Shapes of Dystopia:Literary Imaginings and Social Realities Across Media

January 16, 2026, Rzeszów, Poland (Hybrid Formula) 

University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów is pleased to announce the second edition of the international academic conference “Shapes of Dystopia,” which is to take place on January 16, 2026, in Rzeszów and online. This year's edition, titled “Literary Imaginings and Social Realities Across Media,” attempts to shift the focus from dystopia as a literary or film genre to dystopia as a category for describing and critiquing our surrounding reality (see Claeys, 2017). In an era where climate crises, social inequalities, disinformation, and technological surveillance are becoming commonplace (Zuboff, 2019), dystopian narratives cease to be mere fiction. They become a tool for social diagnosis, a mirror reflecting our fears, and a key to understanding the mechanisms of power, oppression, and exclusion (e.g., Han, 2017).

Core Idea: From The Doll to Netflix – Dystopian Echoes in the Classics

A special inspiration for this year's edition is the novel The Doll (Lalka) by Bolesław Prus, a leading figure in Polish literature of the late 19th century. For an international audience, Prus can be compared to contemporaries like Émile Zola or Charles Dickens. His novel is a masterpiece of Polish Realism, offering a panoramic and deeply critical portrait of Warsaw society in the late 19th century. Although rarely analyzed through a dystopian lens, it offers a depiction of a society where individual aspirations are crushed by the walls of social hierarchies, conventions, and economic oppression. The world presented by Prus is a space where human relationships are commodified, with love and friendship subjected to the pressures of capital. Moreover, technological progress does not lead to emancipation but deepens alienation and misunderstanding, while the social structure acts as an invisible force, determining the fates of individuals and preventing genuine change.

These elements—alienation, control, disillusionment with progress, and social determinism—form the foundation of dystopian thought. We propose the thesis that The Doll is a novel about a world that bears the hallmarks of a dystopia realized "here and now," within the existing order, rather than in a distant future.

The contemporary reception of the novel and its timeless critical potential are confirmed by plans for its new film adaptation by Netflix. This makes The Doll an excellent starting point for a discussion on how classic narratives are reinterpreted in the context of modern anxieties and how they resonate across different media—from literature and posters to streaming services.

Suggested Topics:

We invite contributions from established and early-career scholars, postgraduate and doctoral students, as well as artists and enthusiasts across disciplines who are interested in the conference themes. We invite 15-minute presentations and posters on topics including, but not limited to:

• Literary classics as dystopian diagnosis: The Doll and other canonical texts (Polish and global) read through the lens of dystopian theory.
• Social dystopia: Literary and media representations of exclusion, inequality, the precariat, and systemic oppression.
• The transmedia life of dystopia: Adaptations, remixes, and reinterpretations of dystopian narratives in film, TV series, comics, video games, and art.
• Techno-dystopias: Control, surveillance, the algorithmization of life, and the crisis of privacy in digital culture.
• Eco-dystopias and the Anthropocene: Climate crisis, ecological disasters, and posthumanism in literature and art.
• Language as a tool of oppression and resistance: Disinformation, propaganda, and critical discourse analysis in dystopian contexts.
• Feminist utopias and dystopias: Gender, power, the body, and reproductive technologies in speculative narratives.
• The architecture and urbanism of dystopia: The city as a space of control, alienation, and resistance.
• Late capitalism as dystopia: Consumerism, work culture, and the mental health crisis from a critical perspective.

Accompanying Event: “The Doll on a Poster” International Exhibition

An integral part of the conference will be an exhibition of graphic works and posters, curated by Professor Patrycja Longawa. The exhibition will showcase visual interpretations of The Doll, demonstrating how graphic language can become a form of critical commentary on literary classics and contemporary issues.

Scholarly Sources and Theoretical Inspirations:

We encourage a dialogue with theoretical thought that problematizes the categories of dystopia, power, and social critique. Suggested theoretical frameworks may include, but are not limited to:

• Dystopian Studies: Works by Gregory Claeys (Dystopia: A Natural History), M. Keith Booker (The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature).
• Theory of Biopolitics and Power: Concepts by Michel Foucault (biopower, panopticism), Giorgio Agamben (state of exception, bare life), Byung-Chul Han (Psychopolitics).
• Critique of Capitalism: Ideas from Mark Fisher (capitalist realism), Guy Debord (the society of the spectacle), or Shoshana Zuboff (surveillance capitalism).
• Ecocriticism and Posthumanism: Works by Donna Haraway (A Cyborg Manifesto), Rosi Braidotti (The Posthuman), and Timothy Morton (Hyperobjects).

Submissions:

Please send your abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short bio (max. 150 words) to: pwieczorek@wsiz.edu.pl and dkaminski@wsiz.edu.pl by November 30, 2025.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by December 10, 2025.
Participation in the conference is free of charge.

Selected papers will be published in a special issue of Studia Humana (ISSN: 2299-0518) or Social Communication. Online Journal (ISSN: 2450-7563).

Organizing Committee:

• Paula Wieczorek, PhD (Head of the Committee)
• Professor Patrycja Longawa (Exhibition Curator)
• Dominik Kamiński, M.A. (Secretary)
• Izabela Lenczowska, M.A.

Scientific Committee:

• Professor Patrycja Longawa
• Professor Mariusz Pisarski
• Professor Marcin Szewczyk
• Professor Konrad Szocik
• Iwona Leonowicz-Bukała, PhD
• Paula Wieczorek, PhD