[Commlist] CfP Conference "Animation in the 21st Century"

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

*/Animation in the 21^st Century. Rethinking Images and Technology/*

27^th International Conference of Film Studies

Rome, 25-26 November 2021

Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts

Roma Tre University

/confirmed keynote speakers:/

Maureen Furniss (California Institute of the Arts), Paul Wells 
(Loughborough University)

Vincenzo Nisco (Rainbow CGI Animation Studio), Virgilio Villoresi (artist)

/confirmed guests:/

Bruno Bozzetto

The 27^th International Conference of Film Studies /Animation in the 
21^st Century. Rethinking Images and Technology /aims to investigate the 
critical role played by animation in contemporary audio-visual culture. 
Animated images have a significant and crucial position in current Film 
and Media Studies: they are the audio-visual horizon in which some of 
the most decisive and stimulating technological, aesthetic, narrative, 
political, and cultural challenges are faced. While contemporary works 
retain some of the fundamental elements of the tradition of animated 
film, taking them to a new level of sophistication, they also continue 
to represent a field of absolute experimentation in their audio and 
visual aspects. //

The technological and aesthetic shift from analog to digital and the 
converging configurations of the contemporary mediascape triggered a 
resurgence of interest in animation techniques. According to such 
perspective, the animation is conceived as an essential theoretical axis 
of moving images and no longer as a specific, secondary genre, separated 
from live-action cinema (intended mainly for children). Contemporary 
animated images reformulate numerous acquisitions that define the very 
concept of cinema, short-circuiting the auroral experiences of the late 
19^th and early 20^th centuries with the most advanced computer 
frontiers of the 21^st Century.

It is the idea of a conceptual and practical re-animation of the “manual 
techniques” of the past, created by the “digital revolution”, making the 
boundary between live-action and animated films increasingly blurred (as 
pointed out by Lev Manovich, 2002). Similarly, Suzanne Buchan speaks of 
the “pervasiveness” of forms of animation within contemporary visual 
culture, reconfiguring its imagery, cultural horizons, and stylistic and 
technical canons (Buchan, 2013). Siegfried Zielinski proposes the idea 
of “expanded animation”, interpreting it as a “sensational phenomenon” 
that is part of the category of living machines or those that simulate 
vital functions (Zielinski, 2013).

The reconsideration addresses the historical and cultural dimension as 
well, conceiving animation as part of a “world history” (Bendazzi, 2016, 
2017) that enhances its transnational dimension and aesthetic principles 
(Furniss, 1998, 2017). Thomas Lamarre sees animation as the “dominant 
logic of the moving image” (Lamarre, 2009), presented as a set of 
expressive forms and techniques used to configure all kinds of 
practices, genres, stories (or counter-narratives), and to colonize all 
sorts of media and formats. Indeed, “At every point of social, cultural 
and artistic development, animation has expressed the continuing tension 
between a medium in which innovation and creativity can continually take 
place while aligning with, and depicting the most human of needs, 
desires, thoughts and feelings” (Wells, 2002).

The conference aims to propose a reflection that examines the dynamics 
and mechanisms behind the creation of some of the most interesting 
national and international contemporary animation trends. The topics 
will place them in close connection with the current media scenario 
(cinema, advertising, videogames, the web, animated documentaries, TV 
series, contemporary art, digital culture) and with transmedia aesthetic 
and narrative forms originating from different cultural paradigms.

The conference will pay particular attention to the conjunction between 
theories and practices and between mainstream and experimental forms. 
Hence, it intends to investigate animated films as an industrial, 
narrative, aesthetic and ideological “system” promoting imaginaries, 
aesthetics, and values. It also delves into the production of artists 
who move on the borders, free from conditioning and devoted to the more 
advanced technological research. Therefore, the conference’s overall aim 
is to revitalize and address the concept of animation in contemporary 
visual culture, investigating its theoretical, historical, political, 
and cultural nature in relation to the new moving images.

The following is an incomplete and non-binding list of possible areas 
for consideration:

·Theories and practices of animation: styles and aesthetics of new 
animation products; authorial and consumer poetics; forms of movement 
and sciences of /bios/; philosophical implications arising from the 
relationship between human and posthuman, also in relation to the bodies 
and models used for the configuration of subjectivity; the animation 
within the theoretical debate of contemporary Film and Media Studies;

·Histories: animation studio cultures and styles; auteurs models; 
animation genres; the global concept and world history; mainstream 
animated series and transnational media industries; independent 
productions that exploit alternative distribution channels; the 
relationship with the new star and studio system; animated production in 
relation to gender policies; experimental animation (historical 
avant-gardes, abstract film, art cinema and underground film, video art);

·Techniques and technologies: between digital and traditional animation; 
the renewal of animated drawing and computer graphics; experimental 
animation techniques (hand painted film, pin screen, découpage, stop 
motion, pixilation, slow motion animation, morphing, sand animation, 
etc.); artisan and computer technologies; the ambiguity in the 
theoretical statute of motion and performance capture techniques and 
technologies; animation professions; the role of user-generated, 
grassroots animation images and softwares for amateurs;

·Contexts: global and transnational scenarios; the role of ideology, 
gender, race, and ethnicity; artivisms and political practices, 
especially in the scenarios of social media and online sharing; the link 
between methods of production and expression; analysis of the narrative, 
aesthetic and cultural aspects that distinguish the films produced by 
the major American studios (from Disney and Pixar to Dreamworks, from 
Blue Sky to Illumination Entertainment) in relation to those from other 
geographical and production contexts (such as Japan, France or Eastern 
Europe);

·Reception: the role of the fandom; forms of merchandising; forms of 
identity, community, and participation; the production dimension and 
economic aspects; cross-media distribution platforms; the circulation 
and distribution of contemporary animation; relationships between wide 
and varied audiences; amateur forms;

·Interdisciplinarity: animation in film and media, between practices of 
remediation, adaptation, and transmedia storytelling; relations with 
advertising, videogames, the web, animated documentaries, television 
series, contemporary art, digital culture; artistic animation and visual 
arts;

·Animation and pedagogy: animation as a Film and Media Literacy tool; 
animation in the processes of education and awareness of contemporary 
audio-visual culture; new expressive languages, the use of new 
technologies, and the evolution of the cultural industry in the 
Didactics of cinema and audio-visuals; animated film schools;

·Significant case studies in contemporary animation.


Proposals, 300-500 words long, should be sent to 
(roma3conference /at/ uniroma3.it) <mailto:(roma3conference /at/ uniroma3.it)>, 
accompanied by 3-5 keywords, a short biography, and contact details.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Friday, 3 September 
2021. Acceptance will be confirmed by 24 September.

Speakers fee: €50.00.

Presentations will last 20 minutes. The languages of the Conference are 
English and Italian.

Organization: Department of Philosophy, Communication, and Performing 
Arts – Roma Tre University

Conference Directors: Ilaria A. De Pascalis, Giacomo Ravesi, Elio 
Ugenti, Christian Uva











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