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digest 2006-01-06 #001.txt

litsci-l-digest       Thursday, January 5 2006       Volume 01 : Number
133



In this issue:

     Second Call for "SECOND NATURE: Reproduction and the Artificial in
Art, Science and New Media"   
     Call For Papers - Science & the Public: interdisciplinary
approaches

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Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 13:48:28 +0100
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jenny_Sund=E9n?= 
Subject: Second Call for "SECOND NATURE: Reproduction and the Artificial
in Art, Science and New Media"   

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Apologies for cross-posting!
Second Call for Papers!


Dear colleagues,

Please forward to interested parties the following Call for Papers.

Many thanks,
Jenny Sund=E9n and Rolf Hughes

__________________

SECOND NATURE:
Reproduction and the Artificial in Art, Science and New Media

With contributions from Eugene Thacker and Jay Bolter

Call for papers for a new collection of essays
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 9 January 2006
Response from editors: 6 February 2006
Final drafts due: 24 April 2006

Please mail proposals (as a Word or Adobe PDF attachment) to:
 and 

Or hard copy to:
Dr. Jenny Sund=E9n
Media Technology and Graphic Arts
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Lindstedtsv=E4gen 7
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Phone: +46 8 790 60 11

This anthology of essays seeks to explore technologies of
reproduction=20=

in a time when concepts like =91original=92 and =91origin=92 are =
profoundly=20
unsettled by notions of =91copy=92 and =91reiteration=92. One key aim is
=
to=20
investigate the many parallels and intersections between digital=20
reproduction and human reproduction, curiously neglected in most=20
discussions of reproductive technologies. The anthology will also=20
investigate our continuing attraction to both innovation and the
copy,=20=

the virus, the sample, and the clone, exploring the dialectic between=20
design intentionality and randomising systems of chance, and the=20
challenge these pose to interpretation and evaluation in contemporary=20
art and design, aesthetic criticism and cultural theory.

Science and technology studies and new media studies each address the=20
question of how reproductive technologies alter the meaning of
concepts=20=

such as =91origin=92, =91original=92, and =91originality=92 and how the
=
borders=20
between what we think of as =91authentic=92 and =91fake=92,
=91natural=92 =
and=20
=91artificial=92, are under constant negotiation and transformation.=20
Discussions of =91life=92 on one hand, and =91information=92 on the =
other,=20
converge in the idea of a society reducible to =91code=92 =96 whether =
this=20
means the code of life (DNA) or the code of information (computer=20
code). In research on artificial life (A-Life), there are even more=20
intricate fusions between info tech and biotech. If research in=20
artificial intelligence (AI) has strived to simulate intelligence in
a=20=

controlled, logical, top-down manner, then A-life is rather a
bottom-up=20=

enterprise about growing and teaching organisms to develop and adapt
on=20=

their own. Simulation and reproduction of various life forms is a=20
growing trend in areas such as digital literature, new media art, and=20
computer games. In spite of these interesting convergences, little
has=20=

been said and done in the discursive spaces between digital- and=20
life-creating reproductive technologies. The anthology=92s focus on=20
reproduction is therefore timely, bringing together new media studies=20
with science and technology studies.

The anthology will be structured around three themed sections:

Origins =96 On origin stories of humans, animals, and machines in an
era=20=

of bio-technological reproduction. This section focuses on the ways
in=20=

which cultural significations of kinship, family, body, sexuality,
and=20=

=91life itself=92 are altered in a society increasingly shaped around =
the=20
notion that everything can be reduced to code/information.
Reproductive=20=

technologies make possible new parental definitions and practices,
and,=20=

arguably, reconfigure cultural connotations of the maternal. With
human=20=

reproduction increasingly disconnected from institutions to which it=20
has traditionally been associated (heterosexuality, marriage, the=20
nuclear family etc.), in what ways do the cultural meanings of these=20
structures change? What are the implications of changes to the
previous=20=

epistemological certainty of motherhood and the distribution of the=20
maternal function across several (technological and human) agents?
How=20=

can we understand concepts of selfhood and individuality at a time
when=20=

the human body is increasingly represented as code, and thus capable
of=20=

being deciphered, transformed, extended and manipulated?

Originals =96 On the status of the original in a culture of the copy.=20
This section focuses on questions of identity, authenticity, aura,
and=20=

reproductive technologies. Walter Benjamin, in his seminal essay
=93The=20=

Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction=94 (1936), claims
that=20=

what is missing in every (lithographic or photographic) reproduction
is=20=

the authenticity of the original =96 its aura. One reason for this is=20
that technical reproduction (as opposed to manual reproduction)=20
releases the copy from the original and thereby from tradition, thus=20
replacing uniqueness with the possibility of mass-production. New=20
professional networks and technologies, art and design practices =96 =
such=20
as algorithmic, generative or =93evolutionary=94 design, artificial
life=20=

art, emergence, and metacreation (the design of generative and
creative=20=

processes) =96 and disciplinary hybrids =96 such as =93bioart=94 =
=93emergent=20
design=94, and =93information arts=94 =96 generate new types of
cultural=20=

(re)production, new metaphors, new possibilities for innovation, new=20
demands for interdisciplinary border crossings, new hybrid networks,=20
and new capacities for seeing connections. With technologies of=20
reproduction increasingly intervening in both works of art and (works=20
of) bodies, how does this affect our understanding of art, life, and=20
art-ificial life? What is the status of the =91aura=92 in digital works
=
of=20
art and reproduction?

