Issue Eleven: Heterotopias (Worlds Within Worlds) Comparative Media Arts Journal

Mozhdeh Bashirian Announcement
Location
British Columbia, Canada
Subject Fields
Digital Humanities, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Cultural History / Studies, Film and Film History, Fine Arts

Issue Eleven: Heterotopias (Worlds Within Worlds)

Comparative Media Arts Journal | Call for Works

Michel Foucault writes in Les Hétérotopies that the present epoch might be understood as “the epoch of space,” or rather, the epoch of simultaneity (Dehaene & de Cauter 2008, p. 14). “We are in the epoch of simultaneity; we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and the far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed. We are at the moment, I believe, when our experience of the world is less that of a great life developing through time than that of a network that connects points and intersects with its own skein” (ibid.). This is how Foucault begins to define the concept he terms “hétérotopies” or what we will call “worlds within worlds.” 

Unlike utopias, heterotopias are not superior to our real life; instead, they are hidden or closed within the spaces we occupy in our everyday lives. When we enter an overcrowded hospital nowadays, we enter a heterotopia of crisis—one that changes the intensity of each lived moment. When we lose our homes, suddenly the streets open to us new maps and new ways to survive. When we lose our loved ones, their clothes, the smell of their perfume, the scent of their favorite tea, or just a photo we took together suddenly opens another space within the time and space we occupy. Heterotopias are other spaces. They are real, yet they are often virtual rather than actual.

The forthcoming Issue 11 issue of Comparative Media Arts Journal CMA calls for submissions dedicated to your recordings, your documentation[s], and your fabulated materials that might capture the ephemeral souls of these other spaces. What are the hidden side of your cities, and in what ways can you show us? Could you show us the hidden side of your place of residence? Remind us of forgotten, abandoned houses and/or factories that are still haunted by the lives once lived in them. Let us hear, smell, move, or look into the mirrors of your creations which reflect for once, not what we expect to see, but the unexpected and enchanting spirit of these forgotten spaces and times still pulsing within these fleeting moments, these still spaces.

We are looking for submissions from scholars, artists, and writers that explore or respond to the questions: How can we artfully take note of our dissipating lives, our histories, stories, and communal memories in this crisis-ridden current moment? How can we record the superimpositions of other times and spaces? How can we sometimes catch a glimpse of the ephemeral yet tangible signs eroded memories that still haunt the spaces we so absentmindedly occupy?

Submissions may address but are not limited to the following subjects:

hetero-topology -otherness – displacement- documentation- fabulation- communal memories- worlds within worlds

  1. We Invite the following types of contributions
  • Scholarly Papers
  • Case Studies
  • Exhibition Reviews
  • Performance Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Video/Audio recordings and investigations with written documentation
  • Field notes and creative investigations
  • Documentation of completed artist projects or works in progress

 

2. Submission Process

  • Submissions should be no less than 500 words and no more than 5000 words
  • Submissions should follow Chicago Style in-text citation (Author/year)
  • Submission Deadline: October 18, 2021
  • Please submit your paper in MS-Word (*.doc or *.docx) format.
  • Please submit your image files in .jpg format, 300dpi or the highest resolution possible
  • Email submissions to cma_journal@sfu.ca with the subject heading ‘Attn: Issue 8’
  • Image rights are the responsibility of the author/artist to secure

Reference

Dehaene, Cauter & Michiel Lieven de. (2008). Heterotopia and the city: public space in a postcivil society. New York: Routledge.

 

Contact Email
mba136@sfu.ca