[spectre] Call for papers - Interface Politics International Conference (Barcelona)

[vhofman at taxonomedia.net]

The Interface Politics Conference [1] is about reflecting on the role
and influence of interfaces within the universe of tools from the
contemporary production system. How are the imaginaries related to
creativity, politics, labour, economics and culture configured and
created in the context of a universalised system of interfaces that is
based on the promise of being natural, transparent, simple and
accessible? What answers and actions can be articulated from design
practices that aim to question the utopias arising from a form of
communication that is increasingly subject to a culture of control? How
can alliances be established between design, the field of critical
thinking and action, and industrial and institutional narratives linked
to technological theologies?
 This initiative is being presented as a meeting forum for gathering,
discussing and disseminating multiple approaches, experiences and
practices from the fields of design, political philosophy, arts,
activism and communication studies from academic and non-academic
perspectives.

CALL FOR PAPERS [1]

Persons wishing to participate in talks/presentations will have to
follow the concept pairings (see below). Said pairings come with
reference tags, which will serve as guidance. Presentations can address
multiple pairings and can cross over between them while proposing
specific fields for action and reflection (design, philosophy,
engineering, activism, software studies, social sciences, etc.). 

Concept pairings:

STANDARDISATION vs INNOVATION
How to resolve the demand for innovation in design and artistic fields
with tools that are increasingly standardised?
Related tags: Teaching methods for design, Contradictions, paradoxes,
diagnoses, experiments, solutions.

UTOPIA vs HETEROTOPIA
The narrative of interfaces has been constituted within the utopic
narratives that are characteristic of technologies for information and
the communication of capitalism. Is it possible to conceive and build
heterotopic interfaces that can promote non-hegemonic times and spaces?
Related tags: Disruptive design, hacking design. Interfacial art.
Videogames and otherness. The media's 'anachronistic' archaeology and
genealogy.

TRANSPARENCY vs OPACITY
Interfaces are presented as transparency models. But are they opaque in
the sense that they hide their procedures? How can interfaces be
designed so that they divulge their own ideology?
Related tags: Algorithms, indexing, data, software studies. Naturality
vs. artificiality. Limits and boundaries of interfaces.

SIMPLICITY vs COMPLEXITY
Interfaces are presented as models of simplicity, ready to be operated
by users who are not necessarily knowledgeable about technical
procedures. Are they, however, promoting simplification of the physical
and social realities they manage?
Related tags: Training, self-teaching in design. Open code vs. buttons
and icons. Usability. User experience analysis.

SOLIDITY vs LIQUIDITY
The communicational narrative of interfaces belongs to a discourse on
liquid culture and economy. How can we understand this discourse amidst
the reality of the physical mass of objects, goods and inventions? With
the ubiquitous physicality of interfaces all around?
Related tags: Materiality. Tangible media. Virtuality and physicality.
Mobility and corporality.

CHAOS vs CONTROL
Interfaces have been established as devices for the domination and
control of randomness, uncertainty and chaos. Are they the manifestation
of machinery for ideological determination?
Related tags: Governance systems and processes. Internet protocols.
Interactions and emergency. Counterwork philosophies.

USER vs OPERATOR
Do interfaces bring about linguistic and conceptual changes in their
users? Does communication no longer have a 'target', but instead users
and agents? Likewise, do users become (in)voluntary operators of
communication businesses and generate co-opted value for the company?
Related tags: Immaterial work. Productivism. Potential agencies.
Cooperative design processes.

FORMAT AND SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS

Abstracts of presentations must meet the following requirements:

* PDF format.
* Minimum length of 400 words. May be accompanied with a minimal
bibliography in an enclosed document.
* Language: Catalan and/or Spanish. An English version is compulsory.
* The concept pairing(s) to which the proposed presentation belongs must
be indicated.
* Tags or keywords are limited to a maximum of 5.

A CV must also be enclosed:

* PDF format.
* Language: Catalan, Spanish or English.
* 350 words maximum.
* Must include the person's institutional, professional and other
affiliations.
* Email address.
* Links to papers, works, etc. (the extent of this information is in
addition to the 350 words of the CV)
* Photograph.

Abstracts and CVs should be emailed to: callforpapers at gredits.org

For inquiries please contact: congres at gredits.org

KEY DATES

20 JAN 2016 - Abstract submission deadline
10 FEB 2016 - Deadline for the assessment results of the abstracts
20 APR 2016 - Submission of presentations for publication

Those applications that are accepted will be published in the format of
an ISBN-Assigned book, in print and digital format (PDF open-access
under CC license) edited by GREDITS / Bau.

ORGANIZERS

This conference is a collaborative initiative from three institutions:

* GREDITS [2] (Design and Social Transformation Research Group) (from
Bau, Design College of Barcelona), which seeks to promote new
perspectives, reflections and practices within the field of design and
creation.
* IMAGIT/BCN: European consortium for multidisciplinary research funded
by the EU's Creative Europe programme, of which HANGAR [3] (Production
and Research Centre for Visual Arts in Barcelona) is a member. The aim
of the Barcelona programme is to produce practical research into the
current situation with regard to the underlying aesthetics, mechanics
and policies of interfaces.
* The MEDIACCIONS [4]/DIGITAL CULTURE Research Group from the Open
University of Catalonia (UOC).

 The conference is also supported by the following research groups:

* GRE KONEKTO, from the University of Vic / Central University of
Catalonia.
* Research Group of Culture and Audiovisual, from School of Comunication
and International Relations Blanquerna from Ramon Llull University.

+ info: http://www.gredits.org/interfacepolitics/ [5]

 

Links:
------
[1] http://www.gredits.org/interfacepolitics/en/call-for-papers-eng/
[2] http://www.gredits.org/es/inicio/
[3] https://hangar.org/es/news/hangar-participa-en-el-projecte-imagit/
[4] http://www.mediaccions.net/
[5] http://www.gredits.org/interfacepolitics/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://post.in-mind.de/pipermail/spectre/attachments/20151215/e13d292e/attachment-0001.htm