[Please pay attention to the changed contact address!]

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.bard.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. The Graduate Student Symposium Committee
The Bard Graduate Center for Studies
in the Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture
18 West 86th Street
New York, New York 10024