The Department of Culture Studies at the University of Wrocław, SWPS University of Social Science and Humanities, and Northern Arizona University invite proposals for papers to be presented at a three-day conference, June 17-19, 2016
Location: University of Wrocław (Wrocław Poland)
Keynote speaker:
Richard Shusterman (The Center for Body, Mind, and Culture, Florida Atlantic University)
Conference Committee:
Raymond Boisvert (Siena College, NY)
Mirosław Kocur (University of Wrocław)
Dorota Koczanowicz (University of Wrocław, SWPS University of Social Science and Humanities)
Carolyn Korsmeyer (University at Buffalo, SUNY)
Dorota Monkiewicz (MWW Wrocław Contemporary Museum)
Nicola Perullo (University of Gastronomic Sciences)
Russell Pryba (Northern Arizona University)
Richard Shusterman (Florida Atlantic University)
Krystyna Wilkoszewska (Jagiellonian University)
Dorota Wolska (University of Wrocław)
A specific trend in modern visual arts involves artists enthusiastically embracing food as an artistic medium. The depiction of food in the arts is not new. Recently, however, adistinct turn has taken place, with food products becoming not only a theme in art but also the raw material of art. Since the 1930’s, consumption of food and drink has been used both to expand the scope of arts and to comment critically on contemporary culture, raising issues of consumption, ecology, globalization, hospitality, gender, politics, etc. The work of many artists challenges traditional assumptions a about a sharp art/life division as well as challenging traditional aesthetic norms. There are thus artists who become cooks, but also cooks who see themselves as artists. A prime example of this latter is Ferran Adrià, founder of molecular cuisine, whom the art world has embraced as its own. In the face of these tendencies, this conference will be examining (a) the extent to which it is possible to merge the two realms; (b) what sorts of overlapping possibilities exist between artists and cooks; and (c) what all this might mean for a revised understanding of the “aesthetic.”
This conference will explore the ways in which the art world meets gastronomic culture; it will analyze the objectives of food centered artistic practices and the aesthetic discourse on the question of the artistic validity of food and cooking.
Conference papers should address one of the following two domains:
1) discussion of aesthetic value of food
2) art works and artistic practices focusing on food
A selection of the best seminar papers will be considered, after an external double blind review process, for publication in a volume.
Abstracts of 250 words, and a current CV, should be sent electronically as attachments, no later than February 15, 2016, to Dorota Koczanowicz at: dorota.koczanowicz@uni.wroc.pl . Please direct conference inquiries to the same address.
Prospective speakers will be notified by March, 2016. Conference fee: 100 €, 70 € (doctoral students)
Organizers:
Dorota Koczanowicz dorota.koczanowicz@uni.wroc.pl Russell Pryba rpryba@gmail.com