[Discussion] CFP: Cultures, Art, & Time (2/16/05; 10/12/05-10/15/05)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

Call for Papers, Presentations, and Performances


The Center for the Arts in Society at Carnegie Mellon University
announces an interdisciplinary, international conference on
(Im)permanence: Cultures in/out of Time scheduled for October 12-15,
2005. This conference will bring together practicing artists in the
visual and performing arts, scholars in the humanities, and experts in
together with curators and experts in arts preservation to address the
relationship between art and time. Issues will be addressed in papers,
exhibits, artistic productions, and informal performances, with the goal
of achieving lively dialogue across disciplines, cultures, and media.


The conference will have four broad areas of inquiry:

I. Permanence/Impermanence: Much of twentieth- and twenty-first-century
art questions the notion of permanence and celebrates art=92s transience
and impermanence. If modernism implies a break with the permanence
enshrined by tradition, the movement also recalls earlier moments of
rebellion leading to radical revisions in aesthetic and cultural
assumptions.  Questions under this topic include:
=95 If art is presumed to be lasting, what constitutes duration?
=95 Does the notion of  =93authenticity=94 imply a particular mode of
production or of preservation?
=95 Under what circumstances does an artist or a group choose transience
rather than permanence in its artistic expression?
=95 How far do art works and cultural expressions address the unknown and
the future, reconceptualizing =93time=94 altogether?

II. The creation and curation of ephemera: At the same time that many
contemporary artists celebrate the notion of the ephemeral, curatorship
is invested in the ethic of permanence. The ethic may not be shared by
conservators or by the consumers of art in any of its forms. Questions
under this topic include:
=95 What are the differences between creating and curating an =93eternal=94
object and an object made to disappear?
=95 Does it violate the spirit of performance art, process art, or
self-destroying art to render these permanent through documentation?
=95 Does the notion of curation or preservation contradict the essence of
such an ephemeral object?
=95 What dilemmas do creators and curators face, given the ravages of tim=
e
and, simultaneously, the development of new technological responses to
erosion, cracking, fading, and so forth?

III. What is cultural continuity? In preliterate cultures, continuity of
identity and custom was preserved through memorization, ritual
performance, drawing, and the persistence of objects in the social and
natural environment. Literate cultures have increasingly understood
continuity as the fixation of words on paper or in other reproducible
media. Changes in technology (such as photography and film) can change
the meaning of the past, and preservation can privilege the past over
the present. Questions for this topic include:
=95 How do creators, conservators, historians, spectators, and audiences
understand =93continuity?=94
=95 Are there differences between the continuity of an individual artwork
and the continuity of a cultural monument--or of an entire culture?
=95 Is =93popular culture=94 a distinct source of continuity?

IV. Conflicts about Preservation: While some groups proclaim an ethic of
preserving cultural heritages, others assert the right to destroy them
or preserve them selectively. Museums around the world preserve objects
that indigenous cultures claim as their own possessions and indeed
consider sacred. Tourist and ethnic minority agencies preserve folk
music and local costume but in the process simplify religious meanings.
  These developments raise provocative questions:
=95 On what grounds do certain groups claim the right to preserve or
destroy certain objects?
=95 What priorities do global bodies and local governments uphold in
preservation issues and with what unanticipated results?
=95 What incidental factors (war, natural disaster, and so forth) and
legal or trade arrangements impinge upon notions of
permanence/impermanence?
=95 Who controls cultural time?


All submissions will be judged on the basis of their contribution to the
main theme of the Conference, and will be evaluated by experts in the
field. One-page proposals in English should be sent by February 16, 2005 =
to:

Dr. Judith Schachter, Director
Center for the Arts in Society
History Department--240 Baker Hall
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890


Presenters will be notified in late March 2005 about the committee=92s
selection of abstracts and panels. Selected conference papers and
presentations will be published in a volume and distributed
electronically (early 2007). (Im)permanence: Cultures in/out of time is
not only a conference but also will be an artistic presence in the city
of Pittsburgh. Theatrical performances, musical events, and artistic
exhibitions are being planned to coincide with the conference.
Information about conference registration, hotel accommodations, and
tickets for cultural events will be sent to all presenters by August 2005=
.


For conference and further information about the Center for the Arts in
Society, please go to the website: http://www.hss.cmu.edu/cas



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