PhD Conference - Call for Papers

INTERACTIVITY/INTERPASSIVITY

20^th – 21^st June 2013

5^th Annual Research Student Conference in Art & Design
Centre for Art, Design, Research and Experimentation
University of Wolverhampton

Interactivity can be defined as communication between two humans and/or artefacts, forces acting upon or in close relation with each other or, more critically, the displacement of activity onto another while the subject remains passive. Conversely, in such a setting, interpassivity can be defined by the displacement of the subject’s passivity onto another, whereby the role of audience is occupied by the object or performer itself. The relations between art object or performance and audience can thus be seen as a mediation between interactivity and interpassivity, whereby the manner of engagement becomes a negotiation of the very nature of participation.

This two day interdisciplinary conference for postgraduate researchers will explore the ways in which interactivity and/or interpassivity occur, intersect and mediate within and between disciplines. The conference seeks to locate interactivity and interpassivity in a variety of media to both confront notions of engagement, relationality and aesthetics and expose the role of the art object or performance occurrence in producing and utilising interactivity and interpassivity. This will foster a discussion of issues that are fundamental to the research of creative practitioners and theorists across the boundaries of artistic medium or academic discipline.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

Locations of activity within a given discipline
Mediation and passivity in the role of the object/performer
Narratives of relationality in the social engagement of art
Transference and objecthood within current research/practice
Dynamics of subjectivity in historical perspectives of interactivity/interpassivity

Please send abstracts of 250 words to cadre@wlv.ac.uk by 6^th May 2013.

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Proposals are invited for art works in any medium and from any discipline for inclusion in an exhibition and performance event to accompany the conference. Artworks should address the conference theme of interactivity and/or interpassivity. The curators are especially interested in works that participate in practice-as-research or practice-led research.

Proposals will be considered for inclusion not only on artistic, thematic and theoretical grounds but also with consideration of practical and logistical factors. Artists submitting expressions of interest received by the deadline will then enter into a conversation with exhibition organisers to accommodate proposed ideas.

Please send expressions of interest that include a description of the proposed work and how it addresses the conference themes in no more than 250 words to cadre@wlv.ac.uk. Representative images and/or videos (including web links) are encouraged. Deadline 6^th May 2013.

CADRE is formed of five research groups, working in theory and practice-based research across a range of media:

Art, Critique & Social Practice
Communication and Pedagogy
Creative Processes in the Performing Arts
Digital Theory, Technology & Practice
Material and Theoretical Practice

Now in its 5^th year, this annual conference is intended as a forum for discussion, an exploration of the diversity of current PhD research and a facilitation of networking and exchange amongst PhD students in Art, Design, Craft, Performance and Social and Critical Theory.

For further information please visit: http://phdconference.wordpress.com/