In Between and Across: New Directions, Mappings and Contact Zones

Extended Deadline: 20 February 2022

 

Venue 

Trinity College, Dublin: Arts Building and Long Room Hub 

 

Dates 

 1-2-3 September 2022 

 

Organising Committee 

Prof Clodagh Brook (TCD), Dr Cecilia Brioni (TCD) 

 

Scientific Council 

Prof Clodagh Brook (TCD), Prof Florian Mussgnug (UCL), Prof Giuliana Pieri (RHUL), Dr Marco Bellardi (TCD), Dr Cecilia Brioni (TCD), Dr Eleonora Lima (TCD), Dr Adele Bardazzi (TCD), Dr Emanuela Patti (University of Edinburgh) 

 

Partners 

Trinity College Dublin, University College London, Royal Holloway, //InterdisciplinaryItaly 

Sponsored by:

Bord Fáilte Éireann (https://www.meetinireland.com/)

 

Keynote addresses 

The conference will showcase 3 keynote addresses by:  

• Nicola Camerlenghi, Associate Professor, Dartmouth College. 
• Ravi Sundaram, Professor, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. 
• 3rd Keynote Speaker TBC

 

Conference Description 

The 6th conference of the International Society for Intermedial Studies focuses on concepts of ‘inbetweenness’ and ‘moving across’. These two spatial metaphors capture the tension between stasis and fluidity that underlies all intermediality. The need to map these shifting spaces, to chart directions, and to see where, and how, these inbetween zones connect to other neighbouring spaces has become critical. Intermedial ‘inbetweenness’ is now a mainstream, rather than marginal, phenomenon, and, as academic disciplines themselves become more fluid, this is an exciting time to explore and re-explore this territory together during this conference.  

We invite contributions in the following categories. The proposed questions are meant to be indicative rather than exhaustive.  

Inbetween and across disciplines  

Concepts of ‘inbetweenness’ and ‘moving across’ have significant implications for the disciplinary construction of knowledge. The study of intermediality per se is relatively recent and has close affinities to interart, semiotics, aesthetics, transmedia storytelling, cognitive studies, post-phenomenology, and so on.  

• Is, or should, intermediality be an essentially self-enclosed discipline, striving to grow within its own borders and strengthening its grounds – or is, or should, intermediality develop as a field of research that collaborates with, and infiltrates, other disciplines? 
• What are intermediality’s most important past, present and future neighboring areas of research? What have we learned from them, how can or should we deal with them? What would the consequences be?  
• What could we learn from advances in interdisciplinary research and teaching methodologies? 
• How does research into intermediality connect with the world outside academia? What impact can it have? What benefits might it bring?  

Inbetween and across geographies, ecologies and cultures  

Discussions of transnationalism – in comparative literature and, more generally, across the arts and humanities – tend to foreground what Steven Vertovek has described as the “fluidity of constructed styles and practices: syncretism, creolization, bricolage, cultural translation and hybridity” (S. Vertovec, 2009).  Intermediality and transnationalism have concurrently looked at questions of ‘across’ and exploring the links between intermediality and local, national, transnational or global processes is the aim of this category. 

• What is the relationship between intermediality and transnationalism, and how does it work in practice?  
• How does intermediality affect local/national/global industries?  
• How does it affect the representation of local/national/global communities? 
• What role has intermediality to play in thinking about the relationships between the human and the more-than-human? 

Inbetween and across arts 

An increasing number of art works are hybrid. Researching artistic objects and art practices that lie in between categories presents its challenges. They are less commonly explored by academic researchers because of their position in the ‘contact zone’ (Mary Louise Pratt, 1991) between different fields of enquiry, media and materials, and epistemological frameworks. Intermediality provides some of the tools to approach them.  

• What happens when arts and media cross previously established boundaries?  
• How does this border-crossing affect creativity?  
• What is the relationship between site-specific artistic practices and artistic inbetweenness? 

• Do works of art in a ‘contact zone’ create new stable and established forms?  
• How do we study new forms of creativity across the arts? Why? Or why not? 
• What is the role of disciplines and disciplinary methodologies in the way we conceptualize such interactions?  

Inbetween and across technologies 

The advent of digital media has produced a multiplication of media platforms, formats and institutions which are increasingly in dialogue between one another. As a result, representations, narratives, artists and celebrities now frequently circulate between different media. Exploring the technological processes behind these intermedial practices, as well as the production, distribution and reception of content by audiences is a significant part of the work of intermedial scholarship.  

• How does intermediality help us understand the dialogical relationship between ‘old’ (e.g. cinema, television) and ‘new’ media (e.g. social media and streaming platforms) in terms of the mutual influencing of formats, genres, texts, stars, advertising, etc.? How are texts and modalities of representation adapted within different media, or remediated? 
• How can technology help us secure the accessibility, presentation, and circulation of cultural texts? 
• In the last few years, there have been several attempts to apply AI systems to artistic and cultural production. What kind of intermediality emerges when the creative agency is shared with a non-human subject?  
• Institutional intermediality has produced processes of ‘concentration, conglomeration and convergence’ in contemporary media (Jensen, 2016). In practice, how does intermediality impact the media industries’ organization, financing, and regulation practices? 
• How does intermediality affect the audience reception of media products, in terms of participation and access?  

• What are the benefits and disadvantages of the increasing availability of digital cultural experiences? Is digital access to cultural products a privilege, or does it produce a second-class audience made up of people who cannot afford in-person cultural experiences? 

 

Submitting proposals  

We invite members to organise panels that approach intermediality through an interdisciplinary lens and represent a wide range of interests and perspectives. We encourage the submission of complete panels, i.e. three or four speakers and a chair. In order to assemble panels, feel free to use the ‘Conference Participants Forum’ on the ISIS website to connect with others working on similar topics. We have provided a longer timeframe for submission of panels to allow delegates sufficient time to put them together.   

We also accept individual paper submissions. These will be placed into themed panels by the conference organisers.  

Finally, we will be having a limited number of workshops/round tables during the conference.   

All presentations will be 20 minutes long followed by 10 minutes of questions and debate. 

The deadline for panel submissions is 20 February  2022. Panel proposals should include the names of all speakers, their university affiliation (if applicable), the title of the panel and of each of its papers. The panel submission must also include an abstract describing the panel’s aims and research questions, of no more than 300 words. Individual paper abstracts for each panel of 300 words must be submitted by the deadline for papers (February 20). 

The deadline for paper submissions is 20 February 2022. Paper proposals should include the name of the speaker, their university affiliation (if applicable), a short bio (150 words max), the title of the paper, and an abstract of not more than 300 words. 

The deadline for round tables and workshops is 20 February 2022. Roundtables and workshops are thought of as interactive sessions normally organised by research networks or research groups to showcase their work using original formats. They will be 90 minutes long and their structure and number of speakers/facilitators is open to what is more suitable for each proposal.  Proposals should include the name of the speakers, their university affiliation (if applicable), the title of the workshop/roundtable, and an abstract providing the rationale, significance and research questions of not more than 500 words, and the participants’ short bio or a few lines about the research group/network, if the workshop/roundtable is being organised by a research group/network.

Notification of acceptance will be communicated on 15 March 2022.  

More details of how to submit proposals and papers can be found here.

Please note that we strongly support diversity and inclusivity in panel discussions. Check here the conference’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.  

All proposals should be sent to the e-mail address intermedialconference2022@tcd.ie  

  

Conference fees, Registration and Accommodation 

 Updated news about Conference registration, Conference fees, bursaries and accommodation options will be available shortly.