Austrian Association for American Studies

AAAS Conference 2010 (37th International Conference): In collaboration with
SANAS (Swiss Association for North American Studies)

THE VISUAL CULTURE OF MODERNISM

Organized by the Department of American Studies, University of Innsbruck,
and the English Department, University of Geneva

Innsbruck
November 12-14, 2010

Call for Papers: download here (.pdf)

With the advent of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the cultural paradigm of seeing underwent a self-reflexive turn and generated new ways of perceiving, experiencing, and thinking. A landslide of innovations in material and media culture brought about new means of transportation and distribution, communication and social interaction, as well as new methods of representation and reproduction. Consequently, the visual received multilayered attention in innovative artistic expression, reading, and theorizing.

This conference attempts to trace manifestations of novel and self-reflexive approaches to the visual in the core disciplines of American studies. Possible areas of investigation include, but are not limited to:

Film:
intermedial negotiations with literature, painting, sound, music, writing
Literature:
filmic writing, camera eye, concrete poetry, illustrations
Advertising:
film posters, dust jackets of books, blurbs, trailers, window shopping
History:
documentaries, history film, newsreels
Politics:
propaganda film, visual rhetoric, newspapers
Popular Culture:
sensationalism, fairground attractions, expositions, vaudeville
Science:
medical museums, scientific imaging and its popularizations
Ethnography and Geography:
ethnographic photography and film
Minorities:
minority art and cinema, politics of ethnic display
Gender:
shaping and visualizing gender identities, gendered gaze, voyeurism
Art History:
abstract painting, art film, animation, design, landscape photography
Architecture and Urban Studies:
department store, public art, urban landscaping

Contributions:

Conference contributions should address issues of American modernist culture with respect to visual self-reflection. Examples of visual consciousness can manifest themselves in cultural and artistic productions as well as in the theoretical discourses of specific disciplines within American studies. The conference also welcomes papers that explore the legacy of modernism in contemporary visual culture.

Organization:

The conference will be jointly organized by the Swiss Association for North American Studies (represented by Deborah Madsen, University of Geneva) and the Austrian Association for American Studies (represented by Mario Klarer and Cornelia Klecker, University of Innsbruck). The keynote lectures and various panels will be held in seminar rooms and lecture halls at the Geiwi-Tower and the conference opening in the old rooms of the Theology Faculty of the University of Innsbruck.

Keynote speakers:

As keynote speakers, we have already been able to win:

Elisabeth Bronfen
Professor of English and American Literature at the University of Zurich
Tom Gunning
Professor and Chair of the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago
Edward Branigan
Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara

Graduate Student Forum:

In order to integrate students, we will organize graduate student forums as a section of the conference program and, as usual, the Fulbright Prize will also be awarded. The conference proceedings are intended to be published in SPELL with Deborah Madsen and Mario Klarer as editors.

Contact:

Proposals for entire panels are more than welcome. For paper proposals, please send your abstract (300-500 words) and a short scholarly biography (in one file) by May 3rd, 2010, to Cornelia Klecker at:

cornelia.klecker@uibk.ac.at

AAAS and SANAS Conference 2010
Department of American Studies
University of Innsbruck
Innrain 52
A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
Tel: +43 512 507 4171 (Secretary’s Office)