CALL FOR ART – Intersections: Cinema, Performance, Networked Media, and Politics

Venue: College Art Association Conference, Media Lounge
Exhibit Date: February 6, 2016 @ CAA Conference in Washington, D.C.
Deadline to Enter: 8/31/15
Entry Fee: FREE
Eligibility: Open to all artists ages 18+.

The New Media Caucus is programming a session for the ARTspace Media Lounge entitled Intersections: Cinema, Performance, Networked Media, and Politics, under the theme of VISIBLE/INVISIBLE at CAA 2016 in Washington, DC.

Theme

This year’s theme, VISIBLE/INVISIBLE explores the legacy of identity and representation politics, considered in the context of our present culture where individuals, organizations and ideas can be easily captured, tracked, exposed, appropriated from the circulation of digital material which simultaneously feeds capitalist media assembly lines and alternative economies. Through Media Lounge programming we aim to foster a dialog centered on emerging artistic sensibilities that mix art and a politics of representation amid a transforming sociopolitical landscape.

Session

This two hour session will include 6-8 artists presenting work to help build a multi-threaded conversation that encourages interaction between the presenters and attendees. No written papers will be read. We expect the participants to briefly show/present the work and ideas related to the theme and to participate in the ensuing discussions.

Description

This panel will consider the impact that networked media, interactivity, and digital culture have had on cinema and performance. In particular, recent historical examples demonstrate that new uses of technology facilitate political communication, organization, resistance, protest, overthrow, etc. We seek new media artists, performers, filmmakers and documentarians to present work that engages, explores or responds to this context. Works may address but are not limited to any of the following:

  • Groupthink and Mob Mentality as Public Performance
  • Political Performance of Protests, Demonstrations, Riots, and Race as Amplified National Conversation
  • Tactical Media Networking — Social Media to Create Toolkits to Distribute Methods and Means of Resistance, Crowdsourced and Collaborative Resistance
  • Arab Spring, Use of Social Networks as Public Protest, Ethics of Twitter, Tactical Social Media
  • Washington D.C. as “Site,” the 2016 Presidential Race, Instagram Accounts of Politicians
  • Standards of Decency, Body Policing, Youtube as Theater, Persona and Celebrity
  • Performance of Racial and Gender Identities in the Age of Avatars and Virtual Bodies, Politics of Virtual Environments
  • Duration, Endurance and Persistence in Performance and Cinema
  • Expanded or Exploded Cinemas that Incorporate Crowdsourced and Networked Footage
  • The Bleeding of Cinema Into Theater, Performance Art, Sculpture, Installation
  • Using Technology to Expose the Mechanics and Processes of Cinema, Cinema as Performance Collaborator
  • Fictive Documentary as a Means for Constructing Truth

All media will be considered, but we are particularly interested in new media works that engage performative and cinematic conventions in new ways. Works must be able to be presented digitally or performed at CAA 2016 in Washington DC. Preference given to the following forms: new media, digital art, queer art, feminist art, activist based art, performance art and digital nonfiction.

Additionally, we are interested in receiving proposals for a durational performance piece to occur during this session and possibly to extend over the whole day. The anticipated schedule is to have workshops from 9-11am, 12-2pm, 3-5pm with hour breaks from 11-12pm and 2-3pm.

This call is for a 2-hour New Media Caucus sponsored session in the CAA Media Lounge.
Participants must be NMC members.
There are no membership fees. JOIN NMC
Participants do not need to be CAA members.
NMC does not fund conference fees, transportation, or hotels for participants.

Presenting in a Media Lounge session does not disqualify you from chairing a panel or serving as a panelist in another session at CAA.

Please submit work sample(s) through our Google Form here: https://goo.gl/85QhmE by August 31, 2015. Questions may be sent to NMCopencall@gmail.com

Selection Process and Criteria

A jury of four New Media Caucus members will consider the submissions in a broad context of our overall theme that looks for connections between the works. Works and presenters will be selected based on their ability to contribute to creating a dynamic, diverse, and interactive new media experience. Notifications will be made by the end of September.

Publishing Requirement:

Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus will publish a conference edition after the CAA conference, showcasing conference proceedings sponsored by the NMC. To this end, Individuals are required to submit materials for the journal edition. Media-N offers flexibility regarding how to achieve the publishing requirement. Once invitations are accepted, the Editor-in-Chief of Media-N will contact the chair(s) to further discuss and plan for the publishing requirement. All materials for publication must be completed by mid-April after the conference.

Definitions

ARTspace is a conference within the conference that is tailored to the interests and needs of artists but is open to all attendees. ARTspace is organized by CAA’s Services to Artists Committee.

The Media Lounge is a space for innovative new media programming in conjunction with ARTspace at the College Art Association’s Annual Conference.

The New Media Caucus is a College Art Association Affiliate Society and an international non-profit association formed to promote the development and understanding of new media art.