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ZER0 FUTURE: Is The Future Obsolete?
Call for Papers
Deadline: Monday, April 14, 2014
The
McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF) is
pleased to invite presentation proposals for a one-day conference
entitled âZER0 FUTUREâ. The conference is associated with The HTMlles 11
âZER0 FUTUREâ feminist festival of media arts + digital culture,
produced by Studio XX held November 7-15 in Montreal, Canada. The
HTMlles is an international platform dedicated to the presentation of
womenâs, trans and gender non-conforming artistsâ independent media
artworks in a transdisciplinary environment that strives for
anti-oppression.
Friday, November 7, 2014
A day-long conference associated with
The HTMlles 11 | ZER0 FUTURE
Feminist festival of media arts + digital culture
The
âZER0 FUTUREâ festival and conference contemplate the intersecting,
hopeful and dystopian imaginaries of current futurisms. While the 1990s
marked the end of the century that mobilized around the promise and
seeming progress of the future, the start of the 21st century has
witnessed the intensification of economic crises and global climactic
events that increasingly call the future into question. On television
screens, on portable game players and in popular music cultures,
zombies, aliens and other monstrous and fantastical figures have
proliferated, taking shape in cultural formations such as afrofuturism,
cyberfeminism, in queer and feminist manifestoes, and in feminist and
anti-colonial reinventions of future temporality.
We invite
submissions for conference presentations that shed light on the
perception of todayâs futures, including critical and creative
interventions inspired by (but not limited to): afrofuturism,
chicanafuturism, feminist cyberpunk, utopian and dystopic cyberfeminism
or other feminist science fiction and queer futurity, for instance. We
will accept submissions for both academic talks and non-traditional
conference presentations. Submissions will be accepted in either English
or French (though please note that the conference will only offer
passive translation for those who need it). We particularly encourage
graduate students and post-graduate scholars to apply, though
submissions will also be accepted from faculty and non-academic
participants.
After more than a century, should we still care about âthe futureâ?
Are negativity, nihilism, cynicism and irony useful ethics, or simply more politics of the privileged?
What sort of creativity can come out of being liberated from the future?
How
do we negotiate the tension that exists between an oppressive future in
the present and making the present our terrain of struggle in order to
(re)build community?
What sort of non-market value can co-emerge âwithout a futureâ and the refusal of neoliberal resilience/positivity?
What kind of feminist ethics can we create by differently orienting ourselves to the future?
Is the notion of Zero Future frightening, encouraging or something else?
How should we, or ought we, embrace together Zero Future?
Submissions
Interested persons should submit a 250-word abstract including a title,
a short bio and contact information to Prof. Carrie Rentschler,
Director, Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies, at
info.igsf@mcgill.ca by Monday April 14, 2014. As the subject line of
your email, please include your last name followed by: Zero Future
Conference (eg: âSmith: Abstract Zero Future Conferenceâ). All abstracts
must be submitted electronically, in PDF format.
More info:
https://www.mcgill.ca/igsf/events + http://htmlles.net/ + http://htmlles11.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/219076518300166/