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CFP: ELO 2023 Coimbra (Extended Jan 31; July 12-15, 2023)

ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ORGANIZATION 2023 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND MEDIA ARTS SHOW

OVERCOMING DIVIDES: ELECTRONIC LITERATURE AND SOCIAL CHANGE

JULY 12-15, 2023 – COIMBRA, PORTUGAL

Deadline January 31

(CFP: updated January 20, 2023)

Join us this summer for four days of digital art and scholarship at the ELO 2023 Conference and Media Arts Show in beautiful Coimbra, Portugal, the 12th to the 15th of July.

The 2023 conference, “Overcoming Divides: Electronic Literature and Social Change,” advocates the dismantlement of economic, political, linguistic, and cultural barriers, focusing on the relation between art and society, as well as on the subversive potential of electronic literature.

Art and literature compulsively respond to undergoing socio-political transformations. Whether overtly committed to social causes or inevitably engulfed by waves of change, writers and artists are influenced by dramatic shifts motivated by local or global issues such as climate change, economic crisis, military conflicts, and repressive or coercive government policies. The field of electronic literature, whose continuous reconfiguration is deeply intertwined with technological advancements, is no exception to this pattern. Equipped with the pervasiveness of network technology, as well as with software that can analyze and portray reality with the utmost detail, electronic literature is harnessed with adequate tools to voice environmental and social concerns and to expose oppressive and corrupt regimes. Highly experimental and focused on an introspective journey that aims to explore the creative amplitude of emerging technologies, electronic literature’s self-reflexive nature is also frequently mobilized to defy normative perspectives over literature and art, as well as to challenge deep-rooted cultural misconceptions.

During this conference, we aim to explore how electronic literature uses its critical media approach, as well as its close affinity with computation, to assume a socially engaged stance. In a time when walls are being raised once again, this conference examines electronic literature’s role in the dismantlement of new and old barriers between people.

ELO23 will be held in a national monument (Convento São Francisco), overlooking the University of Coimbra as well as Coimbra’s Uptown and Downtown areas, both designated World Heritage by UNESCO in 2013. Challenging the social asymmetry represented by the uptown/downtown divide, ELO23 will be extended from the university to the entire city center. Performances will be opened to the public, and exhibitions will take place at different locations in the city, thus integrating ELO Conference into Coimbra’s rich cultural life. Remote (online) participation will be limited to the scholarly dimension of the conference.

We welcome scholarly and artistic proposals that explore a connection between electronic literature and the following themes, among others:

  • the role of literature in social change;
  • collaborative platforms and activist software;
  • digital humanities and memory preservation (archive);
  • environmental damage caused by digital technologies;
  • the impact of climate change;
  • language barriers, translation and linguistic diversity;
  • disabilities and accessibility;
  • mental health, trauma and cognitive diversity;
  • social and economic inequality;
  • digital literacy and societal transformation;
  • gender divide and identity diversity;
  • migrations and border enforcement;
  • hybridity, recombination and multilinearity as aesthetics of subversion;
  • documentary forms and nonfiction narrative.

Organizers
Electronic Literature Organization (ELO)
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra (FLUC)

Partners and Sponsors
Center for Portuguese Literature (CLP)
Instituto de Comunicação da NOVA (ICNOVA), Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Programa de Doutoramento em Materialidades da Literatura, Universidade de Coimbra
Universidade Fernando Pessoa (UFP)
Câmara Municipal de Coimbra
Exploratório – Centro Ciência Viva de Coimbra
Museu da Ciência da Universidade de Coimbra
Berkeley Center for New Media

How to submit your proposals

How to submit your proposals

All proposals will undergo a rigorous double-blind peer review process. Please read the instructions carefully. You may submit only one proposal for each mode of participation (paper/panel; workshop; artwork; performance).

ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS: PANELS AND PAPERS

We welcome submissions for stand-alone papers as well as organized panels. Individual submissions for stand-alone papers should include an abstract (250-350 words), as well as a short list of references (4-6 main works). Individual papers will be presented as part of conference organized panels. Each presentation will be 15 minutes long, followed by a 20-minute Q&A. Please specify in your submission if this presentation will be in person or online.

Three or four-person panels should include a brief overview of the panel’s rationale (100-150 words), as well as individual abstracts of each presentation: abstracts (250-350 words), including a short list of references (4-6 main works). Panels will have a total presentation time of one hour, and should allow for a 20 minute Q&A section. Please specify in your submission whether this panel will be in person or fully online. Hybrid panels will not be supported.

Please submit via Easy Chair <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=elo2023> by January 31, 2023, 11:59pm EST. While proposals should be in English, panels can be presented in other languages. Note that no translation services will be offered. In case of acceptance, abstracts will be included in the program and proceedings.

Participants will be notified of acceptance by February 20, 2023.

WORKSHOPS 

We welcome submissions for hands-on and participatory workshops. Proposals should include a 250-350 word abstract (as well as a short list of references if applicable; 4-6 main works). Please specify in your proposal the structure of the workshop, any tangible outcomes (if any), pedagogical goals, expectations from participants, requirements for participants (previous knowledge, technical expertise, devices needed, etc.). Make sure you describe any technical requirements for your workshop’s implementation at the conference.

All workshops will have an allocated time of 2 hours. Please specify in your submission if this workshop will be in person or online.

Please submit via Easy Chair <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=elo2023> by January 31, 2023, by 11:59pm EST. While proposals should be in English, workshops can be presented in other languages. Note that no translation services will be offered. In case of acceptance, abstracts will be included in the program and proceedings. 

Participants will be notified of acceptance by February 20, 2023.

ARTWORK: EXHIBITION OF DIGITAL WORK
We welcome submissions for two different public exhibitions addressing (1) environmental issues and (2) social issues, i.e., repression, inequality, and segregation.

Please send proposals including an artist statement (250-350 words) detailing the aesthetic intentions, the structure of the piece, and its relationship to the conference and chosen exhibition theme (Exhibition 1 or Exhibition 2). In addition, provide documentation of the work (URLs), author name(s), biographical note(s), and specific technical requirements for display at the exhibition venue.

Please submit via Easy Chair <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=elo2023> by January 31, 2023, 11:59pm EST. Proposals should be in English, but displayed work can be in other languages. In case of acceptance, artist statements will be included in the program and proceedings.

Artists will be notified of acceptance by February 20, 2023.

PERFORMANCES

ELO23 will host two nights of performances open to conference participants and the general public. We welcome performance proposals addressing the conference’s main theme of electronic literature and social change.

Please submit proposals including an artist statement (250-350 words) detailing the aesthetic intentions, the structure of the piece, and its relationship to the conference theme. In addition, provide the author name(s), biographical note(s), and a description (250 words max.) of the nature of the performance, as well as any technical requirements.

Please submit via Easy Chair <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=elo2023> by January 31, 2023, 11:59pm EST. Proposals should be in English, but performances can be in other languages. In case of acceptance, artist statements will be included in the program and proceedings.

Performers will be notified of acceptance by February 20, 2023.

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As with any ELO event, ELO23 will follow the organization’s code of conduct. We are committed to providing an inclusive, equitable, and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, age, race, class, religion, or linguistic and cultural background. For more information, please refer to https://eliterature.org/about/code–of–conduct/

Chairs

Daniela Côrtes Maduro (Universidade de Coimbra)
Manuel Portela (Universidade de Coimbra)
Alex Saum-Pascual (University of California, Berkeley)
Rui Torres (Universidade Fernando Pessoa)

Feel free to contact us: eloconference2023@gmail.com.

