May 24, 2006
[ctrl] [alt]: alternatives, encounters, movements
Confronting Mechanisms of Control
[ctrl] [alt]: alternatives, encounters, movements: ; May 3-6, 2007, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Call for Contributions: Submission due date: September, 18 2006.
In the Fall of 2004, 90 activists, artists and academics from diverse disciplines gathered at McGill University in Montréal, Canada to explore the threat of a global society moving into networks of mechanisms of control. From RFID chips to the cult of beauty, from the Patriot Act to Canadian multicultural policy, from the War on Drugs to the War on Terror, conference participants explored the pressing realities of social, political, economic and institutional modes of control and the urgent significance of constructing an actional politics to (en)counter them.
The challenge of theorizing and developing new forms of resistance will be taken up in [ctrl] [alt]: alternatives, encounters, movements. As the conference's subtitle indicates, [ctrl] [alt] will address potential strategies and tactics for confronting these mechanisms of control.
Working from the notion that control is often best (en)countered via practices that engage experimental methods, transdisciplinarity and creativity, we hope to foster an environment in which we can construct collective visions for social change.
Academia often regards itself as an end in itself, apart from concrete social struggles. Even when progressive academics engage the social world theoretically, they often do not acknowledge an indebtedness to, and impact upon, political struggles. At the same time, anti-intellectualism often circulates within activist groups. And art often becomes a fashionable and institutionalized product, failing to actualize its radical potential.
Given this mess, we seek imaginative works that cross borders between genres and disciplines including the highly political boundaries between art practice, academia and activism. We are particularly interested in papers, panels, roundtables, workshops, interventions, performances and artworks that incorporate critical, anti-oppressive perspectives. We invite contributions by artists, activists, scholars and writers as well as any others working in non-traditional spaces of knowledge production.
Possible themes to address include, but are not limited to:
Alternatives to [CTRL]
non-capitalist economic practices
critical pedagogies/pedagogies of the
oppressed
sub, post-sub and counter cultures
sex/gender radicalism
queering culture and cultural space
reclaiming/creating public and community
space
radical citizenship
Anti-copyright, Copyleft and Creative
Commons practices
alternative, radical, autonomous, tactical, and
citizens¹ medias
anticorporate cultural production
Encountering [CTRL]
art as activism/activism as art
writing resistance/resistant writing
mapping resistance/resistant mapping
cosmopolitics
decolonialization and postcoloniality
negotiating governmentality and bureaucracy
Movements against [CTRL]
immigrant, refugee and migrant worker
movements
affinity politics and coalition building
post/modern protests
transnational feminisms
radical queer movements
unions and organized labour
chaos, ontological anarchy and Temporary
Autonomous Zones
theatre in the street
the media democracy movement
net.criticism, hacktivism, hacker media
diasporic communities
global social justice movements
indigenous movements
anticapitalism and anti-imperialism
co-op movements
squatter movements
artisinal movements, D.I.Y. and crafting
culture
artist-run movements
dis/ability movements
anti-poverty movements
antiracist movements
anti-oppression training
Please send submissions by September, 18 2006.
_SUBMISSIONS_
For individual papers, workshops or roundtables send abstracts of 250 words
max. in .rtf format to : submissions[at]ctrlconference.org.
Workshops are interactive and instructive sessions led by individual or group (1-2 hours). Roundtables are facilitated group discussion around a specific theme or question (1-2 hours).
For panels, send abstracts of 600 words max. which includes both panel rationale and individual paper abstracts in .rtf format to: submissions[at]ctrlconference.org
Panels are collections of individual papers around the same theme or issue (1-2 hours).
For art projects & performances, send an artists statement (250 words max) and a description of the proposed project (250 words max) including materials needed in [.rtf] format to: horea[at]ctrlconference.org.
If images or documentation of the project are available, please contact Horea to make arrangements.
Interventions: Show up!
Please address general inquiries to: ctrlalt[at]ctrlconference.org
Posted by jo at May 24, 2006 08:37 AM
