Working Wonder Conference

Wonder has always been understood as a place outside of the familiar
cultural framework. It has been linked to the fascination of change, the
coincidence of oppositions, often placed at the threshold between
aesthetic and scientific realms. The wondrous object becomes therefore
not only the carrier of the inexplicable, but moreover exposes our
relationship to the alien, enigmatic and perplexing. Recent scholarship
has been focused on a variety of topics ranging from shifting aspects of
curiosity and wonder (Benedict 2001), discursive qualities of the
curiosity cabinet (Kenny 2004; Daston and Park 2001) the stability of
the frame of wonder chamber (Stafford and Terpak, 2001), the
destabilising effect of wonder on established norms (Platt 1999) and
wonder within digital media (Gehl 2009; Beardon and Malmborg 2002;
Buscher 1999 and others).

Wonder cabinets firmly establish the position of the subject, for whom
the view was constituted, reaffirming the relationship between the
object and the viewer. It is this scopic regime, which has the potential
to enthral and transfix us, which shall be explored here. To what extent
can wonder be seen as intense level of attention and as a 'possibility
of a fixation, of beholding something in wonder or contemplation, in
which the attentive subject is both immobile and ungrounded' (Crary
2000, 10).

A plethora of recent exhibitions underline the urgency of Wonder within
contemporary visual art (MOMA Wunderkammer, 2008; Getty Institute
Devices of Wonder, 2002, NGCA Wonders of the Visible World, 2012;
Hayward Touring: Curiosity: Art and The Pleasures of Knowing, 2013).

This conference sets out to investigate the circumstances and
motivations for the re-emergence of wonder in contemporary artistic
practice and discourse. How do artists deal in their practice with
fixation and the levels of attention often referred to as Wonder. The
conference provides a platform for cross-disciplinary debate and the
presentation of new practice-led research.

Venue: Fine Art Department, Newcastle University, UK


Programme

09.15-09.45
Registration and Coffee
09.45-10.00
Welcome
Irene Brown, Newcastle University, UK
Dr Christian Mieves, University of Wolverhampton, UK

Keynote
10.00-10.30
Keynote Speaker: Jane Wildgoose, Independent Curator, Writer and
Researcher


Session 1

10.30-11.50
Anne Hilker Sack, Parsons School for Design, New York
Toward an Archaeology of Wonder: the Case of the Snow Globe

Runette Kruger, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
Wonder, subversion and newness

Emma Hughes, University of Victoria, Canada
Absence of Wonders: Descriptions and Observations of Objects within
Catalogues of the Royal Society and its Fellows

Laura Kuch, Artist, Germany and UK
Wunderkammer of the now – Romanticising as a contemporary fine art
practice

11.50-12.10
Break


Session 2

12.10-01.30
Michaela French, University of Hertfordshire, UK
Light and the Experience of Wonder

Martin Griffiths, Artist, UK
Wonder and its role in contemporary creative practice

Dr Carla Cesare, Columbus College of Art & Design, Ohio, USA
Forms of Wonder: theorizing the cabinet of curiosities

Dawn Felicia Knox, Artist and Curator, UK
Returning to the Philosophers' Table

01.30-02.30
Break


Session 3

02.30-03.50
Dr Pippa Little, Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick, Ireland
The paradox of fascination and fixation: a qualitative exploration of
the artistic cycle

Michelle Rheeston-Humphreys and Dr. Katrinka Wilson, (h)edge kelektiv,
UK
Paradoxical Realism: Liminality Encountered Through Illustionistic
Practices

Alison Dalwood, University of Hertfordshire, UK and Artbetween.org

Dr Shirley Chubb, University of Chichester, UK
One Hour: visual practice exploring a collective history

03.50-04.10
Break


Session4

04.10-05.50
Rachel Mcdermott, independent Researcher, Newcastle, UK
How many things can begin with ten points in space?

Dr Celina Jeffery, University of Ottawa, Canada
Preternatural: Curating Wonder

Dr Brain Degger, Independent Artist Researcher, UK
Microcosms, Microscopes and 'Getting your Eye in'

Chris McHugh, University of Sunderland, UK
Articulating Wonder and Context: Ceramics and Museum Engagement

Dr Will Buckingham, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Wonder and Weird tools: Divining the Donkey-Rat


Plenary
05.50-06.30
Plenary


07.00-08.00
Exhibition Opening, Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle

from 08.00
Conference Dinner


Contact:
Irene Brown, Dr Christian Mieves
E-mail: wonder.conferencencl.ac.uk
http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/wonderconference/

Fees:
£25 (full), £10 (Student)