LabforCulture - All recently added items

Valentin Magaro - Carlos Silva // 22.06. bis 09.07.2013

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:46:27 GMT

Vernissage: Freitag, 21.06.2013 ab 18 Uhr

Artist Talk mit Dr. Kai Lorenz: Samstag, 06.07.2013 um 18 Uhr

Valentin Magaro stellt im Pavillon am Milchhof aus, Carlos Silva in seinem Atelier im Milchhof.

VALENTIN MAGARO (*1972) schloss 1996 sein Studium als wissenschaftlicher Zeichner an
der Schule für Gestaltung in Zürich ab. Seither baut er ein komplexes künstlerisches Werk auf,
welches sich vorwiegend im Bereich Malerei, Zeichnung und Objekt bewegt.

Im Herbst 2012 war er auf Einladung des Art Kapital Verlags für zwei Monate Gast in der artist-
in-residency der Ateliergemeinschaft Milchhof.
Während seines Aufenthalts entstanden 60 Zeichnungen in verschiedenen Techniken, meist
im Format A3, die Fiktionalität und Perfektionismus im Detail verbinden und die nun – über den
Zwischenschritt mehrerer zeichnerische Kompositionsentwürfe im Format A2 – in großformatige,
komplexe Malereien umgesetzt wurden und vom 21. Juni bis zum 09. Juli 2013 im Pavillon am
Milchhof erstmals der Öffentlichkeit präsentiert werden.

www.valentinmagaro.ch

CARLOS SILVA (*1971) studierte in Bogotá freie Kunst und Architektur, arbeitete von 1998-2001
im Kulturhaus El Edificio in Bogotá im Bereich Grafik + Design und lebt seit 1999 als freier Künstler
in Berlin. Seit 2001 ist er Mitglied der Ateliergemeinschaft Milchhof e.V. in Berlin.

Sein Interesse gilt der Stadt als Organismus. Er konzentriert sich auf die Darstellung der Stadt-
landschaft, der Dynamik in diesem Gebilde und des architektonischen Wandlungsprozesses Berlins
mit dem ständigen Nebeneinander von Aufbau und Zerstörung. Seine Arbeiten beschreiben die
Berliner Brachflächen und das Erscheinen neuer Strukturen, die immer wieder eine Neukomposition
des Stadtbildes ergeben.
Farbige Isolierbände dienen sowohl als zeichnerisches wie auch malerisches Mittel.

www.carlossilva.org
www.design201.de
www.superbien.de
www.milchhof-berlin.de

_______________________________________________________________________

Pavillon am Milchhof
Schwedter Str. 232
10435 Berlin

www.milchhofpavillon.de
pavillon@milchhof-berlin.de

030-50592338

Bechyne Summer Residency 13th-21st July, Czech Republic

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:29:11 GMT

We will be holding our 5th, 8 day summer residency program in the historical Franciscan Monastery, in the Bohemian region of the Czech Republic from the 13th -21st July

We will use a synthesis of forms including elements from Contact Impro, Tango, Martial Arts, Voice & Movement and Physical Theatre. The theme this year is Ecology and the Body, how do principles of ecology relate to the body. Why are ecological principles important in these changing times, how can we embody these structures in a creative and transformative way.

More info: facebook, website

Under The Influence - 60|40 Starting point series: Manifold

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 11:53:22 GMT

Peers 2013 @ Khoj Studios from June 19, 2013 till June 21, 2013

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:38:15 GMT

Khoj International Artists’ Association presents Peers 2013, bringing together artworks by five recent art graduates and post graduates from all over India at Khoj Studios, S-17, Khirkee Extension, New Delhi from June 19, 2013 to June 21, 2013, 11 a.m to 7 p.m.Phone @ 65655874.

This is the tenth edition of the Peers Residency which is an annual education and outreach residency programme that brings together five recent graduates from art institutions all over India. For four weeks, these young artists shed the expectations and rigidity of a structured curriculum, working together in a discursive space that stresses the role of free experimentation and risk-taking in art practice.

Says Pooja Sood, Director, Khoj: “Ever since its inception, the Peers residency has become one of the most important programmes at Khoj. Khoj provides digital laboratories, extensive research archives and the opportunity to engage with a larger artists’ community, some of whom participate in a mentor’s role during the residency. The Peers artists are encouraged to move out of the physical environs of the studios and explore the area and its community”.”

The artists for the PEERS 2013 residency are Juhikadevi Bhanjdeo, Pratik Bhattacharya, Parag Sonarghare, Sashi Thavudoz and Niyati Upadhya. The critic in residence for the PEERS 2013 residency is Shaheen Ahmed.

Says Shaheen Ahmed, critic in residence for Khoj Peers 2013: “The five young contemporary artistes at the Peers Residency have been involved in an intimate engagement with various elements such as identity, personal politics and of course the cityscape. Parag Sonarghare is engaging in a dialogue with an inanimate object like wheat flour (atta) for a sustained period of ten days whereby the identities of two diametrically polar opposites have become extremely fluid. Here one doesn’t know where one is an extension of the other. Niyati Upadhya has carried forward her negotiations with the subaltern city spaces by her work with the street performers in the Shadipur Depot and the constant engagement that she has had living in Khirki Village. Pratik Bhattacharya has titled his work as ‘Presence of Absence’ which is a strong commentary on the state of being of a citizen in a city like Delhi and questions the presence and state of the voice of the citizens in a milieu whereby politics seem to dominate the everyday. Shashi Thavudoz again questions the state of urban living trying to make a rupture into the ‘organised chaos’ of the cityscape. His is an attempt to question the boxed state of being that has come to signify what city life is. Juhikadevi Bhanjdeo is working with two distinctly different materials – synthetic ribbons and steel blades. But however she is building in a sense of uniformity between these two different materials through the usage of the color white. Her work which also talks about scale and spatiality is her dialog with the gender issues which is a major social phenomenon in Delhi.”

Juhikadevi Bhanjdeo has received both her BVA and MVA from the M.S. University in Baroda. She has been part of several group shows, including the Red Earth gallery in Vadodara and was an artist-in-residence in the Glenfidditch residency in Dufftown in Scotland. Although she was formally trained in painting, she actively experiments with fabric and installations.

Pratik Bhattacharya was born in 1988. He did his graduation & post graduation in the field of painting from Kala-Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, in 2010 and 2012 respectively. He received a National scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India in painting in 2011. His practice actively makes use of a variety of media including painting, multimedia & interactive installation. He has participated in several exhibitions, workshops and art camps throughout the country including the National Camp at Sillon in Feb 2011, organized by Lalit Kala Academy and the Pune Biennale in January 2013.

Sashi Thavudoz was born in Hyderabad, and has received his Bachelors and Masters in Visual Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda. Thavudoz’s interest in the arts began with drawing, the medium through which he began his explorations with form and space. Through his experiments with drawing, he has evolved a minimal and monochromatic aesthetic but has ventured into experiments with a variety of materials and mediums.

Niyati Upadhya graduated with a degree in visual arts from Rachana Sansad, Mumbai. Though formally trained as a sculptor, she has repeatedly found herself turning to photography as a chief mode of expression. Since her graduation, she has spent close to two years travelling and working on a variety of projects (both individual and for clients) that have evolved out of her practice at art school. Having grown up in a home of artists, musicians and other inclined to creative pursuits, a keen sense of observation and curiosity has become second nature, and her most recent preoccupation has been with documenting the ‘professional underbelly’ of the typical Indian city – whether it’s the scrap dealers of Bangalore or the kaan saaf wallahs, ear cleaners, of Bombay. Her curiosity about capturing the murk and quirks of dubious old vocations that lie at the fringes of cities like Mumbai, addressing odd bodily needs, quietly but firmly, finally led her to explore the lives of The Bone Setters and then The Barbers, which forms the main subjects of her current body of work.

