Symposium CFP

Call for Proposals

This is a call to submit a 500-word chapter proposal of original, non-published material for a book that examines the theory, practice, and art of movement capture, analysis and preservation, edited by Grethe Mitchell.  Selected authors will be invited to submit 4000 to 6000 word chapters for the book and will have an opportunity to present their work at the accompanying symposium in the UK (19-21 January 2012, venue TBC).

This project is supported by the AHRC’s Beyond Text programme, which has funded 40 projects to tackle key questions of how we communicate across time and place, using performance, sound, images, and objects.

Since Muybridge laid trip wires to aid the photography of a horse in motion in 1878, scholars in the arts and humanities, as well as practitioners in the creative, performing and entertainment industries, have been increasingly drawn to capturing, recording, analysing and preserving movement. In these disciplines and sectors, numerous technologies including non-digital notation, cinematography and markerless motion tracking have come to be used for these purposes.

In this era of technological convergence, sharing knowledge and developing new practices across traditional disciplinary boundaries, in so-called real and virtual environments, and in the liminal spaces in between, have become possible and even necessary.  Therefore the time is right for an interdisciplinary investigation of issues and practices in movement capture, recording and preservation.

Chapter proposals are welcomed from academics, archivists, curators and scholars working in a broad range of disciplines; practitioners in art and design, music and performing arts as well as those working in the creative, entertainment and other relevant industries.  We also welcome proposals from R&D teams in the commercial sector.  These proposals will address the theoretical, practical and ethical concerns of capturing, analysing and preserving or archiving movement.  In addition, case studies that examine affordable and hybrid use of technologies will also be of interest.

If there are good reasons for chapters longer or shorter than 4000 to 6000 words, selected authors can address a request to the editor before 04 December 2011.

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• What is meant by movement?
• How is movement captured and analysed? By what methods?
• How do these methods illustrate how movement is perceived and represented?
• What are the salient elements in movement capture, analysis and preservation?
• How, or is, the ephemeral nature of movement ever captured?  And, what does it say about those who want to capture it?
• When is movement worth preserving and analysing? Why?
• How does movement capture balance complexity and ease-of-use, ensure fidelity and completeness, and/or become versatile in its representation?
• What are the ethics of capturing and preserving movement?
• What possibilities for movement are unleashed or hindered by its capture, analysis, and representation?
• How are technologies integrated with the body and with body movement?
• What is the relationship of time and space to movement capture/recording, analysis and preservation?
• What are the aesthetic, social, cultural and/or political concerns of movement capture and preservation?
• How does location and duration affect movement capture, analysis and/or preservation?

The intended audience for this book and symposium includes faculty, students, practitioners and policy-makers across a broad range of disciplines in the arts and humanities, as well as from the creative, entertainment and other industries. Chapter proposals should therefore minimise specialised language where possible.

This project has relatively short turnaround times for review and submission.  The deadline for chapter proposal submissions is 0900 (GMT/UT), Monday 26th September 2011.  Please also see below for other important dates and deadlines.

Proposals should be submitted in Rich Text Format (RTF) and emailed as attachments to gmitchell(at)lincoln.ac.uk.  Please also attach a brief biography stating professional and research interests and affiliations.  A brief list of publications or relevant activities can also be included.