Call for Papers

The Loop as a Temporal Form

The online journal, Invisible Culture, is seeking papers for an
upcoming issue on the theme of the loop. This issue will take a broad
view of the loop—an act of editing that involves the telling and
retelling of a narrative—as a form that potentially sets in motion
temporal patterns that reconfigure the boundaries of space, time and
perception. David Joselit describes the "deep, dreamlike uncanny pulse"
intrinsic to the temporal quality of the loop as one imbuing even the
weakest work with a persuasive power. Umberto Eco describes Italian
viewing habits of popular film, where one enters a theatre at any point,
then stays to see the film again from the moment where the audience
member entered the narrative. For Eco, film, like life, continually
retraces events that have already occurred. The viewer or reader of, or
participant in a loop can let the (potentially) perpetual story unfold,
either viewing the unresolvedness as an end in itself, or by waiting for
the cathartic moment to return again and again. In other words, the loop
is a temporal form whose length is chosen by the
viewer/reader/participant and may produce catharsis, evoke a dreamlike
state, or mimic everyday life.

Topics might include theorizations of this temporal form or close
readings of either works of art or examples from everyday culture whose
central form is the loop. Theorizations could include but are not
restricted to: Deleuzian repetition and difference, Marxist historical
cycles, or Freud's repetition compulsion. Examples of works of art could
include Stan Douglas' "Win, Place or Show" (1998) or Santiago Serra's
"Lifted Out Wall of Gallery, Leaning Over by 60 Degrees and Held Up by
Five People" (2000). Examples from everyday culture could include the
daily conundrum of time tied to a per-hour paycheck.

Submissions are encouraged from a variety of perspectives, including
cultural studies, architecture, history, sociology, psychology, media or
film studies, anthropology, philosophy, music, political science,
semiotics, art history, queer theory, literary criticism, urban planning
or gender studies. All theoretical and empirical approaches are
welcomed.

We are seeking papers 2500 to 6000 words in length. In matters of
citation, the journal uses Chicago Manual of Style, but other citation
formats are acceptable with respect to the disciplinary concerns of the
author. Please email inquiries to Margot Bouman, at
bomnmail.rochester.edu and submissions in Microsoft Word as an
attachment to the same address. The deadline for submissions is May 30,
2004.

*

The online journal Invisible Culture,
http//www.rochester.edu/invisible_culture/ivchome.html, is dedicated to
explorations of the material and political dimensions of cultural
practices: the means by which cultural objects and communities are
produced, the historical contexts in which they emerge, and the regimes
of knowledge or modes of social interaction to which they contribute. As
the title suggests, _Invisible Culture problematizes the unquestioned
alliance between culture and visibility, specifically visual culture and
vision. Cultural practices and materials emerge not solely in the
visible world, but also in the social, temporal, and theoretical
relations that define the invisible. Our understanding of Cultural
Studies, finally, maintains that culture is fugitive and is constantly
renegotiated.

______________________________________________________

Catherine Zuromskis
Ph.D. Candidate
Program in Visual and Cultural Studies
University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627

585.241.9667
catzasmindspring.com