Parag Sonarghare has received his BFA in painting from Govt. Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya Nagpur University, Nagpur and an MVA in Art History and Aesthetics from M.S. University in Baroda. Originally from Nagpur, Parag has begun to evolve a practice that explores the crossings and connections between painting and performance.

The critic-in-residence Shaheen Ahmed graduated with a Masters in Arts and Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi in 2012 and has received her under graduation degree in English Literature from Fergusson College, Pune. She also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Broadcast Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She has dabbled with both the print and broadcast forms of journalism, but her interest has always been in arts and culture. Although writing remains her first love, she is beginning to experiment as an arts practitioner. She is interested in using her body in performance, while simultaneously blending it with audio-visuals. A big cinema buff and bibliophile, Shaheen loves sci-fiction books, graphic novels and comics.

Crowdfunding: Shoah Film Collection @ A Virtual Memorial Vilnius 2013

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:29:53 GMT

For the manifestation of
Shoah Film Collection - http://sfc.engad.org
in Lithuania as - A Virtual Memorial Vilnius 2013
http://vilnius2013.a-virtual-memorial.org
23 September - 1 November 2013
standing under the Patronage of the European Parliament

the crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo
http://igg.me/p/434062/x/3589375
needs all your encouragement and support,
not only in financial concern, but your votes and clicks on the campaign page
will be supportive, as well. Please spread the word.

The introductional video can be also reviewed on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com/68036770
and YouTube
http://youtu.be/w2T95Ox6M7w

SFC - Shoah Film Collection is an international media art & peace initiative by the Cologne based media artist and curator Wilfried Agricola de Cologne - addressed to young generations of artists and filmmakers to deal with the topic of Shoah by using new technologies and contemporary approaches in order to keep vivid the collective trauma by sensitizing people via art. The manifestation in Lithuania will place the outstanding collection of meanwhile more than 50 artfilms and videos into complementary interventions like a symposium,lectures, screenings, artists presentations, talks and discussions and much more.

The deadline for the current call for entries
addressed to artists and filmmakers has a new extended deadline - 31 July 2013.
The regulations and entry form can be found on
http://www.nmartproject.net/netex/?p=1549

Links
http://sfc.engad.org/blog/
http://www.agricola-de-cologne.de/blog/
http://avmci.a-virtual-memorial.org

Wilfried Agricola de Cologne

artvideo (at) koeln.de
-------------------------------------------------

Two Open Weeks of Plavo Theatre 2013

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:31:12 GMT

TWO OPEN WEEKS OF PLAVO THEATRE

Belgrade, July 21 – August 3, 2013

Plavo Theatre Laboratory invites professional and semi-professional actors, directors and other theatre artists as well as theatre students and other people who are interested in theatre to participate in our program Two Open Weeks of Plavo Theatre.

Two Open Weeks of Plavo Theatre is an opportunity to meet with our work through series of events: theatre workshops, performances, presentations, demonstrations, lectures, meetings, video presentations. Program will be divided in two parts, in two workshops, and participants will have the opportunity to participate in the workshop they chose or in the whole program.

During the program our aim is to share with participants our idea of theatre as a place of self-researching, place of communication, space of open mind where some important things about ourselves and the world that surrounds us could be said.

During Two Open Weeks participants will be introduced to Plavo Theatre methodology of work developed through years, which relies on laboratory theatre tradition and on human experience. This methodology puts into the background talent and artistic exhibitionism not only of actor but anyone who works in theatre and instead it puts forth inner, organic life of an individual which becomes a field of research and improvement.

July 21 – 27, 2013 Workshop Dance of Memory, led by Maša Jelić, actress of Plavo theatre. The workshop consists of introducing of participants into basic principles of actor's work in laboratory theatre: daily work of actor - training of vocal and physical skill and ability, development of the initiative and active presence, strengthening of the intention, releasing and activating the energy, overcoming individual barriers; working with music, song, text, props and musical instruments; principles of choosing of thematic frame of work - elaboration of personal reason; work on actor's improvisations and creation of actor's materials, which thematic frame will be defined in the course of the workshop; team building exercises.

It is important for participants to know well by hart: a short text (about 5 sentences long) – any text in their native language or in English; text from a favorite part from a favorite book (5 – 10 sentences long) in their native language or in English; a song by participant’s choice.

The work will be held every day from Monday, July 22, to Friday, July 26, from 11:00 – 17:00 with one hour lunch break from 13:30 – 14:30. Special program is planned for Sunday, July 21 and for Saturday, July 27.

July 29 – August 3, 2013 Workshop From Myself towards Theatre, led by Nenad Čolić, Plavo theatre director. Participants will be introduced into ideological principles of work through series of exercises aimed at exploring of the meeting point between theatre and ritual, discovering theatre as a personal space and space of human experience, researching of individual archetypes as precondition for creation. The work aims to reveal possibilities for deeper levels of communication in theatre, emphasising free individual existence inside of specific conditions of theatre as a collective space, by discovering ecstatic capacities of human being and overcoming of personal obstructions, such are fears, shame or prejudices, which burden human communication even in everyday life.

In addition to practical exercises, the work will also consist of lectures, discussions, video presentations of Plavo theatre and contemporary theatre performances and documentaries.

The work will be held every day from Monday, July 29, to Friday, August 2, from 11:00 – 18:00 with one hour lunch break from 14:30 – 15:30. Special program is planned for Saturday, August 3.

Special program:

Sunday, July 21: Presentation of PLAVO theatre performance Ema, inspired by short novel of F. M. Dostoevsky "Gentle Creature" and by work of Marina Cvetaeva

Saturday, July 27: Presentation of work Between Spirit and Soul, of Masa Jelic, Plavo theatre actress.

Saturday, August 3: presentation of Plavo theatre performance I Sing Like a Bird, inspired by life and work of writer Hermann Hesse, especially his novel ‘Steppenwolf’.

Registration: Please contact us for all information including costs, fees, registration form or any practical information. Note: There will be discounts and support provided for participants from Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia.

Contact person: Dubravka Vujinović, executive manager, Tel: +381 64 489 53 34,E-mail: plavopozoriste@yahoo.com, plavopozoriste@hotmail.com.

Work will be held in English.

Turning FACT Inside Out

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 11:17:59 GMT

This summer at FACT Liverpool, a selection of provocative international artists tackle some of the most pressing, controversial and literally ground-breaking political issues of today, as Turning FACT Inside Out opens on Thursday 13 June.

Exploring aspects of environment, architecture, capitalism and augmented reality, Turning FACT Inside Out is an exhibition that will take over the entire building and beyond, including recreating an indoor fracking site complete with earth tremors and flames.

As FACT celebrates the first decade of its building as one of the UK’s primary centres for new media art, it has commissioned an artists’ take over, featuring bold, new or never before seen in the UK works from emerging and established artists, including HeHe, Nina Edge, Katarzyna Krakowiak, Steve Lambert, Manifest.AR, MeYouandUs and Uncoded Collective.

Offering an opportunity to explore and debate the role and possibilities for the cultural institution and arts venue in a post-digital age, Turning FACT Inside Out is set to continue FACT’s tradition of staging risky and exciting immersive installations such as Kurt Hentschläger’s ZEE (2011) and Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson’s indoor fireworks (At 25 Metres, 2007).

For more information visit our website here: http://www.fact.co.uk/projects/turning-fact-inside-out/

Atelier for Young Festival Managers EDINBURGH 2014: apply until 30 June 2013

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:50:58 GMT

The seventh Atelier for Young Festival Managers, initiated by the European Festivals Association (EFA), will take place from 3 to 10 April 2014 in the festival city Edinburgh, UK, in collaboration with the Edinburgh International Festival. The new generation of artistic festival directors worldwide is invited to apply until 30 June 2013. 10 renowned festival directors will guide participants through the 7-day intense training programme by making use of the dynamic and lively Scottish cultural life.

