Technology, Performance & Identity:
Mediation, Remediation and the Politics of Self
A multidisciplinary conference

Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, UK
Department of Arts and Media 8th annual conference
Friday 28th April 2006

Keynote Speaker: Tanya Krzywinska
co-editor of ScreenPlay: cinema/videogames/interfaces
& co-author of Tomb Raiders and Space Invaders

'Despite our self-protective escape mechanisms, the total-field awareness
engendered by electronic media is enabling us – indeed, compelling us – to
grope toward a consciousness of the unconscious, toward a realization that
technology is an extension of our own bodies. We live in the first age when
change occurs sufficiently rapidly to make such pattern recognition possible
for society at large. Until the present era, this awareness has always been
reflected first by the artist, who has had the power – and courage – of the
seer to read the language of the outer world and relate it to the inner
world.'

- Marshall McLuhan, March, 1969.

Anxieties surrounding identity fraud, anonymity, terror and the effects of
video game violence saturate the tabloids on an almost daily basis. With
reports in the popular media that we are now entering a 'Third Stage' in the
development of interactive media and virtual environments, these anxieties
have been somewhat heightened in recent years, especially in the light of
sophisticated uses of computer generated imagery in both mainstream film,
and in the reporting of news events on TV, in newspapers, and online, either
replacing or 'enhancing' photographic images. It seems the time is right
for a retrospective analysis of how notions of identity, the self, and the
Other are variously reconfigured and reimagined through contemporary
formations of technology.

We invite contributions from researchers working in a wide range of
disciplines, including game studies, psychoanalytic studies, developmental
and cognitive psychology, multimedia, and technology design, research and
development, as well as all fields within arts and humanities. We would be
particularly interested in presentations, which seek to explore the
innovative utilisation of virtual/multimedia spaces.

Topics may include, but are not limited to the following:

· mobile technologies and the self
· electronic surveillance and regimes of power
· interactivity and the playful subject
· multimedia and the performance of identity
· technologies of disability
· modes of embodiment/disembodiment
· cybersex and sexualities
· technologies of sound and image in the construction of identities
· ethnicity in technological formations
· the anonymity of online identities
· digital image and identity manipulation
· authoring the self: legitimacy and value

Proposals of no more than 300 words, should be sent to:
Greg Singh or Dr. Ewan Kirkland
Department of Arts and Media (D28)
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College
Queen Alexandra Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
UK
HP11 2JZ

greg.singh_at_bcuc.ac.uk
ewan.kirkland_at_bcuc.ac.uk

Deadline for proposals: Monday, 30th January 2006.

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Received on Sat Oct 29 2005 - 14:49:04 EDT