NECS–European
Network for Cinema and Media Studies
13–15 June 2019
Hosted
by the University of Gdańsk, Poland.
Deadline for submissions: 31st January 2019
https://necs.org/conference/cfp-2019/cfp-conference/
For
ages, storytelling has been a source of pleasure and consolation. Telling
stories brought people together, allowed them to share experiences and transfer
knowledge. Narrative was the most efficient device for storing, ordering and
disseminating information. Yet, the times, they are a-changing. New
communication technologies appear, which bring about the crucial question: What
is the place of storytelling nowadays? Born in times when verbal language and
talking were the main means of communication, it seems to have inherited their
basic traits: linearity, a sequential nature and logical structure, all of
which have imbued reality with sense. The theatrical feature film, which
dominated the media landscape throughout most of the twentieth century,
enhanced basic traits of narrative, supplementing it with a visible human agent
who occupied a central part of almost every frame, and was the principal force
controlling the flow of events. Narrative—pleasurable, effective, inextricably
close to common human experience—appears to be seriously challenged. According
to Thomas Elsaesser, we are experiencing an epochal shift, passing from two
symbolic systems of representation (visual-mimetic, embodied by easel painting,
and verbal-symbolic, embodied by books) which have dominated since Renaissance,
to a communication built around computers, wireless telephony and digitisation:
“The consequence is that narrative (as the traditionally most efficient
organising principle of connecting disparate information to a user) has to
contend and rival with the archive and the database and their forms of
organisation and user-contact.”
At
this point the question arises: to what extent is narrative historically
specific and technology- and medium-dependent? Can it still hold its role as a
basic ordering device in times when information achieves the speed of light,
when the logic of sequence is supplanted by the logic of immediacy and
simultaneity, when simple causal relations are replaced by complex systems of
multifaceted influences, where the effects are unpredictable and
incommensurable with the causes, and where the agent who stands behind the
events is not just difficult to detect, but very often simply undetectable?
The
questions about the relationship between structures and technologies also apply
to genres and media. How have classical narrative forms changed, such as
novels, feature films, television series, and to what extent is this newness a
result of a technological shift? What happens to a story when it changes its
medium, moving between films, comic strips, graphic novels, photo-romances,
computer games, animations, and many more? What role does storytelling play in
genres which are not necessarily narrative, like many television genres, and
also “internet genres”, like YouTube videos, web series, interactive video
games, vines? And what about “new media”, and “new new media art”, like net
art, bio art, location media art, software art? Do they tell stories? Do they
use narrative formats? And if they do, what peculiarities ensue from this
encounter of old structure with new materialities? One should also not overlook
the phenomenon of hybridity in traditional cultural forms, like museums and art
galleries. What we can witness there is a process of narrativisation of museum
spaces and exhibitions, and also, of spatialisation of stories in art
galleries, for example in installations.
The
shift in storytelling also affects methodologies of media studies. Old “big
master” narratives and teleology of progress, although still in use, have lost
their appeal. New orientations and research perspectives have appeared, like
big data, critical infrastructure studies, object-oriented ontology, media
geology and geography, open science. They seem more “spatial” than temporal,
more synchronic than diachronic, and in that they seem to be better suited to the
post-digital era. Academics, scholars and critics have started to use new film
forms. On the one hand, popular film critics upload their video reviews and
video essays on YouTube, without using the written word, while on the other
hand, critical consensus about certain films is presented as a mere number on
aggregation websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic.
The
NECS 2019 conference will focus on narrative structures and voices in
post-digital times. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, the
following topics:
●
classic and new approaches to storytelling
● forms
of organisation of the narrative
● narrative
structures and new technologies
● beyond
narration – new approaches, constructs and ideas
●
between reality and fiction
●
genres, currents and their hybrids
● speech
genres in post-digital times
● puzzle
films and slow cinema
●
narrative techniques and complexity in TV genres
●
operational aesthetics
●
transmedia storytelling
●
diversity in storytelling: beyond (gendered, racialised or other) stereotypes
●
experimental and avant-garde cinema and their narrative techniques
● new
media art storytelling
●
human-less media
● video
platforms, home movies, smartphone films
●
storytelling in 5D, VR and expanded cinematic experience
● the
future of cinematic experience
●
storytelling in games and interactive environments
●
storytelling techniques in web genres: video essays, YouTube videos, vines and
more
● aural
media and storytelling
●
narrativisation of museum spaces
● new
forms of media criticism
● local
and glocal narratives
●
subaltern narratives
● small
cinematographies and the politics of identity
● local
cultures and minorities in cinema
●
between national and transnational
●
censorship and disrupted narratives
●
marketing, PR, distribution techniques and their influence on narrative
patterns
●
advertising, marketing and storytelling
●
teaching, designing programmes, and storytelling
● media
historiography and storytelling patterns
Scholars
from all areas of cinema and media studies, whether previously affiliated with
NECS or new to the network, are invited to submit proposals, but NECS
membership is a requirement.