Application procedure and deadline

All information on the Atelier, selection criteria and application procedure can be found in the Call for Application. The Application Form has to be submitted until 30 June 2013. All documents are available at www.atelierforyoungfestivalmanagers.eu.

Format and presenters

The Atelier allows for an exchange between 45 emerging festival managers and 10 distinguished festival directors from all over the world, well selected, renowned festival pioneers attending for at least two full days. Have a look at the list of presenters of previous Ateliers.

In lectures, one-to-one talks, group discussions as well as intense workshops on case studies, issues such as artistic vision, political and social responsibility, internationalisation, networking, renewal and sustainability are explored. Moreover, the lively festival scene of Edinburgh will be introduced: Participants will meet professionals and artists from the Scottish cultural sector in different sessions, visit a series of cultural venues, and see artistic performances. Festival life in Edinburgh is characterised by its diversity: it includes various performing arts festivals, a science festival, literature festivals, visual art festivals, and even a tattoo festival. The beautiful and well preserved historic town will be the perfect backdrop for the Atelier EDINBURGH 2014, a unique setting which the Atelier’s participants will be able to discover.

Partners and city

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is the largest city by area and the second largest by population in the country. The city was one of the historical major centres of the Enlightenment, led by the University of Edinburgh. The Old Town and New Town districts of Edinburgh were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of the unique character of the Medieval Old Town and the planned Georgian New Town. 12 major festivals take place annually in the Festival City Edinburgh. The number of visitors attracted to Edinburgh for the Festivals is roughly equal to the settled population of the city.

Every August, the Edinburgh International Festival transforms one of the world's most beautiful cities, presenting three exhilarating weeks of the finest creators and performers from the world of the arts - for everyone. The Edinburgh International Festival has been connecting audiences and artists for over 60 years. Founded in 1947, the Festival grew out of the rubble of the Second World War with the aim of providing a platform for the flowering of the human spirit. This belief in the power of the arts to nurture and transform lies at the heart of the Festival's mission still today.

“We are very much looking forward to hosting some of the most talented festival managers of the future in Edinburgh in 2014. As one of the world’s leading festival cities and a cultural destination year round, Edinburgh provides the perfect backdrop against which to explore aspects of festival management, potential future challenges and opportunities, and an ideal setting in which to make connections with a range of globally active cultural contributors who will help shape our shared future.”
Jonathan Mills, Festival Director, Edinburgh International Festival

Mission of the Atelier

The Atelier – organised by The Festival Academy, an initiative of the European Festivals Association - is guided by the motto “The true role of a festival is to help artists to dare, to engage in new projects,” borrowed from Bernard Faivre d'Arcier, longstanding Director of the Avignon Festival and President of the Lyon Biennial (France). It is an intense and rigorous 7-day training platform addressed at emerging artistic festival directors or those who have ambitions to become involved in programming or in programming related departments within a festival. It is all about formulating and passing on experiences to a next generation of festival makers: knowledge about programming a festival, thematically focusing on the very essence of arts festivals: the art and the artist.

Spread the word

Young festival managers from all over the world are invited to apply. Festivals, cultural organisations, networks, foundations, universities etc are invited to delegate a young festival manager to participate in the Atelier EDINBURGH 2014, and to spread the Call for Application broadly to their members, partners, contacts and interested people.

Join us on Facebook (Atelier for Young Festival Managers and EFA) and on Twitter. Latest news, documents, and all information related to the Atelier can be followed at www.atelierforyoungfestivalmanagers.eu. In case of further questions please contact atelier@efa-aef.eu or call +32 9 241 8080.

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the UK

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:46:58 GMT

“Cultural Diplomacy throughout the Commonwealth on Nations: International Cooperation across Six Continents” (London; July 10th - 12th, 2013)

While citizens of the UK benefit from a relatively good economic and human rights situation, there is still some room for improvement in many of its former colonies within the Commonwealth of Nations. In an attempt to improve the sociopolitical and economic situations in a number of member states and increase social harmony and interstate equality, Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the intergovernmental body, signed into effect the Charter of the Commonwealth in March 2013, setting out the values of the constituent states and establishing an organization-wide responsibility for the implementation of sixteen core beliefs including democracy, international peace, and universal human rights.

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the UK will bring together speakers from a diverse range of fields to debate the issues surrounding Great Britain and the Commonwealth. The Symposium will focus on effective implementation strategies for the New Charter of the Commonwealth, placing particular emphasis on the role that Cultural Diplomacy can play among the organization’s members in achieving greater cooperation and collaboration, thus promoting prosperity and stability for all. Through the employment of Cultural Diplomacy, Commonwealth states have the potential to come together and establish greater multilateral understanding and collaboration, helping to promote economic prosperity, improve human rights records and achieve a new stability for the organization as a whole.

Conference Location

Based primarily in the House of Lords in London the conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.

Conference Speakers

Speakers during the Conference will include head of state and ministers, leading figures and experts from international politics, economics, academia, diplomacy, civil society, and the private sector. The speakers will also include a number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board.

Conference Participants

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics & scholars, economists, journalists, artists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals, and students, as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013

For more information please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_2013-iscd-uk

Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Latin America

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:44:40 GMT

“The Colors of Latin America: Preserving Traditional Arts & Heritage in a Multicultural World” (Berlin; August 14th - 16th, 2013) The countries of Latin America play host to a diverse range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Iberian colonization of large parts of the South American continent in the 16th century led to the introduction of French, Spanish, and Portuguese culture in the region, and this mélange, (strengthened even further by the cultural remnants of pre-Columbian civilizations, the influx of European immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the introduction of Africans to the continent), has led to the development of one of the most clear-cut examples of a cultural melting pot in current existence.

This is not to say, however, that the “cultures” of this expansive area have blended into one universal cultural paradigm: the diverse range of peoples across the South American continent have often maintained important elements of their own personal cultures, while also adapting aspects of the wide-reaching regional cultural identity, possessing a multitude of languages, dialects, religious beliefs, and popular cultures aspects.

Given the multitude of cultural identities present across Latin America, there has been increasing concern about the preservation of cultures on the continent, particularly in light of the recent destruction and deterioration of Aztec and Mayan cultural heritage sights in the region. Furthermore, as the full effects of globalization continue to be realized and Latin American becomes an increasingly prosperous economic power on the world stage, there exists fears that the countries of the continent could become westernized, diluting their own cultures in the process.

The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy has therefore developed the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in Latin America with the aim of presenting to the world an original perspective on Latin America and its unique heritage, and will explore the potential of arts and culture to successfully support regional development.

Conference Location

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.

Conference Speakers

Conference Participants

Participation in the Conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals and students as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013

For more information please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_2013-iscd_la

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the EU

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:42:04 GMT

“Sustainable Economic Growth, Further Integration and Common Identity: Moving towards a European Consensus”

(Brussels; July 3rd - 5th, 2013)

Since its foundation the EU has undergone multiple transformations in the socio-cultural, political, and economic spheres. Today, the European Union consists of 27 member states, all of which work closely together to develop policies to facilitate common interests such as the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital across borders. Although the EU has made great strides in the past six decades- both politically and economically- the region still faces challenges in terms of delivering prosperity, bridging the gap between institutions and citizens, and creating a common and collective “European Identity.”

Over four years of economic, social and political crisis have presented the EU, its leaders, and its people with a number of crucial challenges, which must be thoroughly and instantly tackled in order for Europe to be successful and to maintain its leading position in the global arena. The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the EU will therefore offer participants a platform to discuss the present and future challenges of the European Union, and will elaborate on the role of Cultural Diplomacy in improving European relations, enhancing cross-cultural collaboration, building democratic governance, and sustaining peace and stability in the region.

