Laurence Sterne (1713-68) wrote The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandyin Shandy Hall, Coxwold, York, in the 18th Century. The innovative nonlinear novel is often cited by contemporary new media writers as an influence on their creative practice. It was recently announced that Shandy Hall will now house Asterisk*, a center for the study and development of narrative. Rather than simply developing the site as a museum dedicated to Sterne’s life and works, the center will be dedicated to innovation in both old and particularly new work. Asterisk* will support residencies for artists, “we envisage that these residencies will take forward current practice in a variety of narrative engagements: with diverse media, non linearity, digression, interactivity and audience participation, particularly (though not exclusively) where these intersect with technology.” The center will also commission new works, host exhibitions and performances, lectures and events, and a web forum. Last year hypertext author Deena Larsen completed a short hypertext, Shandean Ambles, during a three-day residency at the site. Asterisk* is now accepting applications for two three-week residencies this fall, one intended for a new media artist and the second for a writer with minimal technical background interested in integrating new media into his or her practice. Asterisk* also intends to gather an extensive library of innovative interactive literature at Shandy Hall.
Slamdance seeks Interactive Fiction and Drama
Entries for the 2nd Annual Independent Games Competition at Slamdance are due October 24 and require a $40 fee (or submit by Sept 30 to save $10). The competition, held in January in Park City, Utah alongside the Slamdance and Sundance film festivals, includes a category for student work. Check out last year’s finalists and winners.
While a game competition may seem an unusual news item for the ELO website, this year’s rules make it clear that Slamdance is particularly interested in literary forms such as interactive fiction and drama. The rules also make clear what “independent” means in this context. To wit:
Developer(s) cannot have sponsorship money exceeding $25,000.
Games published or distributed for profit before the final deadline of October 24, 2005 are ineligible.
Innovative and unusual formats, such as interactive fiction and drama, are encouraged to apply. Games must display interactivity, and be in an electronic format to be considered for the competition.
CFP/New Media Texts: Reading (and Writing) New Media
Editors Jim Kalmbach and Cheryl Ball invite submissions of essays and new media texts for a collection entitled Reading (and Writing) New Media. The anthology seeks to interrogate the act of reading in the context of digital new media texts. The selected new media texts, as well as selections from texts discussed in essays, will be published in an accompanying CD.
Topics to be addressed may include:
–What does it mean to read new media?
–How have digital spaces changed the act of reading?
–How does reading digital texts–including games, instant messaging, digital art and music, etc.–enlarge our conception of what a text is?
–Is there a digital canon forming, and what are the consequences of such a move?
–What happens when writing morphs into composition or design?
–What sorts of composing processes inform the creation and reading of new media texts?
–What teaching possibilities lie at the intersection between reading and composing new media texts?
Read the full call at http://cball.usu.edu/research/raw/
500-word abstracts are due October 1, 2005. Send inquiries to Jim Kalmbach or Cheryl Ball.
Drunken Boat’s First Annual Panliterary Awards
Deadline Extended to: August 15th, 2005
Judges: Annie Finch, Sabina Murray, Alexandra Tolstoy, Talan Memmott, David Hall, and DJ Spooky
Drunken Boat, http://www.drunkenboat.com, international online journal for the arts, announces its First Annual Panliterary Awards in Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Web-Art, Photo/Video, Sound. Submit up to three works, either via email to panlitawards@drunkenboat.com or via physical mail to: Drunken Boat, 119 Main St., Chester, CT 06412. A $15 entry fee must accompany all submissions, either via check or money order, else submitted electronically at: http://www.drunkenboat.com/db7/donate.html. Winners in all categories will be featured in a subsequent issue of Drunken Boat, and will be invited to perform at future multimedia events and performances. All other entries will be considered for publication.
Submissions must be received no later than August 15th, 2005. Awards will be given in the following genres: poetry, fiction, non-fiction, web art, photo/video and sound.
CFP: First Issue of HyperRhiz
HyperRhiz, the peer-reviewed new media satellite of Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge, seeks web-based multimedia contributions for its first issue. HyperRhiz “affirms and extends the mandate of Rhizomes, which is to publish peer-reviewed works based on or responding to Deleuzian analyses of culture.”
Contributions may include:
–hypertextual presentations/interpretations of critical theory
–interactive web installations
–rich media documentation of electronic projects
–web-based interactive games
–animated/code poetry/fiction
–web-enabled video documentary
Send proposals by July 15, 2005 to submissions at hyperrhiz dot net. Email questions regarding submissions to Helen Burgess.
CFP: Digital Contexts: Studies of Online Research and Citation
The editors of a new collection entitled Digital Contexts: Studies of Online Research and Citation invite proposals for 15-25 page papers that “consider the multiple ways that digital technologies are shaping the practices of research and citation.” Proposal abstracts are due September 15, 2005; accepted manuscripts will be due January 15, 2006. For the complete call, contact Joyce R. Walker.
CFP: Interfaces–English Studies and the Computer
This two-day conference at the University of Newcastle will focus on the debate about best practice methods for enabling students and lecturers to gain interest and skills in using learning technology in the classroom, while creating a “snapshot” of what is currently happening with computers in English Studies.
The organizers invite short (15-minute maximum) presentations on good and bad experiences with learning technology in the classroom. Also sought are individuals to lead short discussions on a specific topic related to using technology to teach English Studies. Innovative proposals for discussion formats that avoid the three-paper panel are welcome. The deadline for submission of abstracts is July 31, 2005. For more information, contact Brett Lucas and Stacy Gillis.
The conference will take place November 2-4, 2005. For more information, visit the University of Newcastle English Subject Centre website.
Call for Proposals: Internet Culture
The National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations are planning a joint conference on the theme of “internet culture.” The organizers invite proposals for themed sessions, special panels, and individual papers. Proposals or abstracts are due October 15, 2005 to George Lewis. The conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, April 12-15, 2006. Visit PCA/ACA for more information about the conference.
Call for Contributions: Cultural Futures
Cultural Futures: Place, Ground and Practice in Asia Pacific New Media will take place in Hoani Waititi Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau, December 1-5, 2005. This event, affiliated with the International Symposium for Electronic Arts (ISEA 2006), will include a symposium, exhibitions, and workshops aimed at developing international awareness of local work in new media arts, and to link international practices in new media arts to dialogues in Aotearoa’s cultural identity. The organizers invite submissions of new media texts in any genre of less than 1,500 words/2 MB. A book or themed journal issue is also under consideration. The deadline for submissions is August 30, 2005. For more information, visit the Cultural Futures website or send inquiries to the the organizers.
&NOW
&NOW / Lake Forest Literary Festival
April 5-7, 2006, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, IL.
Proposal Deadline, October 15, 2005
andnow@lfc.edu
The second iteration of &NOW: A Festival of Innovative Writing and Art, merged with the second annual Lake Forest Literary Festival (LFLF), will be held on April 5-7, 2006 at Lake Forest College, 30 miles north of Chicago.
This three-day festival will celebrate contemporary aesthetic practice in its most inventive forms: writing, visual, and multimedia art that is aware of its own institutional and extra-institutional history, that is as much about its form and materials-about language-as about subject matter.
&NOW/LFLF will bring together a range of writers and artists interested in exploring the possibilities of form and the limits of expression; writers and artists working to emphasize text as a medium and as an influence.
Read more &NOW