[1] CALL FOR PAPERS: Making Do – Materiality in the Conceptual Age

The emergence of conceptual art in the United States and post-war Europe marked the most radical change of paradigm since Marcel Duchamp’s ready-made. Advocating the ‘dematerialization’ of the art object and a redefinition of art as a (self-) questioning language, conceptualism challenged received ideas about the production and circulation of artworks. Over recent years, a large body of research has examined the development of conceptual practices in so-called ‘peripheral’ regions, such as Eastern Europe and Latin America, and the ways in which they responded to the double imperative of resisting the cultural hegemony of the West/North and opposing authoritarian regimes. Yet the articulation of conceptualism as a critical category deserves further attention.

This panel seeks to re-examine conceptualism in the light of that which it has tended to negate: materiality. Pertaining to the artwork’s physical existence, as well as to its ability to trigger an embodied relation with the audience, a reconsideration of materiality in conceptual art raises questions about the historical conditions of artistic production and the roles of gender and space within this practice. What does materiality tell us about a conceptual piece? How are the material and conceptual intertwined? How do different media involved in conceptual art approach and treat matter? Is there such a thing as a ‘return’ of materiality in the post-conceptual age? How are these notions deployed institutionally? The panel will assess the importance of exploring the interrelations of conceptualism and materiality, and encourage comparison and dialogue between different regions and timeframes.

If you would like to offer a paper, please email Sophie Halart sophie.halart.10ucl.ac.uk and Mara Polgovsky Ezcurra mp592cam.ac.uk, providing an abstract of a proposed paper. Abstracts should not be longer than 250 words and include your name and institution (if any).
Deadline for submissions: 11th November 2013

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[2] CALL FOR PAPERS: Expanded Photography
Session Chair: Dr. Lucy Soutter, The Royal College of Art

Contemporary artists are transforming our understanding of photography by combining it with other forms and activities. Many recent works incorporating photography have material or spatial aspects, overlapping with painting, sculpture, installation or architecture. Others emphasize action or the passage of time, combining photography with elements of moving image, performance or audience participation. Digital technology provides yet further hybrid manifestations of photography within art. While many such works have roots in the conceptual art of the 1960s-70s or in the more recent activities of “new media” there are many that could not have been conceived before the present era. How are we to undertand such practices? What is their relationship to the history of photography and the history of art more broadly?
The panel considers the current extensions of photography within the expanded field of contemporary art. Papers may address questions including: to what extent do contested notions of medium remain useful? Should we follow George Baker in regarding photography as merely one form among others, no longer a destination in itself? Is it productive to consider practices that combine photography with other forms alongside one another, and what might it contribute to our understanding to do so? How do these concerns relate to existing theories of the photographic? What are the implications for the future study of photography? This one-day session will include an introduction by the session chair, 6 talks and a plenary discussion.

Abstracts of less than 250 words may be sent to Lucy Soutter: lucy.soutterrca.ac.uk before 11 November, 2013.
Responses will be sent by 20 November.