Conference Location

Based in Brussels, the Conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city, and will consist of excursions to the country's top institutions and landmarks. Featured locations during the Conference will include: European Parliament, in addition to various foreign embassies and governmental institutions.

Conference Speakers

Conference Participants

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013

For more information please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_2013-iscd-eu

Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the African Union

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:38:27 GMT

"African Perspectives: An African Vision for Positive Developments in Africa" (Berlin; June 26th - 28th, 2013)

This unprecedented gathering will seek to highlight Africa´s self-attained achievements with regards to its standing in the international community as well as it´s increasing emancipation from the often assumed dependency on the Western world. The focus will be on the role and successes of the African Union as an intergovernmental regional organization seeking to combat political, social and economic inequalities.

Past achievements will be considered while simultaneously accenting the future challenges the AU faces. Multidimensional in focus, the conference will revolve around three main themes. Beginning with ´the rise of corporate Africa´, the positive impact of enterprise on development throughout the continent will be accented. The following theme, ´African solutions for African challenges (human development)´ will be dedicated to the overlapping issues of education, the eradication of poverty and the empowerment of women.

The final topic ´community development through arts, culture and sports´ will exemplify the power exerted by cultural diplomacy on the furthering of community development. It will be demonstrated that the application of cultural diplomacy is pervasive within the African Union´s activities, as it has charged itself with the task of uniting highly differentiated cultures within Africa with the aim of achieving ´greater unity and solidarity between the African countries and the peoples of Africa´. Cultural Diplomacy will be shown to support and solidify such efforts.

Conference Location

Based in Berlin, the conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the city.

Conference Speakers

Speakers during the Conference will include artists, musicians, academics, authors, museum curators, human rights activists, dignitaries, politicians, and heads of state, as well as leading figures and experts in the arts, international affairs, the diplomatic community, and civil society from across the world. These speakers will include a large number of individuals from the ICD Advisory Board.

Conference Participants

The conference is open to applications from governmental and diplomatic officials, civil society practitioners, young professionals, students and scholars, private sector representatives, journalists, and other interested stakeholders from across the world.

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013

For more information please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_aucdc2013

Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:35:11 GMT

“US Cultural Diplomacy: The Use of the Arts in Promoting Dialogue, Fostering Peace, and Initiating Mutual Understanding amongst World Cultures and Civilizations” (Washington D.C. & New York City; June 24th - 28th, 2013)

Since the events of the Cold War, history has proven that each time US governmental agencies turned and used cultural diplomacy applications; they were successful and enabled better results in a one-of-a-kind, cost effective manner. It is not always easy to practice cultural diplomacy, especially at times of conflict where emotions are high and the level of dangers and risks often demand fast results and solutions. Despite that, and even in times of great urgency, however, cultural diplomacy and soft power practices are proven successful in enabling a more sustainable reality to be established. In the last decade we have seen tremendous progress and an evolution, where US Foreign and Defense agencies have acknowledged the unique nature of this approach and are practicing it more and more often. These efforts need to be increased in magnitude and frequency in the future.

The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is making great efforts to promote cultural diplomacy amongst US Foreign and Defense agencies and has initiated and dedicated this Symposium to exploring the successful applications, best practices and the overall importance of cultural diplomacy by these agencies. The Symposium on cultural Diplomacy in the USA 2013 will outline past achievements, highlight current programs and offer future solutions and best practices for the USA to use cultural diplomacy and soft power in a more effective way and more often, in order to continue contributing to a harmonic interdependent world. The Symposium will present specifically a thesis that “the return on investment” of the application of cultural diplomacy is both high and sustainable and its cost effective contributions to the work of US governmental institutions are both irreplaceable and much more efficient than its alternatives. The symposium will prove that when effective cultural diplomacy and soft power are practiced it is much cheaper and easier to maintain over the long-term, than if it comes only after a hard power foreign policy has been implemented alone.

Conference Location

The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA will take place in two major American cities: the nation's capital in Washington, D.C. and the nation's cultural hub in New York City. The conference will be hosted at a number of important political, historic, and cultural locations across the two cities, and will consist of excursions to the country's top artistic institutions.

Featured locations during the Conference will include: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, NPR Headquarters, Smithsonian Institution, Johns Hopkins University, the United Nations, Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, Broadway and Times Square, Museum of Modern Art, New York Public Library, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, in addition to various foreign embassies and governmental institutions.

Conference Speakers

Conference Participants

Participation in the conference is open to governmental & diplomatic officials, academics, artists, journalists, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, young professionals and students as well as other interested individuals from across the world.

To apply please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.de/index.php?en_iscd-2013

For more information please visit: http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/academy/index.php?en_2013-iscd-usa

Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:31:48 GMT

Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy in the USA

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 10:30:40 GMT

Postmodern Madness and The Reconstruction of Subjectivities, 1st International Symposium

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:55:24 GMT

1st International Symposium: Postmodern Madness and The Reconstruction of Subjectivities

Part of the Research Program on: Space, Time and New Technologies of the Self

International Network for Alternative Academia - Extends a general invitation to participate

Thursday 5th to Saturday 7th of September, 2013

Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Partner: Université Catholique de l’Ouest

Venue: IPLV, UCO (3 Place André Leroy)

Main Campus (Building: Bâtiment Scientifique)

http://www.alternative-academia.net/ocs-2.3.5/index.php/angers2013/PMRS-1/schedConf/cfp

Enquiries: acc@alternative-academia.net

Call for Papers

(Abstract Submission Period Opens: Monday 3rd of June, 2013)

(Abstract Deadline: Monday 22nd of July, 2013)

This trans-disciplinary research project is interested in exploring the links between madness, subjectivity, and postmodern narratives. Or, from a different angle, we seek to investigate the ways postmodern discourses encompass ideals of madness in relation to the construction of subjectivity. Schizophrenia, paranoia, perversion, deviation are often called upon and incorporated in the construction of the postmodern subject. How are these terms used to construct subjectivities in cultures in which anxiety, unreason, and disorder are the norm? How is meaning refashioned to pass from 'clinical abnormality' to forms of social 'normality'? How is this concept employed in constructing the postmodern subject in literature, movies, music, photography, painting, and other forms of art?

The project tries to examine the concept of madness considering how it is linked to expressions of the self in postmodern discourses. Considering its relationship to deviance, difference and discourse, it explores how madness both shapes and is shaped by postmodern narratives and cultural framing.

We invite colleagues from all disciplines and professions interested in exploring and explaining these issues in a collective, deliberative and dialogical environment to send presentation proposals that address these general questions or the following themes:

1. Madness, Culture and Crisis

- How is madness defined by and through contemporary culture?

- While medicalization has been a pervasive process in the past two centuries, what are other shifts in the historical definition of madness that warrant investigation? How do the commercialization of illness and the legalization of culture figure in this process?

- How has mental illness been defined in relation to madness? How can we describe and understand the shifting boundaries between these concepts?

- What remains outside the scope of mental illness and medicalization?

- Should madness be conceived as a crisis or, in contradistinction, should it be considered a state of normality? Is it an expression of an abnormality or a reaction to normality? To what degree manifestations of subjectivity can be considered as deviations from normality?

- What is the relation between madness, authority and the subject? Is madness an interpretation of the anxieties of the subject in relation to authority? Is it premised on the acceptance of authority?

- Where is the line drawn between the non-conformist and the clinical cases of madness? Where do we place deviants, minorities, and eccentrics? Has their status changed over time?

2. The Discourses of Madness

- How has the linguistic shift from madness to mental illness altered our understanding of this experience? What are the benefits and weaknesses of this change in language? Do they refer to the same phenomenon or are they, in fact, different experiences?

- Is disorder of discourse constructing a new subject or is it just a sign of abnormality inscribed within an otherwise coherent subject? Is disorder constructing subjectivities at the border between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’?

