3RD NECS GRADUATE WORKSHOP
BLURRED BOUNDARIES/CONTESTED GEOGRAPHIES
BELGRADE, SERBIA, 29‐30 SEPTEMBER 2011
After the success of the first NECS Graduate Workshop in Istanbul (Summer 2010) and in anticipation of a successful second workshop in London (Summer 2011) we are now organizing a two‐day intensive workshop in Belgrade this Autumn focusing on the topic Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies. The aim of the NECS workshops is to bring young researchers and graduate students together in fruitful debate creating a sustainable international network that meets regularly throughout the year. Participants will find a platform where they peer review works‐in‐progress and practice presentation and discussion skills in preparation for academic conference participation.
While seeking to address the dissolution of traditional boundaries that mark contemporary visual culture, with Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies we hope to bring together a variety of research on the intersection between mediation, representation and globalization. Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies takes inspiration from the workshop’s location to encourage discussions on the cinematic representations of divided and damaged landscapes. The breadth of the workshop encompasses the geographies of both the shifting frontiers in political/geographical/cultural landscapes, as well as those of changing media ontologies which
impact on the morphology of representational space and image‐migration. Papers are invited on, but are not limited to: (inter)media modes of resistance to, transgression and blurring of frames and fixed demarcations; intersitial spaces open to dialogue and transformation; migratory aesthetics; distance and closeness; image appropriation; genre‐hybridity; globalization and its changing geographies.
Candidates are asked to submit a proposal (max. 300 words) with a short biographical note (max. 150 words) to graduates@necs‐initiative.org. The deadline for submissions is 1 July 2011. The NECS graduate organizers will select participants (max. 15) who will then be asked to provide a 3000‐word paper (excluding bibliography) by no later than 1 September 2011, to be distributed among other participants in advance of the workshop. In order to allow for a sufficient amount of
discussion time, papers will not be read; instead, participants will be asked to provide a short pitch of their argument for a maximum of 10 minutes. Respondents will be assigned to each paper. Discussion will take off from the basis of the papers and peer‐feedback. In addition to the workshop our program will include a film screening and introductory keynote address. We explicitly encourage candidates to develop their submitted papers further in view of a graduate panel proposal for the 2012 NECS conference.
The site of our workshop is the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, which was founded in 1946 and exists as one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the area of film studies. There is no fee for participation in the workshop other than a NECS membership. Lunch will be provided.
Participants are expected to arrange their own travel and accommodation. For more information on NECS please visit http://www.necs-initiative.org/.
