Call for Papers: Art of Research VII - Authorship and Responsibility, Espoo, Finland

Over the past two decades, the Art of Research conferences have had a significant role in promoting continuous dialogue and fruitful convergence between art and design related research practices. The conferences have contributed to the development of rapidly growing and spreading contemporary discourse on artistic and practice-led research – acknowledging and engaging in multiple notions of research where diverse modes of creative practice are used as context for enquiry.

The theme of the seventh Art of Research conference "Authorship and Responsibility" addresses the varied collaborative and individual working situations of researcher artists, designers and architects. The theme connects to questions of singular authorship, shared authorship, lost authorship, invisible or uncredited authorship, participatory conditions, co-creation, inclusion and exclusion—that is, with the potentiality of one's individual or shared praxis. These questions intertwine with the essential questions of power, control and responsibility, which accompany the acknowledgement that we inhabit this planet with other people, species and materials.

The conference seeks discussion on the potentiality of co-existence and its relationship to singular methods of working within artistic, arts-based, and practice-led research. We invite submissions to the conference that are original proposals on various forms of the arts that significantly contribute to praxis and research through art and design. This conference brings together researchers from different fields of arts, design and architecture, while also extending a warm welcome to related presentations coming from other fields.
The theme of the conference can be addressed in three interrelated subthemes:

1. The planet. Human and non-human relationships
2. Singular/collective authorship and individual/joint responsibility
3. Inclusiveness, co-existence and the related participatory and empowering practices

We seek conversations around the questions: How does artistic research embrace the enmeshed relationship between humans and environment, including its different non-human actors?
How can artist-researchers contribute to this discussion with their diverse actions and use their power in the domain of different praxes? Are we currently facing such complex issues that we need to team up and co-act to reach proper contribution and novel perspectives? When is it important to focus on working solo? What might this mean in relation to larger contexts and realms of art, politics and society?

Through these questions, the main aim of the event is to engage in a shared exploration of bold and visionary thinking across different entangling practices. Historically, the Art of Research conference has been widely appreciated as an unconventional and interactive format for discussing, exhibiting and performing different modes of discourse.

The Conference is interested in proposals drawing from the full spectrum of artistic, arts-based and practice-led research today. We invite submissions from academics and scholars (including doctoral students) and from artist-researchers and practice-led researchers representing different art forms e.g. contemporary art, film, photography, scenography, craft, design, media and architecture. The conference themes encourage a diversity of perspectives and research orientations, and productive challenges to established ideas are also most welcome.

Please, address your contribution to one of the following categories:

(1) Full papers (5000 words max.) and presentations (20 min +10 min Q & A). These contributions will be double-masked peer reviewed. To facilitate the review process, authors are responsible for removing any identifying information from their submissions that might lead a reviewer to discern their identities or affiliations. The author’s name in self-citations must be replaced with “Author” in in-text citations, reference entries and footnotes. For practical details, see the conference web site at https://artofresearch2020.aalto.fi

Information on the publication will be provided in the second Call for Papers.

(2) Explorative presentations (15 min + 5 min Q & A) with an extended abstract (800 words max.)

(+) In addition to your submission to either category you may propose related artworks, artefacts, design components, or documentations of artistic projects, to participate in the exhibition that will be organized concurrently with the conference. Your submission for the exhibition must include a separate description of the artwork and possible equipment requirements (80 words max.) and visual material such as photographs or a video (password protected to a Vimeo or Youtube link). Please note that the transportation of the artwork(s) is on the author's responsibility. The submissions will be reviewed by the organizers, and the exhibition based on these submissions will be curated by the organizers.

For more information, please contact aor.2020@aalto.fi 

This is the seventh in the Art of Research conference series, the first of which took place in Helsinki in 2005. The conference is co-organized at Aalto University in School of Arts, Design and Architecture: the Department of Design, the Department of Film, Television and Scenography, the Department of Art, the Department of Media and the Department of Architecture.

KEY DATES
15 January 2020: First call for papers and presentations
15 February 2020: Second call for papers and presentations.  Information about possibility to publish in the Journal
15 March 2020: Third call for papers and presentations. Announcement of the keynotes
15 June 2020: Deadline for all submissions
31 August 2020: Notification of acceptances and reviewer feedback
15 September – 20 October 2020: Registration and payment
15 October 2020: Submission of final papers
12 November 2020: Submission for exhibits (with photos & description)
3-4 December 2020: Conference 

REGISTRATION AND FEE
The conference fee includes conference registration, lunches and refreshments. In order for an accepted submission to be included in the conference program and proceedings, at least one of the submissions’ authors has to register and pay the conference fee and present the paper in the conference.

Early bird (before 20th October 2020): €250

Regular (after 20th October 2020): €300

Students, including doctoral students (with valid student ID): €150