FORMATS
When
preparing a submission for NECS 2019 please keep in mind the following
restrictions. Individuals may submit only one paper proposal, either as
individual presenters or as part of a pre-constituted panel or workshop.
Conference participants may only serve in a MAXIMUM of two capacities. These
might be:
●
delivering a paper and serving as a chair of either a panel or a workshop
●
delivering a paper and participating in a workshop
●
delivering a paper and serving as a respondent on another panel
●
chairing a workshop and serving as a respondent on a panel
●
chairing a panel and participating in a workshop
INDIVIDUAL
PAPERS
Individual
presenters wishing to submit a proposal for a paper presentation of max. 20
minutes are required to provide their name, email address, the title of the
paper, an abstract (max. 300 words), key biographical references (max. 200
words), and a short bio of the speaker (max. 150 words).
PRE-CONSTITUTED
PANELS
We
support the submission of proposals for pre-constituted panels with 3 or 4
papers (3 papers only if there is a respondent) in order to strengthen the
thematic coherence of panels. Furthermore, several thematically related panels
may form larger clusters. We would like to strongly encourage members of the
NECS workgroups to put together pre-constituted panels, but we also welcome
submissions from academic research project teams, museums, archives, and other
institutions. We highly recommend no more than two speakers from the same institution
with a maximum of 20 minutes speaking time per paper. Panel organisers are
asked to submit panel proposals that include a panel title, a short description
of the panel (max. 300 words) and information on all of the individual papers
of the panel, as described above.
WORKSHOPS
Events
such as workshops, roundtables or seminars – both pre-conference and conference
– concentrating on more practical aspects of our field, e.g. teaching, research
methods, publishing, or networking with the media industry are also welcome.
Speaking time should be limited to 10 minutes per participant. Organisers are
asked to submit workshop proposals that include a title and a short description
(max. 300 words) with a list of participants.
WORKGROUPS
There
will be an opportunity for NECS workgroups to meet during the conference.
Please notify the conference organisers if you wish to hold a workgroup
meeting: necs2019gdansk@gmail.com
Please
submit all proposals before 31st January 2019 using the submission form
available at: https://necs.org/conference/proposal-submission-form/
The
submission form is only open to registered NECS members who have paid the
membership fee. For instructions on how to become a member of NECS and how to
pay the membership fee please consult our website: http://necs.org/faq
Participants
will have to cover their own travel and accommodation expenses. Travel
information, a list of local hotels and information on further events will be
posted on the NECS conference website in Spring 2019
See
also: https://necs.org/faq.
Please
email all inquiries that cannot be answered by the FAQ to:
necs2019gdansk@gmail.com
ACCOMPANYING
EVENTS
THE
17th NECS GRADUATE WORKSHOP
The
NECS Graduate Workshop has been designed to give scholars at the beginning of
their career a platform for networking with established European film and media
scholars. The 17th NECS Graduate Workshop in Gdańsk (12 June 2019) is dedicated
to the topic of Skill, Deskill, Reskill. Media Uses as Labour Protocols.
You
will find the CFP online at: https://necs.org/conference/cfp-2019/cfp-workshop
Please
send your submission with an abstract (max. 200 words) and a short bio (max.
150 words) to: graduates@necs.org
ORGANISING
COMMITTEE: Paweł Biliński (University of Gdańsk), Patrycja Chuszcz (University
of Łódź), Adam Cybulski (University of Łódź), Marta Maciejewska (University of
Gdańsk), Paulina Pohl (University of Gdańsk), Łukasz Tokarczyk (University of
Łódź)
NECS
2019 CONFERENCE ORGANISERS
NECS
STEERING COMMITTEE: Judith Keilbach, Bregt Lameris, Skadi Loist, Michał
Pabiś-Orzeszyna, Francesco Pitassio, Antonio Somaini, Alena Strohmaier
NECS
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE: Marie Aude Baronian, Luca Barra, Laura Copier, Sudeep
Dasgupta, James Harvey-Davitt, Rahma Khazam, Daniel Kulle, Marta Maciejewska,
Raphaelle Moine, Michał Pabiś-Orzeszyna, Paulina Pohl, Mirosław Przylipiak,
Antonio Somaini, Jan Teurlings
LOCAL
ORGANISING TEAM: Paweł Biliński, Kamil Bryl, Grzegorz Fortuna, Joanna
Kiedrowska, Marta Maciejewska, Paulina Pohl, Mirosław Przylipiak, Piotr Wajda,
Krystyna Weiher-Sitkiewicz
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