CALL FOR PAPERS
parallax. a journal of metadiscursive theory and cultural practices

Disturbing Spaces, Impossible Strategies:

Disturbing spaces: a metaphor for the challenge of structures and a
symptom of spatial difference when operating within set frames. The
manipulation of the space of activity, of the 2-D page, of the 3-D room,
the juxtaposition of words, pictures, objects, bodies; the spatial and
temporal configuration of things, their distance. But also, the
metaphorical space of reflection, of ordering and classification, of
orthodoxy and the canon; the domain of methodologies and typographies, of
linguistic orders, of visual structures, of cognitive processes.

How does one, as a philosopher, a writer, an artist move in-between
spaces, from the mental space of the formulation of ideas and rhetorical
operations to the embodied space of physical impact and back again? And
how does one act on the metaphysical space of theory from within the space
of experience? This issue of parallax wishes to invite a discussion on
strategies that by disturbing the spatio-temporal configuration of
experienced space open up the space for critical reflection, or confront
the canon with a premise that nourishes the possibility of doubt. What
demands does the frame (of reference, of regulations, of limitations) make
on the structure of the physical object? What are the frame/object?s
internal and external limits and how can one invent and sustain
alternative conditions of meaning and intelligibility?

Disturbing spaces entails knowledge of the object's physical location and
therefore depends on the context of its experience and the conditions of
its exposure. Thus, one may arrive at a disjointed critical stand by way
of upsetting the order of things, yet this disruption of the frame of
reference will also cause one to fall back to a provisional starting
point. Is it, then, possible to retain this experience and to use it in
order to reflect on and repeat such a performance? Where would one locate
strategies that disturb the embodied/mental space and that tease out their
distance? Would a self-reflective operation create a new space,
reconfigure the same space anew or remain in a conceptual space?
Questioning the notion of impossibility and of impossible strategies, not
as a prohibition but as a tangent, this issue of parallax allows its own
space to become a meta-space of dialogue across philosophy, literary and
art criticism, semantics and discourse analysis.

Submission Deadline: 1 April 2009

Potential contributors are encouraged to contact:
Eve Kalyva
parallax
Centre for Cultural Studies
School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies
Old Mining Building
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
UK
Email: parallaxleeds.ac.uk

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parallax is edited by a team at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and
Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. parallax publishes themed
issues that aim to provoke exploratory, interdisciplinary thinking and
response, providing a forum for a wide spectrum of perspectives on a
topical question or concern. The journal is of interest to those working
in cultural studies, critical theory, cultural history, philosophy, gender
studies, queer theory, post-colonial theory, English and comparative
literature, aesthetics, art history and visual cultures.

ISSN: 1460-700X (electronic) 1353-4645 (paper)
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Subject: Cultural Theory;
Publisher: Routledge

Editors: Ignaz Cassar, Mark Dawson and Eve Kalyva
Arts Editor: Lynn Turner
Reviews Editor: Marcel Swiboda
Executive Editors: Barbara Engh, Martin McQuillan

Editorial Board:
Mieke Bal, Andrew Benjamin, Rachel Bowlby, Elisabeth Bronfen, Ian
Buchanan, Susan Buck-Morss, Elizabeth Cowie, Omayra Cruz, Barry Curtis,
Jonathan Dollimore, Simon Frith, Sue Golding, Ray Guins, Mark Little,
Joanne Morra, Frank Mort, Christopher Norris, Peter Osborne, Kristin Ross,
Marquard Smith, Allan Stoekl, Valerie Walkerdine, Jeffrey Weeks, Lola Young.

Founders: Joanne Morra, Adrian Rifkin, Marquard Smith