cultural ideologies of 
progress and innovation?

- What are the tensions created between immersive technologies and 
physical environments?

- How is the space between an all-digital artwork and an all-physical 
exhibition space negotiated?

- How do the material aspects of immersive technologies’ hardware affect 
the generation and perception of immersive content?

- How might the design, marketing and use of digital platforms determine 
the ways in which online information communities are formed?

- To what extent might online ‘filter bubbles’ and other immersive 
information environments bear parallels to post-structuralist 
understandings of rhizomatic and fluid meaning-making in text?


*CALL FOR ARTWORKS*

In parallel with the conference, a group exhibition will be presented at 
Watermans Art Centre in September 2019. The exhibition will be curated 
by Klio Krajewska (Head of New Media Arts Development, Watermans Arts 
Centre). We are inviting proposals for artworks and performances that 
engage critically with immersive technologies, news media, and digital 
culture.


*Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2019*

**

*For more information please see the conference website: 
http://www.2019.drha.uk/*



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