CALL FOR PAPERS

Bergson and His Postmodern and Immanent Legacies
A conference to be held at The Courtauld Institute of Art

Friday 25 and Saturday 26 February 2011

Confirmed Speakers: Howard Caygill (Goldsmiths University of London),
Laura Cull (Northumbria University), John Mullarkey (Kingston
University), David Cunningham (University of Westminster)

In the past two decades there has been a resurgence of interest in
Henri Bergson?s work in various areas of philosophy and cultural
studies, in part stimulated by the growing popularity of recent writers
who have addressed his thought. There is now a large critical body of
material relating to these fields, especially ones connected to the
neo-Bergsonism of Gilles Deleuze. This conference seeks to address the
timeliness of Bergson?s writing for contemporary thought on the immanent
categories of rhythmic duration, perception, affectivity, the body,
memory, and intuition.

This ?Bergsonian Turn? also reflects larger movements. The cultural and
economic chastening of society in the past year may be understood in
relation to a general realisation of its unsustainability, but to what
extent might a turn away from circuitous histories to the material
object be related to this shift? Questioning the validity of history can
arguably be understood as a defence against the unrepresentational
nature of our recent past.

Concomitantly, since 1988 contemporary French thinking has been
distinguished for its interest in immanence, in particular in the work
of Alain Badiou, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Henry, Francois Laruelle, and
Michel Serres. In concluding remarks in an anthology of critical texts
published in 2005, Jae Emerling likewise noted the rich potential for an
immanent turn in Art History. Yet despite Emmerling?s notice, few have
attempted to integrate this philosophical shift into art historical or
art critical practice.

The intention of this conference is also, therefore, to stimulate
reflection upon this shift in philosophy towards the Bergsonian paradigm
of immanence and to encourage responses to it from art historians. Does
it give a new method through which to approach the subjects of our
writing? What does Deleuze?s writing on Francis Bacon, Henry?s writing
on Kandinsky, or Serres? writing on Bonnard add to art historical
discourse? How do we assimilate these cross-disciplinary texts into our
own practice ? both in research and in teaching within the institution?
What might we lose by pursuing such alternative avenues for
interpretation? Lastly, what does this return to the immanent, to matter
as movement, and to its affect upon the viewer say of contemporary
culture more broadly?

Themes may include but are not restricted to:

- art and its conceptualisation
- materiality
- visualisation of thought
- representation
- unresolved loss in culture
- historicity
- writing on art

Abstracts of 250 words are invited for 20 minute papers. Proposals
should be sent to Charlotte.Demillecourtauld.ac.uk by 31st October 2010.