University of Cambridge Graduate Student Conference in the History of Art
2010

Laughing at Art: The Study of Humour in the Visual Arts

The University of Cambridge Graduate Student Conference in the History of
Art will be held on 30 April 2010 at the University of Cambridge. The
conference will provide a forum for graduate students in all academic
disciplines to present and discuss their research on the theme of humour
in visual culture. We encourage submissions on a broad range of subjects -
political, philosophical, historical, social, literary, art historical -
that investigate humour, satire, and irony in visual media. Possible paper
topics may include, but are not limited to, caricature and cartooning,
vaudeville, humour in performance art, propaganda, and children's book
illustrations.

Each presentation will be 20 minutes long with 10 minutes reserved for
questions and discussion. The sessions of the conference will be chaired
by senior scholars within the Cambridge History of Art department, and
will feature a keynote address by Dr. Robin Simon, editor of \'The British
Art Journal\' and author of \'Hogarth, France & British Art\'.
Additionally, Dr. Dean Mobbs, a post-doctoral fellow in Cognitive and
Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, will present an
introductory lecture on how the mind processes humour and laughter.

Please submit a 300-word abstract and CV as Word document attachments, to
CambridgeArtHistoryConferencegooglemail.com by 20 November, 2009.

If you have any questions, please contact Susanna Berger or Galina
Mardilovich at CambridgeArtHistoryConferencegooglemail.com.