Originality =96 On subjectivity and creativity in post-human=20
collaborations. The cultural convergence of art, science and
technology=20=

means that the concept of originality frames some of the most=20
controversial questions in research, questions relating to=20
accountability, authority, intellectual property, oeuvre and
intention.=20=

Any reconfiguration of originality will invariably affect our=20
understanding of these and related philosophical, economic,
aesthetic,=20=

legislative and political categories. The notion of an impersonal,=20
autonomous, evolving, actively reproductive machine or artificial=20
=91intelligence=92 profoundly unsettles assumptions underpinning
modern=20=

concepts of self and originality, as well as established distinctions=20
between human and non-human. This section focuses on creative
practices=20=

as material processes that make possible new kinds of alignments and=20
affinities between the creator/s, creative technologies, and the=20
resulting artifacts. Does human perception and individual creativity=20
today still remain the core evaluating criteria for an authentic
work?=20=

How do the prevailing metaphors of reproduction affect research in
the=20=

sciences, humanities and interdisciplinary forms of inquiry?

Interdisciplinary contributions are welcomed. Potential contributors=20
should mail an abstract proposal of 300 words plus a short bio to the=20
editors by 9 January 2006. Abstracts will be reviewed and a shortlist=20
of contributors approached by 1 February 2006.

The anthology theme draws upon the Cultures of Reproduction seminar,=20
chaired by Jenny Sund=E9n, held at the ACSIS (Advanced Cultural
Studies=20=

Institute of Sweden) conference 2005, and on the body of research
under=20=

development by Rolf Hughes and architect Pablo Miranda in the
research=20=

project "Auto-Poeisis and Design: Authorship and Generative=20
Strategies", funded by the Swedish National Research Council=20
(Vetenskapsr=E5det) 2005-2007. The anthology will be co-edited by
Rolf=20=

Hughes and Jenny Sund=E9n.

Rolf Hughes is senior researcher at the School of Architecture, Royal=20
Institute of Technology, Stockholm, for the project Auto-poiesis and=20
design: authorship and generative strategies. He holds the UK=92s
first=20=

Ph.D. in Creative and Critical Writing (funded by the British
Academy)=20=

from the University of East Anglia and has co-edited two collections
of=20=

interdisciplinary essays: The Book of Models: Essays on Ceremonies,=20
Metaphor and Performance (Open University, UK: 1998, reprinted 2003)=20
and Hybrid Thought (Open University, UK: 2003). His research
interests=20=

include interdisciplinary methodologies, practice-based research,=20
authorship and automated or generative forms of cultural production,=20
and the challenge of innovation within the culture of the copy. He is=20
currently co-editing a collection of essays on =93Architecture and=20
Authorship=94 for the collaborative research project Architecture and =
its=20
Mythologies with Katja Grillner and Timothy Anstey, and teaching a=20
course at Konstfack on originality, identity and experience design
with=20=

Ronald Jones, artist and professor of Interdisciplinary Studies,=20
entitled =93The End of Me: Innovation and Post-Human Creativity=94.

Jenny Sund=E9n is Assistant Professor in Media Technology at the
School=20=

of Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of Technology=20
(KTH) in Stockholm. She received her Ph.D. from The Department of=20
Communication Studies, Linkoping University. She was a visiting
scholar=20=

at The Department of English, University of California at Berkeley in=20
1998-1999, and received in 2003 a postdoctoral research grant from=20
STINT (The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in
Research=20=

and Higher Education) to stay at INCITE (Incubator for Critical
Inquiry=20=

into Technology and Ethnography), University of Surrey, UK. She has=20
published primarily on new media, cultural studies, cyberfeminism,=20
virtual worlds, online ethnography and digital textuality. She is the=20
author of =93Material Virtualities: Approaching Online Textual=20
Embodiment=94 (2003, Peter Lang), as well as a co-author of
=93Digital=20=

Borderlands: Cultural Studies of Identity and Interactivity on the=20
Internet=94 (2002, Peter Lang).



Jenny Sund=E9n
Ph D, Assistant Professor
Dep of Media Technology and Graphic Arts
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Stockholm, Sweden

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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 19:47:22 +0000
From: alice bell 
Subject: Call For Papers - Science & the Public: interdisciplinary
approaches

Call For Papers - Science & the Public: interdisciplinary approaches

Inaugural Science Communication Postgraduate Conference
Science and the Public: interdisciplinary approaches
Saturday May 20th 2006, Imperial College, London

This day-long postgraduate conference has been organised by Imperial
College and the London PUS Seminar Group to help bring together
researchers from the disparate strands of academia that consider
science as it exists and influences public life.

We hope to attract delegates from a wide variety of disciplines;
bringing together researchers from science and technology studies,
science communication, history, cultural studies, psychology,
anthropology, literary criticism, education, museum studies,
sociology, media studies, policy studies, geography and others.

Abstracts for submission of a 20-minute paper around the topic of
science and the public are welcomed from research postgraduate
students in any field. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words
and emailed to scienceandpublic@googlemail.com by 1st March 2006.
Enquires to alice.bell@imperial.ac.uk or sarah.davies@imperial.ac.uk.

The conference fee is =A310 and there may be travel grants available to
those giving papers (details will follow).
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------------------------------

End of litsci-l-digest V1 #133
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