Call for Submissions, special issue of Digital Creativity, 27:1, January 2016
the flesh that covers me is the flesh that covers the sun (Dylan Thomas)
1. GUEST EDITORS
Stanislav Roudavski and Jon McCormack
2. THEME
This special issue aims to audit existing conceptions of creativity in the light of non-anthropocentric interpretations of agency, autonomy, subjectivity, social practices and technologies. A review and update of these conceptions is prudent in the age when human creativity is credited as the dominant, yet hugely destructive, influence on the planetary environment.
The conceptual componentry of creativity is in redesign on many shop floors including those of new materialism (Barrett and Bolt, eds, 2013; Coole and Frost, eds, 2010), speculative realism and object-oriented philosophy (Bryant, et al., eds, 2011), posthumanism (Callus and Herbrechter, 2012), ontological designing (Fry, 2012), biology (Turner, 2000), science and technology studies (Knorr-Cetina, 1999), multispecies ethnography (Kirksey and Helmreich, 2010), deep ecology (Sessions, ed., 1995), post-environmentalism (Shellenberger and Nordhaus, eds, 2011) and ecosystem approaches (Waltner-Toews, et al., eds, 2008), to name but a few.
In response, the editors propose two lines of enquiry, aiming to engage and extend the relevant work that already exists in a variety of disciplines:
The first will consider the , and of creativity. With current developments emphasizing the interdependence between human and biophysical systems, nonhuman entities can be seen as creative agents. How do such agents differ from the recipients of their creativity? Posthumanism questioned understandings of humanity but largely continued the focus on human invention, human freedom and human self-construction through technology. Can matter, things, nonhuman organisms, technologies, tools and machines, biota or institutions be seen as creative? Turning from agents to relationships and processes, are the concepts of embodied or autonomous agency necessary for thinking about creativity? How can existing notions of creativity be extended or challenged through the developing understandings of complexity, emergence, supervenience, evolution and ecosystems?
With the notion of creative agency made more inclusive, the second line of enquiry will consider the , , and of creativity. The concept of creativity implies production of desirable novelty. But is production of novelty always of value? In a finite world, the creation of the new often comes with the destruction of the old. Should creativity be judged by the equity of its goals (cf. net-zero or regenerative creativity)? Can the ethics of creativity be defined through the characteristics of its processes (cf. slow creativity or resource recycling)? Should current power relationships be reshaped (e.g., from mastery over nature to deep listening and from creativity to stewardship)? Answers to these questions are interesting because they can challenge established worldviews by interrogating freedoms, rights, voices, subjectivities and the imaginations of all stakeholders, human or otherwise.
Returning to the remit of the journal, how can these lines of enquiry illuminate, benefit from, expand, reinterpret or challenge existing and forthcoming phenomena of computation or – in other words – of “digital creativity”?
3. PARTICIPANTS AND ARTICLES
This issue seeks to produce an interdisciplinary conversation with contributions from art, design, computing, engineering, architecture, philosophy and science. The editors particularly encourage submissions that include analytical explorations of existing practices through multispecies ethnographies, case reconstructions, actor following, process accounts or other research methods. Submissions can also extrapolate into critical appraisals of future possibilities using thought experiments, speculative designs, design fictions or imaginable use-case scenarios. In this context, possible and emerging practices, early prototypes or partial demonstrators can be appropriate and are welcome.
The editors encourage innovative narrative or visual strategies that can express relevant scenarios better that more typical forms of academic writing. Dialogues, conversations, plays, scripts, instruction sets, games or visual essays (for example) might be suitable alongside logical arguments or formulae.
4. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Initial proposals should be submitted as abstracts of 800-1200 words, exclusive of references and biographies. The extended abstract should include the following information: 1) Name of author(s) with email addresses and affiliation, if applicable; 2) Title of the paper; 3) Body of the abstract; 4) Preliminary bibliography; 5) Author(s)’s short bio(s); and 6) Indication of whether the submission will be a short or a long paper.
Following acceptance of the abstract by the editors, the final articles will be accepted subject to a double-blind peer review process. Typical forms are short articles (2500-3500 words) and long articles (5000-7000) words, inclusive of references. Alternative narrative forms will be also considered as discussed above. Upon acceptance of the abstract, authors will be sent further guidelines based on the Digital Creativity’s Instructions for Authors at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/NDCR
5. IMPORTANT DATES
Abstracts due: May 15, 2015
Short/long papers due: July 15, 2015
Final, revised papers due: October 1, 2015 Expected publication: January, 2016
6. SUBMISSION METHOD
Send the abstract as PDFs to Stanislav Roudavski at stanislav.roudavski@cantab.net as well as to the editors of Digital Creativity at dcsubmit@gmail.com