Dear Colleagues,
I would like to draw your attention to the following two calls for papers.
Please address any response directly to me at dam@aber.ac.uk
Best wishes from
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe
*******************************
Call for Papers (1)
The ISSEI (International Society for the Study of European Ideas)
Conference:
Approaching a New Millennium: Lessons from the Past - Prospects for the
Future
will take place in Bergen, Norway, from the 14th to 18th August 2000.
For further details on Programme, Registration and Accommodation, see
http://www.uib.no/issei2000/
At this conference I will chair a workshop on The Future of Beauty in the
Arts and Literature
Much of what is going on in the arts and in literature is not what I would
call beautiful. I find the heritage of realism and naturalism of the 19th
century problematic if it inspires yet another delving into the abyss of
human psychopathology. To argue with German theatre director Gründgens: it
is eminently easy to write, direct, and perform in such a way that it is
ugly, or that it causes a scandal. Gründgens' words about the theatre are
true also for the other arts and literature. This is a personal, subjective
view, and there is a problem here, which boils down to the catch phrase
"beauty is in the eyes of the beholder": beauty is somehow intangible, very
subjective, beyond objective (and that means, scientific) means of gaining
knowledge which dominate, and are thus favoured by, the current (western)
mind-set.
This mind-set, however, shows indications of change: in the booming debate
on human consciousness, for example, an Internet-based seminar, extending
over two weeks, and generating some 500 pages of text in printout, was
specifically devoted to establishing ways of dealing scientifically with
the subjective realm of the emotions, and there is basic research into
neurophysiological correlates of beauty (i.e., changes of
neurophysiological parameters when a subject is shown pictures deemed
beautiful or not by the experimenters). Research has also shown that
regarding the beauty of faces, universal patterns seem to exist:
statistically speaking, we tend to agree overall whether a face shown to us
at random is beautiful or not, independent of our own age, gender, race,
culture, etc., or that of the individuals on the photos.
Common sense would suggest that although beauty is predominantly associated
with things we see, it is not limited to that one sense, or sensual
experience altogether. We may well describe sounds as beautiful (classical
music, for example), or the smell or taste of a favourite meal, or the
touch of a specific fabric. For some of those, most languages have
developed more sense-specific terms, such a delicious for taste, but the
ultimate characteristic implied by those terms is the same. Intellectual
stimulation can be called beautiful, or the creative acts, say, of writing
a paper, a poem, or play, or of composing, painting, etc. Beyond all those
manifest objects of beauty, Plato would locate the form of beauty, beauty
as such. It is beauty itself, of itself, with itself, uniform, and of
eternal being. All expressions of beauty have part in this form of beauty,
and all expressions of beauty exist to enable the direct experience of the
form of beauty, as the ultimate goal.
Is Plato's philosophy relevant for us today, does it have a role in the
future? In the workshop at the conference, I want to provide a broad basis
for a thorough reassessment of the European traditions of beauty in the
arts (fine arts, performing arts, media arts), and in literature, not as a
return to some distant, and allegedly ideal past, but as a constructive
means of realising the potential of the arts for the 21st century.
I would like to invite interested contributors to submit an abstract of not
more than one page. Deadline: 20 January 2000
CALL FOR PAPERS (2)
Next year, I will launch a peer-reviewed, internet-based journal on
Consciousness Literature and the Arts
The journal provides a forum for new work relating the arts and literature
to the exploration of consciousness currently flourishing in many
disciplines such as philosophy, cognitive science, psychology,
neuroscience, computer science, and physics.
Submissions are welcome from the fields of fine arts, performing arts
(performance, theatre, dance, music), and media arts (film, television,
multimedia, hypermedia), literature and any sub-categories of those areas.
The journal publishes both scholarly, critical work and creative-artistic
material. Authors are encouraged to make full use of options provided by
the internet as publishing medium.
The journal is fully peer-reviewed: each submission is sent on an anonymous
basis to two acknowledged representatives of the field. Authors are
provided with a full response to their submission, indicating detailed
suggestions for change where appropriate.
The journal is published 3-4 times a year, with supplements publishing
relevant conference proceedings.
I am now inviting papers (10,000 words maximum) and other contributions
suitable to the internet format. Please submit by email attachment or disk
with hardcopy.
I am also inviting colleagues to put themselves forward as members of the
editorial board, or to indicate willingness to serve as reviewer of a
number of papers in your subject areas.
**************************************************
Dr. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe
Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies
1 Laura Place, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 2AU
Wales, UK
Tel ++44 1970 622835; Fax ++44 1970 622831
email: dam@aber.ac.uk
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