-What is normal? What is abnormal? How can we account today for definitions of normality and abnormality? Does this binomial relation and dichotomy change over time? What happens when the 'normal' becomes 'abnormal'?

- How do order and disorder change, inform, and deconstruct one another? Where does the subject stand in relation to this order and conflict? How is it altered? How does it incorporate both order and disorder?

-To what extent is madness employed in constructing discourses?

- Is there a difference in the vocabulary employed when dealing with different aspects of madness? How is meaning changed when crossing from the clinical into the realm of art in general and the fictional in particular?

- What are the different connotations of describing someone as 'mad'?

- What makes a subject mad? Is there something underneath the veil of madness?

3. Representations of Madness

- What are apt metaphors for madness in contemporary culture?

- Is madness a metaphor? Is it a punishment?

- How is madness represented in and through the media, corporate culture and the arts? To what affect?

- How do contemporary models of madness construct new subjectivities? Do they generate a crisis of representation?

- Madness implies a form of disorderliness. Language imposes order. Can we speak of madness as such? What language is apt in describing the experience of madness?

- How does a 'mad sovereign' alter reality to fit his own 'madness'? What is the role of his 'subjects'? What is the role of the mad jester?

- Is madness an expression of freedom? Does madness entail a certain kind of freedom? Is a ‘mad’ subject freer than a ‘normal’ subject? What relation does it have to authority from this standpoint?

4. Madness and Coherence in Postmodern Cultures

- Can we expect coherence in/from madness? Should we have such expectations?

- If one of the defining features of postmodernism is incoherence, is ours a culture of madness?

- What is madness in relation to the world? Is it a way of interpreting the world? Does it construct new worlds apart from the ‘real’ one?

- What is the relationship between madness and imagination?

- In a culture of the particular, of the multiple, of fragmentary, does madness articulate alternative worlds that coexist rhizomatically within the subject?

- How is madness employed in the construction of the subject? How is it done from the bottom-up and as an exercise of agency? How is it done from the top-down and as an exercise of power?

- Is the madness of the subject a manifestation of the madness of the world? Does it function as a defense mechanism or as a tool of versatility?

5. Madness - Traversing Cultures

- From ancient literature to postmodern writing, madness has been a theme in constructing, interpreting and modifying worlds. How are the forms of madness in art and literature dependent of the status of the world and place madness has in the world? How does it become an expression of the world from a form of ‘abnormality’?

- What role does madness play in social groups, communities and social formations?

- What are the cultural stereotypes of madness? What is the status of the mad, of the rebel, of the disrupter of the non-conformist? Does this status change in time? Is it interpreted differently across cultures and forms of art?

- How has madness transformed from mental illness to a social expression of difference? To what extent insanity becomes in art a celebrated form of freedom, of the different, of the state of difference?

- In what ways is it censured as toxic, sick, deviant and in need of correction? What forms of madness are celebrated and what forms are feared and repressed? Why?

If you are interested in participating in this Annual Symposium, submit a 400 to 500 word abstract as soon as possible and no later than Monday, 22nd of July, 2013. (For justifiable cases, we do uphold a tolerance period of a week.)

Please use the following template for your submission:

First: Author(s);

Second: Affiliation, if any;

Third: Email Address;

Fourth: Title of Abstract and Proposal;

Fifth: The 400 to 500 Word Abstract.

To submit an abstract online follow these steps:

1) Go to our webpage: www.alternative-academia.net

2) Select your Symposium of choice within the list of annual events (listed by period and city)

3) Go to LOG IN at the top of the page

4) Create a User Name and Password for our system and log in

5) Click on the Call for Papers for the Symposium

6) Go to the end of the Call for Papers page and click on the First Step of Submission Process button

7) Follow the instructions provided for completing the abstract submission process

For every abstract proposal submitted, we acknowledge receipt. If you do not receive a reply from us within three days, you should assume the submission process was not completed successfully. Please try again or contact our technical support for clarifications.

All presentation and paper proposals that address these questions and issues will be fully considered and evaluated. Evaluation of abstract submissions will be ongoing, from the opening date of Monday 3rd of June, 2013. All Prospective Delegates can expect a reply time to their submission of two weeks, maximum.

Accepted abstracts will require a full draft paper by Thursday 22nd of August, 2013. Papers are for a 20 minute presentation, 8 to 10 pages long, double spaced, Times New Roman 12. All papers presented at the symposium are eligible for publication as part of a digital or paperback book.

We invite colleagues and people interested in participating to disseminate this call for papers. Thank you for sharing and cross-listing where and whenever appropriate.

Hope to meet you in Angers!

Symposium Coordinators:

Oana Strugaru

Faculty of Letters and Communication Sciences

Stefan cel Mare University

Suceava, Romania

Email: oana_andriese@yahoo.com

Alejandro Cervantes-Carson

General Coordinator

International Network for Alternative Academia

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Email: acc@alternative-academia.net

Love, Lust and Longing: Rethinking Intimacy, 4th International Symposium

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:39:42 GMT

4th International Symposium: Love, Lust and Longing: Rethinking Intimacy

Part of the Research Program on: Recasting Bonds

International Network for Alternative Academia - Extends a general invitation to participate

Monday 2nd to Wednesday 4th of September, 2013

Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Partner: Université Catholique de l’Ouest

Venue: IPLV, UCO (3 Place André Leroy)

Main Campus (Building: Bâtiment Scientifique)

http://www.alternative-academia.net/ocs-2.3.5/index.php/angers2013/LLL-4/schedConf/cfp

Enquiries: acc@alternative-academia.net

Call for Papers

(Abstract Submission Period Opens: Monday 3rd of June, 2013)

(Abstract Deadline: Friday 19th of July, 2013)

While discussion of sex become ever more common, opportunities to explore the nature of love are still rare. When the topic is raised, most often the focus is on dramatic experiences or hard cases. The “epic” and the “mundane” are probably more intertwined in our experiences of love than cultural speech and literature admit. Yet, an imbalance continues to exist: we reflect little on the smallness of events that sustain love bonds. What goes unexamined as such are the ways in which love is spoken of and enacted in everyday life.

This trans-disciplinary research project is interested in exploring the lived experience of love considering the ways in which it is described and how it is practiced, identifying how love differs from and overlaps with concern, care, friendship and lust and raising questions about the ontology, expression and politics of love.

1. The Ontology of Love

- How best do we categorize our experiences of love? Is love a chemical reaction? A cognitive structure? A consumer product? A narrative strategy? A convenient fiction?

- Is love an interpersonal phenomenon or an individual experience?

- Is love the kind of thing/the kind of experience that can have a beginning? Is it the kind of thing that can be subject to an end?

- Is love something that can be “found”? Can it subsequently be “lost”?

- Is love debt by another means?

2. Speaking of Love . . .

- Can we speak of love? Is to speak of love to attempt to say the unsayable? Is a language of love necessary?

- What is it about the experience of being in love that is so difficult to share and communicate?

- We speak of our experience of “being in love,” of “loving someone but not being in love with them” and of “making love.” How is the word “love” deployed in these contexts? Is it used synonymously?

- In an era marked by online dating, text messaging and friends with benefits, does Plato’s lexicon of love still apply? Is his account of three forms of love – eros, philia, agape – still sufficient? What should be added and what should be subtracted? How is the lexicon of love evolving?

- What are apt metaphors for love?

3. The Phenomenology of Love

- Where does love start? Where does it end?

- What is the relationship between desire and love? How is this relationship played out in everyday life practice? How is it captured discursively?

- Why has lust been so often experienced and so quickly condemned?

- How do we describe/characterize the experience of “falling” in love? Is love an experience that we “fall” into? Is this an apt descriptor of this phenomenon?

- Does “romantic” love differ from experiences of “mature” love?

