Call for papers

Embroidery and story-telling.

The second international conference on "Text, Texture, Textile"
is to be held at the University of Rouen, France on December 10th
and 11th 2009.

Using the Bayeux tapestry as a reference, considering its influence
on the Overlord Embroidery exhibited in Portsmouth, Britain or the
Ros Tapestry in Ireland, we address the question of the choice of
textile as a medium adapted to writing or rewriting history.
We will see that the appropriation of a feminine or popular form of
art can give birth to a new form of propaganda but can also open
official channels to new voices.
The exhibition "Pricked, Extreme Embroidery" at the Museum of Arts
and Design in New-York offers a range of contemporary creations
that question clichés about this minor form of art and open
perspectives towards new fields such as medecine or economics.
The purpose of this conference is to bring together curators,
artists and academics who specialise in history, sociology, arts,
cultural studies or literature.

Papers of no more than 25 minutes are welcome on the following
topics:

- The analysis of a specific embroidery, how it was produced,
how it fits in history, its capacity to shape history.
- The metaphor of embroidery in literature, the staging of the
Embroiderer as a character, the pertinence of the vocabulary of
embroidery to analyse a text as a form of embroidery.
- The role of embroidery in the economy, its pertinence in
projects dealing with the reinsertion of women in some
communities.
- The place of embroidery in haute-couture.

Most of the papers will be given in English so as to facilitate
the debate with our international guests from the United States,
Britain, Ireland or India.

Contact:

Professor Nicole Terrien or emerfahyeircom.net
Université de Rouen
76821 Mont Saint Aignan Cedex
France
nicole.terrienfree.fr