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CFP: ELO 2022 Special Call: Mentoring Exhibition (March 15)

“Show me how to do this”
Learning E-lit by Making Together

CFP: ELO 2022 Special Call: Mentoring Exhibition
Deadline March 15, 2022
Extended to April 1, 2022
Online Exhibition: June 2022
Curated by María Goicoechea and Mark Marino
Submission form:

Call for Works

The making of electronic literature is an artisanal practice, born of community practices of sharing. While some artists find their own way into the rabbit holes of e-lit, most follow a guide or teacher, learning as a sorcerer’s apprentice.  Whether this happens in a formal setting, like a classroom, or in an informal context, like a rainy day passtime for a family, the time spent sharing the forms and tools of electronic literature as well as techniques for making e-lit is crucial to bring new artists into the field and new works into being. In that way, the process is very much like teaching other forms of craft, like sewing, or even cooking, which has in turn inspired e-lit, such as the field of gastropoetics.  

For this exhibition, we seek works that have emerged out of such tutelage and collaboration, where a mentor, teacher, or parent has introduced one or more new artists to the field by making a work of electronic literature with them.  

Works will be exhibited in an online exhibition as part of the ELO 2022 hybrid conference.  We will also plan an online launch either during or before the conference.  

Given the pedagogical emphasis of #ELOitalia and the setting of the in-person conference in a K-12 school, any  works aimed at or appropriate for younger audiences are especially welcomed. This exhibit will have a special section for works aimed at middle grade and young adult audiences. 

We are calling for all genre of works, including:

interactive fiction, poetry generators, hypertext, Third Generation E-Lit (including works on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok), VR/AR/XR, et cetera.

Note: Works already submitted to ELO 2022 that fit the exhibition criteria will be considered. If you submit a work that you have already submitted to the conference, just indicate that in your application. 

Various details: 

At least the submitting author (or mentor) will be required to have a current ELO Membership (minimal unaffiliated member $25) to have their work exhibited. That membership fee does not include ELO 2022 registration.  

By March 15 April 1, use this form to send us:

Form:
Title
Author (submitting)
Author email addresses.
Additional authors:
Additional email addresses
Credits/Roles.
Video: (short demo video, under 1 minute) (opt)
Link:
1-sentence description
Age of audience
email
Description of the work
Description of the context of the collaboration (200-400 words)
Type of work: Twitterbot, Twine Fiction, VR. etc.
Has this work already been Submitted to ELO 2022: Y/N
(You may submit the same work. This question is just to guide our tracking with EasyChair)
Bio-of-contributors
Language
Platform
Web-ready Images of the work
Link to the work
Any video documentation of the work.

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E-lit as DH Book Launch Feb 9

Book Launch at Electronic Literature Organization Salon Electronic Literature as Digital Humanities: Contexts, Forms, and Practices by Dene Grigar and James O’Sullivan

Join us as we celebrate the exciting launch on Feb 9 at 11am EST (1600 GMT) with special guests from the ELO and Electronic Book Review editorial boards.

Join us via Zoom!

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Tribute to the Flash Generation Dec. 31

A Toast to the Flash Generation
Thursday, December 31, 2020
10 a.m.-5 p.m. PST
Zoom: http://bit.ly/ToastToFlash
Hosted by Dene Grigar, Director, Electronic Literature Lab; Digital Preservationist, Electronic Literature Organization

Join us on New Year’s Eve Day to celebrate the genius of the Flash Generation when over 20 artists of Flash narratives, poetry, and essays will read and perform their works throughout the day. You are invited to drop in anytime via Zoom, experience the works, and participate in the chat and the Q&A.

The term, “Flash Generation,” coined by theorist Lev Manovich in 2005, captured the zeitgeist of a new era of cultural production when artists and writers discovered they could express their creativity through movement, images, sound, and words through Flash software. Online journals like Poems That Go, Riding the Meridian, The Iowa Review Web, Caudron & Net, BeeHive, and many others, emerged as leading publishing venues for this new form of born digital media. During the heady period of 1999 to 2009, Flash influenced the development of net art, interactive art, Flash games, and literature, not to mention personal and organizational websites. It wasn’t until the rise of the Apple smart phone at the end of the first decade of the 21st century that Flash’s dominance as a viable form of digital production waned. After December 31, 2020 Adobe will discontinue its support for Flash, and all of this output will be threatened with obsolescence.

