The Call for Papers is open for The Tag Conference Vienna 2025, hosted by the Literature Museum at the Austrian National Library and Bezirksmuseum Mariahilf. The event includes lectures and readings, as well as exhibitions and guided tours into lesser-known Vienna.

Now in its ninth year, the travelling Tag Conference continues to spearhead and deepen the study of tagging, a pivotal yet often overlooked form of public art. This Vienna instalment is produced in partnership with Kyselakproject and Spraycity.at.

The conference will be held in English.

THE UNSUNG TAGS OF THE ROMANTIC ERA

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Joseph Kyselak’s iconic journey across the Alps, this instalment of the conference lays a special focus on the rich legacy of public name-writing in Romantic times.

Kyselak, a Vienna-born civil servant, was a pioneer in the exploration of natural landscapes. The many marks he left along his travels made him a legend in Austria and established him as the foremost trailblazer of modern-day graffiti.

Yet Kyselak was far from the only tagger of his time. From the Romantic period onwards, inscribing one’s name on ancient ruins was commonplace among pioneering leisure travellers, as evidenced by the layers of autographs that survive to this day — including those of Byron and Rimbaud.

This wave of public name-writing marked the first widespread graffiti craze in modern Western history, and can be seen as a direct precursor to today’s tagging.

While especially interested in name-writing from Romantic times, this call welcomes submissions on tagging from all eras, including today.

The Tag Conference thus continues its long-standing goal of fostering dialogue between the scholarly spheres of historical and contemporary graffiti.

Participation in the conference is free. This call explicitly encourages applications from non-scholars.

Abstract Submission:
Send your applications to thetagconferencegmail.com.
Deadline: 2 June 2025.

Submissions must include an abstract of no more than 1,500 characters, links to related research, a brief description of the author’s research background, and a few low-resolution images (under 5MB total) illustrating the subject.

Abstracts must be written in English. Presentations will also be delivered in English. Each presentation will be allocated 30 minutes, including time for Q&A.

Alternative presentation formats — such as panel debates, artist discussions, photography or video — will be considered. Remote presentations will only be considered under special circumstances.

The organisers are unable to cover travel or accommodation expenses for applicants to the Call for Papers.

Accepted abstracts will be announced by 16 June 2025.

https://thetagconference.com/

https://thetagconference.com/vienna-2025-cfp/