MOMENT TO MONUMENT

Renewed Call for Papers

Conference at The English Department of Basel University (Switzerland), May 31-June 2, 2007

Keynote speakers:
Aleida Assmann (Univ. of Konstanz)
Pter Dvidhzi (Lornd Etvs University, Budapest)
David Morley (Goldsmiths College, Univ. of London)
Ann Thompson (King's College, Univ. of London)

MOMENT TO MONUMENT
From the momentary event in time to the seemingly timeless monumental presence and back to oblivion: the ways in which cultural memories are produced, transformed and lost, turning space into time and time into space, have been observed in many areas. Inquiries into literature, architecture, the visual and performing arts, the media and the everyday have frequently focused on the problem of monuments, canons and myths and their legitimization. The need to reform them is increased and complicated by revolutionized communication processes, the global dimensions of mass media and the different meanings which concepts such as 'community', 'identity' and 'belonging' are acquiring through (post)modern transformations of space and time. These shifts raise the interest of research that does not just discuss canons as desirable or undesirable givens, but also the processes by which changes have taken place and can be brought about. William Shakespeare's works and the figure of their author are a particularly striking example.

Questions that need to be addressed include:
How do everyday objects or works of art achieve cultural significance for a community?
How do they lose it? How, for example, can works considered classics disappear from the canon?
What kind of performative practices (ritual or other) are involved in this process?
Why would some works of art lend themselves better to monumentalization than others?
Are there periods in history that stimulate or facilitate monumentalization?
How do writers/artists take into account the phenomenon of monumentalization, resisting or pursuing it?
In how far has the media revolution changed our sense of belonging to places and traditions?
How does mobility affect the relationship between the global and the local?

We are interested in proposals for 20-minute papers that offer case-studies trying to establish general patterns.

The conference convenors:
Ladina Bezzola Lambert
Andrea Ochsner
Regula Hohl Trillini

Proposals, not exceeding 500 words, along with a brief biographical note, should be sent by 1 December 2006 in the body of an email to:

Dr. Regula Hohl Trillini
Department of English, Basel University, Switzerland
Email r.hohl@unibas.ch
www.unibas.ch/anglist