We are now accepting paper and artwork submissions for the 6th annual Philosophy and the Arts Conference at Stony Brook, Manhattan, to take place on March 29-30, 2013. We welcome submissions from currently-enrolled graduate students working in philosophy, art, or a related field.
The theme for the 2013 conference is “Soundscapes and Territories” and will focus on the relationships between the sonic and the spatial and their socio-political, ontological, ethical, and institutional implications. The traffic and noise of Manhattan determines a rhythm in the daily life of a New Yorker. Identities and communities are constantly being delimited by a person’s dialect or accent. One of the publicized aspects of Occupy Wall Street was the “human microphone.” Bird songs delineate mating territories or the encroachment of predators. Erik Satie once defined his sonic arrangements as ‘furniture music.’ These are all instances of soundscapes and their relationships to institutions of power and multiple networks of the material conditions of life.
Understanding sound as an integral aspect of the formation of space, place, and territory, we invite papers and artworks (including digital media, performance, and installation) that consider a range of questions, including (but not limited to) the following:
- Technology and Sound: Human technologies of sound disorient, disrupt, and displace certain territories and migratory patterns. What are the ethics of human beings’ acoustic relationships with nature and other animals? How do emerging sound technologies affect the environment?
- Urban Planning and Architecture: In what ways are subjects affected by the soundscape of their given location (e.g., city or rural suburbs)? How do Design/Architecture/Urban Planning wield sound to establish a pace or rhythm of life?
- Language and Politics: What are the relationships between language and sound? How do language and accent play a role in the production of borders and the marginalization (economic, racial, etc.) of communities? How does sound manifest as a form of power?
- Ethics an Embodiment: What happens when we challenge occularcentric notions of embodiment? How are rhythm, dance, movement, and choreography linked to sound and the temporal dimensions of embodiment?
- Mood, Music, and Film: How does sound establish mood? How has the scoring of music contributed to developments in film and other forms of art?
- Memory: Consider phenomenological, psychological, or biological analyses of the relationship between sound and memory – how does sound facilitate or frustrate memory?
All submissions should be prepared for blind review and suitable for a 20-minute presentation (approximately 3000 words or 8-11 pages). Please visit the Philosophy and the Arts Conference website at http://www.philosophyartconference.org for more information and complete submission instructions. All submissions must be received by January 13, 2013. If you have any questions, please contact us at philosophyartconference@gmail.com.