- What is the place of betrayal, cheating and infidelity in love? How do we deal with these? Do we deal with these with love? Should we? Why?

- Can love “fail”? Is to speak of “failure” in this context a sign that we have misunderstood the nature of love?

- How do we deal with love when death separates us from our beloved? How can we recognize love and care in mourning and bereavement?

4. The Look of Love: The Aesthetics and/of Love

- How is love best described? Is it reducible to words? Is it better captured by images or by sounds or by sensations and sensorial memory?

- What is the place of taste, presence, smell, aura, touch and other embodied sensations in the experience of love and its sensorial reconstruction?

- How has love been depicted across history? How has it changed? With what affect? Is it possible to recognize and acknowledge patterns in historical periods?

- What are the effects of the definitions of love on the conceptions of bonds and the nature of relationship?

- What are apt representations of love? How do we make such determinations?

- Why is love so often explored in the arts? Why is it so rarely the subject of philosophy or sociology?

5. Caring for Self

- What does it mean to love one’s self? Is this a misnomer?

- Is care of the self a necessary condition for the possibility of care of others? Can we advocate and promote the caring for self without compromising our caring for others?

- What is the relationship between Eros and Narcissus? How does one keep in check “Narcissus” while caring for one’s self? Should one keep Narcissus in check?

- Is love (or caring for oneself) a necessary condition for living happy and/or productive lives?

6. Small Intimacies

- How are we to understand the logic of the kiss? Is the kiss a promise? Is it a question?

- Can we see, smell or feel the presence of love? What is the relationship between perception and this lived experience?

- What prefigures our experience of love and what extends it?

- What is the relationship between secrecy, intimacy and love?

- How does boredom and routine figure into our experiences of love?

- How do we deal with rejection? Are there other ways of accepting and dealing with the devastating experience of being rejected?

7. Bonds of Care

- What is the relationship between love and care?

- Is there a logic to/of care? Can it be subjected to reason and justification?

- What is the relationship between care and concern? How do need, responsibility, care and love differ? How do they overlap?

- Does care necessitate reciprocity? Does the refusal of care negate its existence?

- How can we deal with metaphors of blood, linage, family and heritage in care or love that might develop as loving care? Where to situate obligation and how to conceive it?

- Can we exercise choice and assume happenstance in our bonds of care?

8. Friendship

- Who is a friend? How is the term defined? How do we recognize a friend?

- Is friendship a form of love or is it a distinct virtue?

- Can there be friendship without desire?

- Is lust a necessary condition for friendship? Is it an inevitable outcome?

- Do sex and/or lust put friendship at risk? Why?

- Is friendship premised on reciprocity of feelings?

9. Lessons on Love

- How is love manufactured? How do books, films or TV series influence our ideals of love?

- How can we explain the increasing demand for a literature of/on love?

- How is love merchandized?

- Can we buy love? What assumptions inform our responses to this question?

- Is love measurable? Is it quantifiable?

- Can one live without love? Are there any discourses that explain life without love?

10. The Politics of Love

- Is equity a necessary condition for love? Does social inequality undermine intimacy and love?

- What is the role of power in relation to love and intimacy? Is love always and necessarily a tool of power?

- Can love and politics be extricated one from the other? Is the democratization of the bonds of intimacy, care and love possible?

- How are experiences of love framed by cultural and social discourses?

- How is the increasing number of intercultural relationships changing our understanding and practice of love? What are the benefits and challenges of intercultural love and of these cross-cultural practices?

- How are new information and communications technologies shaping our experiences of love?

11. Broad Venues

- Can we love collectives or is love applicable only to particulars?

- Is it possible to love what is divine or is love a uniquely inter-subjective human experience?

- What are the conditions for the possibility of agape? Can these conditions be met in contemporary society?

If you are interested in participating in this Annual Symposium, submit a 400 to 500 word abstract as soon as possible and no later than Friday, 19th of July, 2013. (For justifiable cases, we do uphold a tolerance period of a week.)

Please use the following template for your submission:

First: Author(s);

Second: Affiliation, if any;

Third: Email Address;

Fourth: Title of Abstract and Proposal;

Fifth: The 400 to 500 Word Abstract.

To submit an abstract online follow these steps:

1) Go to our webpage: www.alternative-academia.net

2) Select your Symposium of choice within the list of annual events (listed by period and city)

3) Go to LOG IN at the top of the page

4) Create a User Name and Password for our system and log in

5) Click on the Call for Papers for the Symposium

6) Go to the end of the Call for Papers page and click on the First Step of Submission Process button

7) Follow the instructions provided for completing the abstract submission process

Accepted abstracts will require a full draft paper by Monday 19th of August, 2013. Papers are for a 20 minute presentation, 8 to 10 pages long, double spaced, Times New Roman 12. All papers presented at the symposium are eligible for publication as part of a digital or paperback book.

We invite colleagues and people interested in participating to disseminate this call for papers. Thank you for sharing and cross-listing where and whenever appropriate.

Hope to meet you in Angers!

Symposium Coordinators:

Alejandro Cervantes-Carson

General Coordinator

International Network for Alternative Academia

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Email: acc@alternative-academia.net

Wendy O'Brien

Professor of Social and Political Theory

School of Liberal Studies

Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Email: Wendy.Obrien@humber.ca

Albin Wagener

Directeur del’IPLV

Institut en Perfectionnement en Langues Vivantes

Université Catholique de l’Ouest

Angers, France

Email: awagener@uco.fr

Risk, Dignity and Fragility: Searching for a New Ethics, 1st International Symposium

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:09:20 GMT

1st International Symposium: Risk, Dignity and Fragility: Searching for a New Ethics

Part of the Research Program on: Lost Virtues, Found Vices

International Network for Alternative Academia - Extends a general invitation to participate

Thursday 29th to Saturday 31st of August, 2013

Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Partner: Université Catholique de l’Ouest

Venue: IPLV, UCO (3 Place André Leroy)

Main Campus (Building: Bâtiment Scientifique)

http://www.alternative-academia.net/ocs-2.3.5/index.php/angers2013/RDF-1/schedConf/cfp

Enquiries: acc@alternative-academia.net

Call for Papers

(Abstract Submission Period Opens: Monday 3rd of June, 2013)

(Abstract Deadline: Monday 15th of July, 2013)

This trans-disciplinary research project is interested in exploring the nature and structure of an ethics for the 21^st century. Ethics has most often been founded on a concept of the self as an agent that is secure, self-confident, and in control and on a view of the world as stable, unchanging and thus as knowable and predictable. Yet contemporary culture shows us a very different view of ourselves and of our environment. Caught up in a world in constant change where borders and boundaries, conditions and contexts are constantly changing and uncertainty is the norm, we find ourselves insecure, vulnerable as forces beyond our control direct and frame the moral decisions that we face. How must ethics be reconceived in light of our shifting ideals of the self and the world? Can there be an ethics under the conditions of uncertainty, flux, and instability?

This project takes up these questions considering how a new ethics for the 21^st century might be envisioned and how it might be practiced. Raising potent questions that engage in critical deliberations on alternative practices, pedagogies, performances, politics and processes it explores the development of new ethical frameworks grounded on the concepts of risk, responsibility and fragility.

1. Flux: A World in Motion

Traditionally, ethics has been grounded in a view of the world as something stable and solid – something known, knowable and thus predictable. However, scientific changes, technological advancements, social transformations, cultural shifts and political innovations have revealed the world to be in constant flux.

- How might we negotiate flux, change, fluidity, liquidity, and mutability as crucial dimensions of ethics?

- We increasingly live nomadic lives, transitioning cultural and political boundaries, finding ourselves members of transitory communities. Can an ethics be developed that allows for this mobility?

- How much flexibility can an ethics sustain? How much flexibility should it sustain?

- How do we explain the resistance to acknowledging the transitory nature of human existence?

