TrAIN & CCW Graduate School | Contested Sites/Sights Research Conference |
Conference
New suburb of Tangier placed in former mining region La Unión, Murcia, from the Imported Landscapes series, 2010
Multidisciplinary Research Conference at Chelsea College of Art & Design
Supported by the Transnational Art, Identity, & Nation Research Centre (TrAIN), CCW Graduate School, University of the Arts London
Conference Date: March 1st 2012, 10:00am-5:30pm
Description
Doctoral Candidates affiliated to the TrAIN research centre at CCW Graduate School are issuing an open call for papers on the theme of ‘Contested Sites/Sights’, to encourage dialogue between other PhD researchers outside the University of The Arts London. The purpose of this conference is to meet with other University researchers and exchange knowledge on themes and issues, which are relevant to our own, shared practices.
This is the first student-led research conference sponsored by the Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity, and Nation (TrAIN) and we are hoping for a response from a diverse range of Doctoral researchers.
Synopsis for Open Call (Open to Research Students ONLY)
“[If we think of place] as formed out of social interrelations at all scales, then one view of a place is as a particular articulation of those relations, a particular moment in those networks of social relations and understandings.”
- Doreen Massey, Space, Place, Gender (1994)
Using Massey as a platform for our open call, ‘Contested Sites/Sights’ welcomes contributions from PhD students whose research is concerned by equivocal territories. By this we understand ‘experienced locations where agreement is never attained or where consensus cannot be reached’. Particularity, subjectivity, as well as embodiment, are key elements of such territories in terms of how these are viewed or interpreted. Hence the choice of the binomial Sites/Sights, which can be approached either as two separate working categories or as a conceptual interplay which is dependent on both terms.
Submitted papers (which could include practice based research material) will hopefully raise questions around and build on either or both themes, in their various interpretations. Interdisciplinary contributions will be encouraged. Though this list is not exhaustive, research topics relevant to this year’s conference might explore multiple imaginings and articulations of contested sites/sights in relation to the following:
• The body
• Histories and memories of place making
• Belonging and ownership: Constructions of private vs. public spheres
• “Safe” spaces of consensus versus spaces of conflict
• “Transgendered”/“queered” spaces
Conference & Exhibition details
Conference
(March 1st 2012, 10:00am-5:30pm)
Keynote speaker to start off the day, followed by presentation Panels chaired by senior TrAIN members.
Presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. The selection committee strongly encourages non-traditional presentations, which avoid a lecture and slide show format (for example, special consideration will be given to performances, conversation and interactive workshop style presentations).
Responses to the open call (Open to Research Students ONLY)
Please send an abstract of maximum 200 words and include details about your affiliation and research topic.
Send to: [email protected] or [email protected]
Deadline: Friday 7th October 2011
You will be notified by Tuesday 18th October 2011
Contested Sites/Sights Committee
Head Organiser: Ope Lori
Group: Pamela Kember, Idit Nathan, Sara Angel Guerrero-Rippberger, Corinne Silva, Caroline Rabourdin, Kimathi Donkor
