"Aggression, Transgression, and the Avant-garde" is a one-day interdisciplinary event bringing together members of the postgraduate research community and early career researchers to consider the nature, significance and legacies of avant-garde responses to the various socio-political crises of the twentieth century. The topic has particular relevance and resonance in today’s increasingly unstable cultural climate; it also seems timely in the centenary years of the First World War to reassess historical responses to periods of radical change and of conflict, offering one route to learning about and reflecting on current situations.

We are delighted to be welcoming Prof. Sanja Bahun, from the University of Essex, to present a keynote lecture on "The Economy of Discomfort: Mina Loy, the Homeless Body, and the Issues of Aesthetic Reception."

PROGRAMME

9.30 – 9.45am
Registration and Coffee

9.45 – 9.55am
Welcome and Opening Remarks

9.55 – 11.10am
Panel 1: Re/thinking Avant-gardes

Jean Marie Carey (University of Otago/ Universität Kassel)
Trigger for a Train of Thought: Franz Marc’s Socialist-Anarchist Utopia

Pamela Bianchi (University of Paris VIII)
Radical Spaces for Insurgent Attitudes

Lola Lorant (Université Rennes 2)
The Collision of the Nouveau Réalisme with Dada in the United States

11.10 – 11.30am
Coffee and Networking

11.30 – 12.45pm
Panel 2: Bataillean Dialogues

Hailey Maxwell (University of Glasgow)
’Imagine a bullfight for you alone’: Surrealism and Laure’s sacred

Naomi Stewart (University of Edinburgh)
Maar, Bataille and the Eye: Aggressive Visuality in Dora Maar’s Photomontage

Catherine Howe (Courtauld Institute of Art)
Representing the Self ‘en procès’: Viewing Francis Bacon’s Van Gogh through Georges Bataille and Antonin Artaud

12.45 – 1.45pm
Lunch

1.45 – 2.55pm
Keynote Address

Prof. Sanja Bahun (University of Essex)
The Economy of Discomfort: Mina Loy, the Homeless Body, and the Issues of Aesthetic Reception

2.55 – 3.15pm
Coffee and Networking

3-15 – 4.30pm
Panel 3: Cultural Transgressions

Amelia Miholca (Arizona State University)
The Romanians of Dada Zurich

Bárbara Barreiro León (University of Aberdeen/Oviedo)
Man Ray’s Erotic Photography: Gender Ideal and the Embodiment of the Surreal

Lena Sideri (University of Edinburgh)
Social Criticism via Fearless Laughter

4.30 – 4.45pm
Closing Remarks

4.45 – 5.30pm
Wine Reception

Further information can be found on the conference's dedicated website:
https://avantgardeconference2017.wordpress.com

Registration for the conference is free and open to all. To register, please visit the conference's Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aggression-transgression-the-avant-garde-tickets-33655571721

Any queries, please do not hesitate to contact the organisers on: avantgardeconference2017gmail.com

Organisers: Naomi Stewart & Josh Bowker (PhD students, History of Art, University of Edinburgh)