- What new vocabularies must be developed in order to capture the flux that shapes the decisions we make and the lives we choose to live? What new discourses are emerging to capture this element of decision-making?

- Does the recognition of the flux of the world necessitate our adoption of some form of relativism? Why or why not?

- Are there trends and fashions in theory just as in clothing and décor?

- Can an ethics be sustained in a world that lacks stability?

- Are teleologies any longer conceivable in a world in which the consequences of our actions can never be known?

2. Reasonable Persons, Rational Minds

The development of an ethics seems to necessitate belief that agents and subjects are rational. Is such a belief well founded?

- Is rationality a necessary condition for the possibility of an ethics?

- Is the claim that individuals are rational well founded?

- What underlies and informs the need for ethics to deny irrational decision-making?

- What is the role of desire in considerations of what is good and bad, right and wrong?

- Does rational thought necessarily result in moral decision making? Does it result in just conclusions?

- What are the implications of the recognition that ethics is not founded on rational thought?

- Does acknowledgment of our irrationality negate the conditions for the possibility of deontologies?

3. Fragile Selves

The model of the self-sufficient, independent rational agent has framed our understanding of ethics and our practice of decision-making.

- Must ethics be grounded in a conception of the moral agent as ultimately self-sufficient?

- How might an ethics be developed premised on the concept of fragility?

- How might recognition rather than denial of our anxieties reconfigure our understanding of ethical choices?

- How would recognition of our vulnerabilities rather than our self-sufficiencies and mastery shift our understanding of ethical decision-making and of moral agency?

4. Interaction, Interdependence and Collaboration: Evolving A New Ethics

The independence of moral agents to make decisions and to suffer the consequences of their actions has been upended in contemporary culture.

- Is an ethics premised on individualism possible? Why or why not?

- How might the recognition of the inevitable intertwining of our desires, lives and projects change our conceptions of ethics? How might an ethics based on intersubjectivity be developed?

- What opportunities exist for revitalizing/re-envisioning community engagement?

- What challenges do we face regarding the development of an ethics as the intertwining of cultures and the meshing of values?

- How might we envision an ethics grounded on collaboration?

- What forces encourage and produce internal and external clashes and collisions at the intersections of value systems, beliefs, ideologies and political processes?

5. On (the) Edge: The Dynamics of Risk

As certainty and rationality give way, a new ethics that recognizes and embraces risk seems to be necessitated.

- Does risk negate the conditions for the possibility of ethics?

- How might our notions of risk be broadened beyond considerations of mere danger, threat and insecurity?

- How does recognition of the inevitability of risk change how we understand transgression, coercion, complicity and conversion?

6. The Language of Rights, The Institution of Law

We have witnessed the codification of ethics through the language of rights and the implementation of moral principles across diverse populations via the institution of law.

- What have we gained and what have we lost from the creation and expansion of the language of rights?

- What alternative discursive practices might be developed for ethics?

- What have we gained and what have we lost from the legalization of ethics?

- How might ethics be reconceived if rather than focusing on rights it focuses on responsibilities?

- How might a new ethics be developed grounded in the discourse of dignity?

7. An Era of Uncertainty

Ethics has been premised on a sense of certainty – certainty about the nature of subjectivity, certainty about the world and about our place in it. Yet the world we encounter is one in which uncertainty seems the norm.

- What role has certainty played in framing traditional ethical theories?

- What are the advantages and disadvantages of adopting this attitude towards ourselves, others and the world in trying to determine how to act?

- Can there be an ethics without a sense of certainty? How would it be structured?

- What would be the relative strengths and weaknesses of grounding an ethics in uncertainty?

If you are interested in participating in this Annual Symposium, submit a 400 to 500 word abstract as soon as possible and no later than Monday, 15th of July, 2013. (For justifiable cases, we do uphold a tolerance period of a week.)

Please use the following template for your submission:

First: Author(s);

Second: Affiliation, if any;

Third: Email Address;

Fourth: Title of Abstract and Proposal;

Fifth: The 400 to 500 Word Abstract.

To submit an abstract online follow these steps:

1) Go to our webpage: www.alternative-academia.net

2) Select your Symposium of choice within the list of annual events (listed by period and city)

3) Go to LOG IN at the top of the page

4) Create a User Name and Password for our system and log in

5) Click on the Call for Papers for the Symposium

6) Go to the end of the Call for Papers page and click on the First Step of Submission Process button

7) Follow the instructions provided for completing the abstract submission process

Accepted abstracts will require a full draft paper by Thursday 15th of August, 2013. Papers are for a 20 minute presentation, 8 to 10 pages long, double spaced, Times New Roman 12. All papers presented at the symposium are eligible for publication as part of a digital or paperback book.

We invite colleagues and people interested in participating to disseminate this call for papers. Thank you for sharing and cross-listing where and whenever appropriate.

Hope to meet you in Angers!

Symposium Coordinators:

Charlene Rajendran

Lecturer – Performance and Theatre Education

Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group

National Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

Email: charlene.r@nie.edu.sg

Wendy O'Brien

Professor of Social and Political Theory

School of Liberal Studies

Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Email: Wendy.OBrien@humber.ca

Alejandro Cervantes-Carson

General Coordinator

International Network for Alternative Academia

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Email: acc@alternative-academia.net

Inter-Cultural Dialogues, 3rd International Symposium

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:29:09 GMT

3rd International Symposium: Inter-Cultural Dialogues

Part of the Research Program on: Recognition and the Politics of Otherness

International Network for Alternative Academia - Extends a general invitation to participate

Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th of August, 2013

Angers, Pays-de-la-Loire, France

Partner: Université Catholique de l’Ouest

Venue: IPLV, UCO (3 Place André Leroy)

Main Campus (Building: Bâtiment Scientifique)

http://www.alternative-academia.net/ocs-2.3.5/index.php/angers2013/ICD-3/schedConf/cfp

Enquiries: acc@alternative-academia.net

Call for Papers

(Abstract Submission Period Opens: Monday 3rd of June, 2013)

(Abstract Deadline: Friday 12th of July, 2013)

This trans-disciplinary research project is interested in exploring the diverse ways in which notions of culture and cultural interactions have impacted, at global and local levels, ongoing constructions of identity, society and politics, as well as frameworks of knowledge, ideology and truth.

It has become a common place to speak about globalization as a process that has made the world smaller and more interconnected. But beneath such claims multiple processes remain analytically undefined and critically unexplored. We are interested in assessing how ideas of culture and cultural interactions shape identity, membership, place, rootedness and belonging while simultaneously encouraging misunderstanding, tension and conflict, estrangement, isolation and alienation. In particular, the project will investigate world transformations that have structured cultural flows, given rise to new forms of hybridity, increased nomadic lives and encouraged the proliferation of transitory and transversal interconnections.

1. Contemporary Reconfigurations of Culture: Who Cares?

- What new conceptions of culture are emerging?

- How can we account for the emergence of new and contemporary conceptions of culture? What kind of processes can explain why culture is seen today as multiple, polyvalent and even internally contradictory?

- How are contemporary conceptions of culture remaking conceptions of self and other, recasting our understanding of our links, bonds and relations, requiring us to rethink antinomies and antagonisms?

- How can we transform the binary perversions and contradictory forces of culture: diversity versus homogeneity, multiplicity versus sameness, alterity versus normality, recognition versus misrecognition?

- The textures of cultures in contemporary landscapes seem at one and the same time fixed and fluid, porous and hermetic, rigid and flexible, liquid and solid. How are these divisions to be explained? What factors hold them in play?

- How can we rethink the concept of culture, such that it overcomes its conceptual and historical limits?

- Do we really need the concept of culture? What does this concept help to reveal? What does the concept shroud?

2. Cultural Boundaries, Peoples and Places: Why Bother?

- With the push towards the dislocation and decoupling of culture and nation, of culture and place, of culture and history, how are new solidarities, new ethnicities, and new nations taking shape?