This event––besides celebrating the end of an important creative period and showcasing the wonderful Flash e-lit collected by the Electronic Literature Organization in its Repository––also intends to document it for posterity. The recordings and chat we collect via Zoom will be held in the ELO Repository, made available on the Electronic Literature Lab’s Vimeo account, and published in Electronic Book Review.

During the event we will also provide information about the steps the Electronic Literature Lab is taking to preserve Flash works held in the Electronic Literature Repository and its own digital library.

At the end of the event, Leonardo Flores, Chris Funkhouser and Dene Grigar will lead the Toast to the Flash Generation. So, grab a glass of bubbly (or other favorite beverage), and join us in honoring the genius of the Flash Generation.

Below is the program of readers/performers, featured works, and URLs to the work as of 28 December 2020. Updates will be posted daily.

10:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m. PST
Welcome: Dene Grigar, Anastasia Salter, Mariusz Pisarski

10:15 a.m.-10:30 a.m. PST
Annie Abrahams (France) “Séparation,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/abrahams_separation/separation/index.htm

10:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m. PST
Dan Waber (US): “Strings,” ELC1
https://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/waber__strings/index.html

10:45 a.m.-11:00 a.m. PST
Tina Escaja (Spain, US): “Pinzas de metal” (Forthcoming to the Repository)
https://www.badosa.com/bin/obra.pl?id=n175

11:00 a.m.-11:15 a.m. PST
Kate Pullinger (CAN, UK): “Inanimate Alice: Episode 1,” ELC1
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/pullinger_babel__inanimate_alice_episode_1_china/index.html

11:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. PST
Donna Leishman (Scotland): “Deviant: The Possession of Christian Shaw,” TIRW
http://www.6amhoover.com/xxx/start.htm

11:30 a.m.-11:45 a.m. PST
Reiner Strasser (Germany) & Marjorie Luesebrink “– in the white darkness,” ELC1
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/strasser_coverley__ii_in_the_white_darkness/index.html

11:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. PST
Maria Mencia, (Spain, UK) “Birds Singing Other Birds’ Songs,” ELC1
http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/mencia__birds_singing_other_birds_songs.html

12:00 p.m.-12:15 p.m. PST
Christine Wilks (UK): “Fitting the Pattern,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/wilks_fittingthepattern.html

12:15 p.m.-12:30 p.m. PST
Claudia Kozak/Leo Flores: Ana Maria Uribe (Argentina): From “Anipoemas,” TIRW
https://www.elo-repository.org/TIRweb/tirweb/feature/uribe/uribe.html

12:30 p.m.-12:45 p.m. PST
Rui Torres (Portugal): “Amor de Clarice,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/torres_amordeclarice.html

12:45 p.m.-1:00 p.m. PST
Stephanie Strickland (US): “slippingglimpse,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/strickland_slippingglimpse/slippingglimpse/index.html

1:00 p.m.-1:15 p.m. PST Break

1:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m. PST
Claudia Kozak: Walkthrough of Regina Pinto’s “Museum of the Essential and Beyond That” (Brazil)
https://www.elo-repository.org/museum-of-the-essential/

1:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m. PST
Jim Andrews (Canada): “Nio,” Turbulence.org
http://turbulence.org/Works/Nio/

1:45 p.m.-2:00 p.m. PST
Alan Bigelow (US): “This Is Not a Poem,” (Forthcoming to the Repository)
https://webyarns.com/ThisIsNotAPoem.html

2:00 p.m.-2:15 p.m. PST
Serge Bouchardon (France): “Toucher,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/bouchardon_toucher/index.html

2:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m. PST Break

2:30 p.m.-2:45 p.m. PST
Rob Kendall (US): “Faith,” Cauldron & Net
https://elo-repository.org/cauldronandnet/volume4/confluence/kendall/title_page.htm

