Materials of Persuasion
Bard Graduate Center, New York
April 23, 2010

Few persons are capable of being convinced; the majority allow
themselves to be persuaded.
Goethe

I'm in the persuasion business, and frankly I'm disappointed by your
presentation.
Peggy Olson, Mad Men

Critics passing judgment, clergy seeking converts, advertisers selling
products, and politicians running for office are all in the persuasion
business. Persuasion is the key to the art of rhetoric, but there has
always been a material dimension to persuasion as well.

Objects are vehicles of persuasion. We are persuaded to purchase and
consume objects, and we use them to persuade others, to mediate the
identities we put forth, and our interactions with each other. The
roles of persuasive objects change over time as they pass from hand to
hand. The mutable relationships between material objects, people, and
desire are powerful, tantalizing subjects of study. So how does
persuasion factor into these fluid equations
Makers, buyers, and
users all have unique perspectives on the art of persuasion, as well
as unspoken intentions that are constantly at work beneath the
surface. Some of these intentions may be deceptive - persuasion can
have a dark side. Finally, persuasion rests upon various types of
evidence - what must we see in order to believe

We invite scholars from diverse fields to explore these issues - come,
and be persuasive.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

- Marketing, advertising, and the mechanics of consumer desire.
- Branding and the elevation of the status symbol: What's in a name

- The continuum of authenticity: Influences, appropriations, copies,
knock-offs and forgeries.
- Persuasive scholarship: methodologies, authorial tone, and the use
of revealed/suppressed information.
- Surface treatments: Gilding, varnishing, veneering, trompe l'oeil
and faux materiality.
- The toolbox of persuasion: Emotion, rationalism, the hard sell,
manipulation, and deceit.

The conference will take place on April 23, 2010, at the Bard Graduate
Center in New York City. Those interested in submitting papers for
consideration should contact gradsympbgc.edu. Please include the
title and a 250-word abstract of your paper topic, as well as a CV
that includes your contact information and email address. Please send
your submission no later than Friday, January 29, 2010. Accepted
speakers will be notified in February.