Call for Papers: International Bande Dessinée Society (IBDS) Conference 2007 (April 13 to April
14) hosted by
the French Institute, South Kensington, London.

IBDS 2007: 'Bande dessinée: The Innovative Form'
The next conference of IBDS will take place on 13 and 14 April 2007, at the French Institute,
London, UK. Its
theme is the innovative role played by BD in relation to other visual and textual cultural
forms. The conference
organizers invite papers that explore the relation between BD and cinema, pop art, web-
design, fiction,
photography, architecture and public heritage. We encourage contributors to explore
contemporary European
graphic novels to dissect how they influence, or have been influenced by, a wide range of
cultural forms. We will
also be delighted for scholars who work on film, literature, and other cultural areas to
present papers that
reflect on how these fields have been inspired by BD.

        The conference reflects the rise of the European graphic novel among the other arts and
its recognition as
a key European aesthetic. It takes up the challenge posed by the fact that French film
directors are now
scripting comic books. We are inspired by the recent selection of BD adaptations in popular
Francophone
cinema. Hosted at the Institute, the conference will include a film evening. We also note that
European fiction is
increasingly aware of, and inter-acting with, the idea of the visual image. We invite papers or
panel proposals
that address the role of 'the image' in the novel.

        Although our theme is highly contemporary we also welcome papers that point to
intriguing antecedents
to the new trends. Is the role of BD we attribute to the contemporary period actually quite as
new as it seems?
Were similar trends and structures operative in the 1930s, the 1960s or the 1970s? Certainly,
the history of the
novel is closely linked to the world of illustration and we will be pleased to consider papers
that recall that
heritage.

        Finally, BD are not only refiguring the aesthetic landscape they are also transgressing
traditional notions of
national readership communities. We invite papers or panels that analyse this innovation. For
example,
contributors might wish to explore the relative role of BD in reshaping Francophone
national-cultural borders
with reference to intra European (France-Belgium-Switzerland) or extra-European examples.
Papers exploring
the relations between BD, North American comics and Manga are also encouraged.

To list areas of interest: questions of the formal features of the BD, BD and film, film and BD,
BD and fiction,
and vice versa, BD and public heritage, BD and illustration, design, advertising, BD and the
internet, BD and pop
art, BD and the reshaping of national reading communities, potential antecedents to the
above as well as the
future of the form. We wish to use the event to analyse all areas of 'BD and innovation' and
so please do bring
new ideas to our conference.

Please submit all proposals to Dr Hugo Frey (Principal Lecturer in Contemporary History and
Subject Leader),
School of Cultural Studies, University of Chichester, College Lane, Chichester. Preferably by
e-mail to
H.Frey_at_chi.ac.uk

All proposals should be approx. 300 words long. The deadline for proposals to reach the
organising team is 30
October 2006. Notification of acceptance will follow in the first week of November 2006.
-
IBDS 2007 is co-organised by Dominique Le Duc (Brighton) Hugo Frey (Chichester) and the
French Institute,
London. It is kindly hosted at the Institute where delegates will be able to enjoy all of its
cultural facilities as
well as the mini 'French quarter' in London. Hotel planning is well underway and we aim to
provide reasonable
accommodation rates. International delegates might note that the Institute is just 30 minutes
(approx), by
underground, from Heathrow Airport.

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Received on Tue Jul 18 2006 - 18:16:15 EDT