2:45 p.m.-3:00 p.m. PST
Leo Flores reads David Knoebel (US): “Thoughts Go,” ELC3
http://collection.eliterature.org/3/works/thoughts-go/index.html

3:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m. PST
Stuart Moulthrop (US): “Under Language,” TIRW
https://www.elo-repository.org/TIRweb/vol9n2/artworks/underLanguage/index.htm

3:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m. PST
Jody Zellen (US): “Disembodied Voices,” Turbulence.org
http://www.disembodiedvoices.com/

3:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m. PST
Erik Loyer (US) and Sharon Daniel (US): “Public Secrets,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/daniel_public_secrets/index.html

3:45 p.m.-4:00 p.m. PST
Jason Nelson (US, AUS): “Game, Game, Game, and Again Game,” ELC2
http://collection.eliterature.org/2/works/nelson_game_game_game/gamegame.html

4:00 p.m.-4:15 p.m. PST
Deena Larsen (US): “Firefly,” Poems That Go
http://elo-repository.org/poemsthatgo/gallery/fall2002/firefly/index.html

4:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m. PST
Mez Breeze (AUS): “_Clo[h!]neing God N Ange-Ls_,” Cauldron & Net
https://elo-repository.org/cauldronandnet/volume2/features/mez/clone/clonegod.htm

4:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. PST
Conversation and Toast: Leo Flores, Chris Funkhouser, and Dene Grigar

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Call for Nominations for ELC 4 Editors

ELO has put out the call for self-nominations for editors for the fourth Electronic Literature Collection.  See the full call below and consider answering it, so you can help shape the next volume of this key resource of digital literature.

Qualifications

Nominees must have a PhD or terminal degree (such as an MFA) or a substantive body of elit work to be considered. To avoid conflicts of interest, Editorial Collective members cannot have any of their own work published in the volume they are editing.

Duties

  • working well in a team of 4 editors,
  • assembling and working with a team of international consultants,
  • providing progress reports to the ELO Board,
  • drafting and circulating a call for submissions,
  • developing and applying criteria for selection,
  • being available to travel to one (potentially two) editorial retreats at a location convenient to the editorial collective, funded by the ELO Board,
  • maintaining timely and collegial communications with authors,
  • working with the ELO technical team in publishing the ELC4 in the ELO servers,
  • designing, producing, & publishing the ELC4 on the Web (potentially a physical edition) by June 2021,
  • being available to fine-tune technical and editorial issues with the ELC4 for a year after publication,
  • helping launch and promote the ELC4 once published, and
  • participating in other activities needed to produce and promote the ELC4.

Proposed Timeline

  • September to December 2019: Develop work plan, assemble international consultant team, draft and launch Call for Submissions, receive and close Call for Submissions.
  • January to December 2020: Evaluate and select submissions, have editorial retreat, select and notify authors of decision, begin drafting editorial introductions and designing ELC4, communicate with authors to prepare works for publication and receive source files, prepare image and video documentation, begin production of ELC4.
  • January to June 2021: Editorial retreat (if budget allows), finalize production of ELC4, publish to the Web, produce physical edition, launch ELC4.

Budget

The ELO will provide funding for an Editorial Retreat (or two, if fundraising allows) and for production costs, as needed. The ELO Board of Directors will carry out fundraising activities to support the ELC4. ELC4 Editors will not receive any kind of financial remuneration for their work. The ELC4 Editorial Collective will consist of Dr. Rui Torres, who will lead the team, serve as editor and Board liaison, and three editors chosen by the Board.

Nomination Process

This call will be open until August 15, 2019. The Board of Directors will meet in September to discuss the pool of candidates and assemble a 4-member Editorial Collective charged with producing the ELC4. For nominations, please visit: https://eliterature.org/elc4/. 

