Somatics & Technology Conference and Workshop :: June 22-23, 2012 :: University of Chichester, UK :: Call for Papers, Artworks, and Presentations — Deadline: April 28.

The first conference of its kind in the UK to disseminate a spectrum of digital arts linked with the Somatic, this event will integrate advanced critical and theoretical perspectives. Through keynote presentations, papers, roundtable discussions led by keynote speakers, a series of workshops and an art exhibit, the conference offers the opportunity for both practical and theoretical understanding of its theme. Continue reading

You are invited to apply for a place in the 2012 Session of the Johannesburg Workshop in Theory and Criticism (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa). The 2012 Session, Futures of Nature, is part of a drive within the humanities to reframe the disciplines and critical theory in light of the environmental emergency that is said to endanger most species on the planet, including our own.

We will reflect on some of the major challenges relating to the contemporary conditions and the long-term sustainability of life on Earth. Ours is an age characterized by the indelible imprint of human activity on the Earth’s climate, its geology and its conditions – a process which may lead to the planet’s becoming inhospitable to human life. It is also an era that blurs the distinction between human history and culture and the Earth’s natural history and material composition. Continue reading

Theory in Action, the journal of the Transformative Studies Institute (quarterly publication print ISSN: 1937-0229 electronic ISSN: 1937-0237), is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal, whose scope ranges from the local to the global. Its aim is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and the discussion of current research (qualitative and quantitative) on the interconnections between theory and action aimed at promoting social justice broadly defined.

The journal editorial board does not privilege any particular theoretical tradition or approach and there are no word or page limits for its articles. TIA publishes papers that connect academic scholarship with activism, what R.K. Merton calls ‘theories of the middle range.’ TIA values radical and unconventional ideas, expressed in different styles, whether academic or journalistic. Continue reading

404 International Festival of Art & Technology :: Open Call — Deadline: February 28, 2012. Continue reading

Theory Beyond Codes: Haptics, Mobile Handhelds, and other “Novel” Devices: The Tactile Unconscious of Reading across Old and New Media by Rachel Lee :: CTHEORY: Theory, Thechnology, Culure VOL 35, NOS 1-2 :: Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker.

I. Don’t Press. Just Touch

In a 2007 news article in the ~Korea Times~ covering the then innovative technology of the capacitance v. resistive (i.e., pressure sensitive) touch screens, Cho Jin-Seo uses the lead-in “Don’t Press. Just Touch” to capture the habituated finger knowledge one would have to incorporate in order to switch from the more familiar interface of ATM’s and cashier check-out stands to the newer interfaces of mobile devices. [1] Continue reading

Into the Diagram: Two Public Lectures by Brian Massumi and Erin Manning :: December 13, 2011: 6:00 pm :: Artspace, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Road, Woollomooloo, Sydney.

Artspace and National Institute of Experimental Arts, CoFA present two lectures by Brian Massumi and Erin Manning, leading philosophers and practitioners of movement, affect and relationality. Together their lectures Animality and Abstraction (Massumi) and The Dance of Attention (Manning) explore the virtual, abstract and powerful dimensions of diagrams. Continue reading

Deleuze and Computers – a lecture by Alexander R. Galloway :: W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst, December 2, 2011. Continue reading

Minima Moralia Redux is a selective remix by Eduardo Navas of Theodor Adorno’s Minima Moralia. Starting on October 16, 2011, an entry a week will be rewritten until the 153 aphorisms of Minima Moralia become part of the blog.

Theodor Adorno’s aphorisms are carefully analyzed and reinterpreted in order to explore the principles of the selective remix, often found in music and video. The selective remix consists of adding to or subtracting material from a pre-existing source. Continue reading

The Nonhuman Turn in 21st Century Studies :: May 3-5, 2012 :: Center for 21st Century Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee :: Call for Papers - Deadline: December 19, 2011.

Invited speakers include Jane Bennett, Ian Bogost, Bill Brown, Wendy Chun, Mark Hansen, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, and Tim Morton.

This conference takes up the “nonhuman turn” that has been emerging in the arts, humanities, and social sciences over the past few decades. Intensifying in the 21st century, this nonhuman turn can be traced to a variety of different intellectual and theoretical developments from the last decades of the 20th century: Continue reading