"Re-Defining / Re-Mapping Queer Identities"
Chair: Elia Eliev (Geneva University of Art & Design)
Co-Chair: Daniel Barney (Geneva University of Art & Design)

From the early 1960's till the late 1980's, both artists and researchers have focused on the body as a major site of exploration and theorization in order to challenge issues of gender and sexuality.

Artists such as Ana Mandieta, Orlan, and Robert Mapplethorpe, incorporated and questioned the body in relation to space, (either physical and/or virtual) in order to explore the relationship between the artist and spectator, breaking down the way one may relate to an artwork. Artists of this period became actively involved in politics, especially for those living within a minority.

The aim of this session is to create a roundtable that will explore and question the many and varied ways in which the (non) representation of queer identities has shifted from the early 1990's to today in contemporary art. Moreover, we are interested in the recent strategies and methods used in contemporary art practices (i.e. situated, discursive, interventionist, tactical) in relation to social / cultural codes of representation.

How do today's artists relate to different structures of space and how do social, economic, political, psychological realms participate in the construction of new sexual identities (drawing from the theories of Doreen Massey). Lastly, we would like to question how these identities interact outside and inside the dominant culture.

Our aim is to create a trans-disciplinary exchange, enabling a confrontation and collaboration of different generations of artist/researchers at an international level, engaging in the conception of new understandings of queer identities through diverse study fields.

We are open to contributions of various disciplines (literature studies, film studies, art history, sociology, economy, psychology, geography…).

Please send an abstract of your proposed paper (200-300 words) to:
Elia Eliev elia.eliev@etu.hesge.ch (Geneva University of Art & Design)

Please include with your abstract:

Name and Affiliation
Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee)

Deadline: September 30, 2009

The 41st Annual Convention will feature approximately 350 sessions, as well as dynamic speakers and cultural events. Details and the complete Call for Papers for the 2010 Convention will be posted in June: www.nemla.org.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

Travel to Canada now requires a passport for U.S. citizens. Please get your passport application in early.