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ELO Cork begins

The 2019 ELO conference has begun!  The conference, hosted at University College Cork, runs July 15-17.  This is the first international conference of digital literature held in Ireland and marks the 13th ELO Conference.

Conference website:  http://elo2019.ucc.ie/
Hashtag: #ELOcork (Twitter, Instagram)
Facebook Page

ELO President Dene Grigar welcomes us to ELO COrk
Conference chair James O’Sullivan at ELO Cork

 

 

 

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CFP: ELO @ MLA19 (Jan 4)

Natural Language: Readings and Performances

January 4, 2019
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
37 S. Wabash, Room 327, Chicago, IL
Reception at 6:30, Readings at 7:30
http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/elit-saic/2018/12/29/join-us/

In conjunction with the 2019 MLA conference, the Electronic Literature Organization and the Art & Technology Studies (ATS) department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) will host an evening of readings, performances, and screenings of electronic writing and poetic technologies. The event will include a reception to celebrate N. Katherine Hayles and the impact of her NEH summer seminars while also marking the 50th year of Art & Technology Studies and its history of poetic media and invention.

The event is seeking interventions of up to 7 minutes from established and emerging practitioners working with language in contexts that might include computational poetics, machine learning, augmented or virtual reality, electronics, bio-poetry, or other live or living media.

Please send inquiries to Dene Grigar (dgrigar at wsu.edu) and Judd Morrissey (jmorrissey at saic.edu) including a short description and link to online documentation.

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CFP: ELO 2019 Conference & Media Arts Festival (7/14-16/19; 12/21/18)

ELO 2019 Conference and Media Arts Festival
Peripheries
Cork, Ireland
July 14-16, 2019 (Due: Dec 21, 2018)
Proposals are now being accepted for presentations and exhibition pieces at the annual Electronic Literature Organization Conference and Media Arts Festival, to be held July 15-17, 2019 at University College Cork, Ireland. Electronic literature, or e-lit, refers to literary works wherein computation forms some essential part of the aesthetic. #ELO19 offers an opportunity to share research and creative contributions within an engaging, collegial atmosphere comprising e-lit scholars and practitioners from across the globe.

 

The theme for this year’s ELO gathering is “peripheries”: delegates are invited to explore the edges of literary and digital culture, including emerging traditions, indeterminate structures and processes, fringe communities of praxis, effaced forms and genres, marginalised bodies, and perceptual failings.

#ELO19 will mark the first time that the ELO conference has been hosted by an Irish institution: join us for this momentous gathering!

For more, see:
http://elo2019.ucc.ie/cfp/

ELO2019 CFP
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Arabic E-Lit Conference in Dubai (Feb 25-27) Commences

The first (to our knowledge) electronic literature conference in Dubai has commenced.  Hosted at RIT in Dubai, the conference was organized by Babak Elahi, Reham Hosny, and Patrick Lichty, Jonathon Penny.  Under the patronage of H. E. Lt General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, deputy chief of police and public security in Dubai.  ELO is proud to be a partner of this first-time event, continuing the spread of electronic literature around the world.

Arabic E-Lit Conference Webpage

Along with presentations and a gallery, the conference includes workshop called “Hacking Electronic Literature” by Hosny, Dene Grigar, and John Barber.  Featured keynote speakers are Katherine Hayles, Zohor Gourram, and Karim Sultan.

Follow the conference hashtag: #arbicelit.

See the full conference program and more here:
https://www.arabic-elit.org/schedule

Below is the full conference program:

Read more Arabic E-Lit Conference in Dubai (Feb 25-27) Commences

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Multilingual Digital Authorship Conference Program (3/8-9/18)

Here’s a sneak peek at the conference program for the Multilingual Digital Authorship conference at Lancaster University March 8-9, 2018.  The conference will feature familiar and new names from ELO’s international body of artists and scholars, reflecting on the topics of translation, poetics, tools, and more.

Multilingual Digital Authorship
Lancaster University, 8-9 March 2018

Read more Multilingual Digital Authorship Conference Program (3/8-9/18)