- As we witness the dismantling and de-mythologizing culture’s prominent place in nationally bound identities and histories, what is being offered to fill in the gap? If we are witnessing the death of national culture, what is being born to take its place?

- How can we understand the resurgence of the local, in light of the diminishing importance of the national and global?

- What does it mean, today, to be part of a culture and to be part of multiple cultures? Why does it matter?

- How are new forms of global migration influencing the development of the hybridity, helping to reconcile of cultural difference and cultural diversity?

- What are the political, social and ethical problems with the politics of imposing ‘culture’ onto others? Whose rights and responsibilities need to be addressed? How are these issues being resolved in practice via policies of assimilation, integration, adaptation in the case of the ‘forcing’ of native cultures on migrants?

3. Identities and Inter-Subjectivities: What Difference?

- Are we witnessing the fragmentation or the ever more stringent amalgamation of the self?

- How is the de-centering of the self influencing our understanding of the other, recasting the bonds between us, and reshaping the contours of our relationships?

- How do tensions, contradictions and conflicts in and between cultures influence identity formation and structure social membership?

- What new sources and forms of belonging do we see emerging from the re-definition of culture? What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of new forms of tribalism, localism, parochialism and communitarianism?

- How are bonds of care established across boundaries of inequality and exclusion, ideologies and religions, politics and power, nations and geography?
- Who am I if not in relation with others? How does relationality inform identity?

- How do silence, the adoption of subaltern positions and strategic subordinations affect identity formation? How do they affect perceptions of identity?

- Is non-recognition a form of cultural violence?

- How do we frame an ethics in an age of disrespect and entitlement?

- How are new forms of communication impacting the emergence of identities? What is the impact of social networks, video games and online communities on the display, performance and construction of identities?

4. Cultural Formations: Who Knows?

- What are the dynamics and processes that define the central tenets of a culture?

- How are cultures defined and redefined? Who participates in the social and political task of defining and redefining culture?

- What is shared within cultures? How are cultures shared? Who has access to the sharing of cultures?

- Who destroys culture? What processes and procedures are utilized in this process?

- How are symbols and significations used to connect people to cultures other than ‘their own’? What are the strengths of such attempts at unification? What are the weaknesses?

- How is culture shaped by ideals of destiny, happenstance, choice and politics in this process?

- Culture appears to be an infinite source for the production of contradictory signification and meaning. How is it employed for the construction of identity and membership? How is it employed as a means for exclusion?

5. Politicizing Culture: What Matters?

- How has culture been transformed into a battle ground for politics and the political? To what affect?

- Political battles over the principles and core values of a culture or over those principles that exist in across cultures pose challenges for government agencies and social groups. How are these battles being framed discursively? How are they being resolved in practice?

- The dynamics of cultural recognition and misrecognition preoccupy government agencies and social movements. How are these processes best conceptualized?

- What is the place of cultural claims in today’s forms of social and political membership?

- How are trans-cultural connections that escape institutional and political control formed? How viable and stable are the bonds forged in this manner?

- When cultural practices conflict with human rights claims, how are cultural heritage and political responsibility being balanced? How should they be balanced?

6. Art and Cultural Representations: Why Pretend?

- What is the role of the media in the construction of cultures and identities?

- What are the means of production and reproduction by which cultural recognition and misrecognition develop?

- How should the contested space of representing meaning and identity be negotiated?

- How can art, media challenge the rigid and impenetrable constructions of culture? How can it perpetuate such ideals of culture?

- How does art foster cultural membership? How can it be employed in reconfiguring and reshaping such identifications?

- Culture may be seen as fiction and fiction as culture. Given this is the case, is there the possibility for the truth in/of art?

7. Crossing Cultural Boundaries: Who’s Watching?

- How are cultural boundaries subject to interpenetration, overlapping, crossovers, interlacing, hybridization and interdependence? To what affect?

- How are emerging languages, idioms and images bridging the ‘invisible’ divide of cultures?

- How is recognition and respect across cultures fostered? How is it undermined?

- Can we revamp historical concepts such as tolerance, acceptance and hospitality to mesh with contemporary conceptions of cultural divide?

- How is the concept of time employed in the reinterpretation of culture? What is the role of nostalgia, memory and forgetting in the merging and emergence of new cultures?

- How might we develop an ethics for cultural relations?

If you are interested in participating in this Annual Symposium, submit a 400 to 500 word abstract as soon as possible and no later than Friday, 12th of July, 2013. (For justifiable cases, we do uphold a tolerance period of a week.)

Please use the following template for your submission:

First: Author(s);

Second: Affiliation, if any;

Third: Email Address;

Fourth: Title of Abstract and Proposal;

Fifth: The 400 to 500 Word Abstract.

To submit an abstract online follow these steps:

1) Go to our webpage: www.alternative-academia.net

2) Select your Symposium of choice within the list of annual events (listed by period and city)

3) Go to LOG IN at the top of the page

4) Create a User Name and Password for our system and log in

5) Click on the Call for Papers for the Symposium

6) Go to the end of the Call for Papers page and click on the First Step of Submission Process button

7) Follow the instructions provided for completing the abstract submission process

Accepted abstracts will require a full draft paper by Monday 12th of August, 2013. Papers are for a 20 minute presentation, 8 to 10 pages long, double spaced, Times New Roman 12. All papers presented at the symposium are eligible for publication as part of a digital or paperback book.

We invite colleagues and people interested in participating to disseminate this call for papers. Thank you for sharing and cross-listing where and whenever appropriate.

Hope to meet you in Angers!

Symposium Coordinators:

Albin Wagener

Directeur de l'IPLV

Institut en Perfectionnement en Langues Vivantes

Université Catholique de l'Ouest

Angers, France

Email: albin.wagener@uco.fr

Charlene Rajendran

Lecturer – Performance and Theatre Education

Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group

National Institute of Education

Nanyang Technological University

Singapore

Email: charlene.r@nie.edu.sg

Alejandro Cervantes-Carson

General Coordinator

International Network for Alternative Academia

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Email: acc@alternative-academia.net

Application for International Laboratory Instabili Vaganti, Bologna (deadline 31st July 2013)

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:17:46 GMT

Instabili Vaganti Laboratory 2013/14
International theatre training programme

The Laboratory is a path for higher education and research in the performing arts, created by Instabili Vaganti and open to performers from all over the world. The project is conceived by Anna Dora Dorno, director, pedagogue and actress and Nicola Pianzola, training director and actor of Instabili Vaganti. The aim is to create a permanent laboratory, source of new ideas and research that could support Instabili Vaganti Theatre Company in their projects.
The practical work involves a daily physical and vocal training based on the rhythm, the space, on the searching for a voice in accordance with the organic body and on the study of different qualities of an acting body and its energy spectrum. The training is followed by an artistic creation process consisting of research on dramaturgy, composition and montage of physical and vocal actions, in which the performer has the possibility to be in dialogue with other artistic media: live video, photos, installations, music. The starting point of this creative process is the sharing of materials and proposals that come from every participant of the laboratory and their consecutive development through individual and collective work.
The Laboratory takes place at LIV Performing Arts Centre.

Weekly plan
Intensive programme with Instabili Vaganti
tue– wed – thu h 10-15
Free space
fri h 10-14

Calendar 2013/2014
22nd October 2013 – 20th December 2013- 9 weeks
14th January 2014- 4th April 2014 – 11 weeks
22nd April 2014 – 23rd May 2014 – 5 weeks

Cost

1600€

300€ - deposit fee: 31^st July 2013

600€ - 31^st October 2013

700€- 15^th January 2014

Info: laboratori@instabilivaganti.com

http://www.liv-bo.com/programma-internazionale-di-alta-formazione-teatrale/

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