CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRACTICE-BASED PROJECTS
Hybrid practices in the arts, sciences, and technology from the 1960s to
today

The Spencer Museum of Art (SMA) at the University of Kansas (KU) is
organizing a conference on hybrid research practices in the arts,
sciences, and technology from the 1960s to today. Distinguished scholars
involved in the conference include D. Graham Burnett (Cabinet magazine)
and Anne Collins Goodyear (Bowdoin College Museum of Art). Together with
papers, roundtables, and keynote presentations, the conference will
incorporate performative and event-based creative projects grounded in
hybrid art-science-technology research. Selected conference presenters
will be invited to a follow-up colloquium, led by David Cateforis (KU)
and Shepherd Steiner (University of Manitoba) in May 2015. We anticipate
publishing selected papers and projects in an edited volume that serves
as both conference proceedings and guide for researchers undertaking
work in this field.

To date only a small group of scholars has focused attention on
collaborative projects between artists and practitioners in
technological and scientific fields during the 1960s and 1970s. Hybrid
Practices seeks to broaden our understanding of this pivotal period in
U.S. history and in American art by investigating the cultural,
political, and social factors that enabled and encouraged such projects
to emerge. Although the conference will focus on the United States, we
intend to include international perspectives and welcome applications
from scholars and practitioners based in other countries. By thoroughly
examining early research collaborations among artists, scientists, and
technologists, we will establish a context through which to explore the
resurgence in hybrid research practices today.

We are seeking proposals for papers and practice-based projects that
explore one or more of the following aspects of hybrid artistic
research:

1. Key hybrid projects from the past 50 years, including but not
limited to Experiments in Art & Technology (Bell Laboratories), Art &
Technology (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and the Artist Placement
Group (U.K.)
2. Shared vocabularies among the arts, sciences, and technology, and
the role of language in cross-disciplinary collaboration
3. The impact of interdisciplinary work on the identity of the hybrid
practitioner

Papers may be organized as case studies or theoretical approaches to the
topic. Case studies should focus on one or two projects; they may
interrogate the historical moment of the project’s existence, the hybrid
methodology involved, and/or the impact of the work as it was assessed
both at the time the project took place and in the present. Participants
are encouraged to use archival material in these case studies.
Theoretical papers may address multiple projects across a broad
geographical or historical range. While the conference’s theoretical
framework will draw on the work of French philosopher and science
historian Michel Serres, participants are not limited to examining his
ideas in their papers.

Practice-based projects should explore the same themes as papers while
keeping in mind the physical and temporal conference setting. Hybrid
Practices will be held at The Commons (www.thecommons.ku.edu), a space
dedicated to fostering closer relationships among the sciences,
humanities, and arts. It is a fully mediated event space rather than an
exhibition space, so practice-based projects should not require
sustained display. Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for
projects that could reasonably be produced in this setting. Logistical
arrangements for selected projects will be developed in consultation
with SMA staff.


SUBMISSION PROCESS
Please submit abstracts of 150–200 words in English, along with a bio of
approximately 100 words, to smahybridku.edu. Up to five images may be
included to support your proposal.

The Hybrid Practices project is made possible through support from the
Terra Foundation for American Art. The project is organized within the
framework of the Arts Research Collaboration (ARC) initiative at the
Spencer Museum of Art. Sponsored by the KU Research Investment Council,
ARC is designed to generate and support collaborative work across the
arts, sciences, technology, and society. The Museum’s partners in this
initiative are the KU Biodiversity Institute, the Information and
Telecommunication Technology Center, and the Department of Visual Art.