Nutopia : Exploring The Metropolitan Imagination

Nutopia : Exploring The Metropolitan Imagination
2/3 April 2009

Call for speakers
Deadline for application 30th November 2008

"Each epoch dreams the one to follow"
Michelet, Avenir! Avenir!


A multi disciplinary platform for artists/ archaeologists/ social scientists/
architects/ urban planners/ developers/ environmentalists/ activists and
regeneration/ housing, to meet and make visible their perspectives on the 21c
city; the nature of community, the human narrative, the new - utopia's which
we may be able to find present amongst contemporary town planning and
architecture.


The symposium will be set in Cardiff's Victorian and Edwardian Arcades, home
to a host of independent shops and against the backdrop of Saint Davids 2,
the city's under- construction shopping centre, which has been designed for
larger retailers, primarily multi + national chains. Both architectural
manifestations speak variously of social, economic and cultural shifts and
provide a lens through which to explore a multiplicity of perspectives, framing
our position as individuals and communities within the model of the 'global'
or 'regenerated' city. The aim of the symposium is to create a map of
perspectives revealing our thoughts on the 21c metropolitan 'imagination'.


Submissions are invited for a 20 minute paper / to host a break out discussion
or run a workshop or event in response to the above. Please feel free to
respond with a short abstract outlining an area of research or as a project
which befits the idea or possibility or new- utopia's.


Symposium Format: Working in response to submitted abstracts/ proposals,
your presentations will be located in different places in the city eg. Floor 5 of
NCP Carpark, Arcade basement, in a cafe/ pub, or in shopping centre's/
arcades/ office spaces etc in order to contextualise the discussion and to
create a dynamic between what is being discussed and a physical place. The
audience will be small and all presentations will be documented in location then
made available online please state in your proposal if you need to show images.


Please send 1 side of A4 outlining your responses in relation to your practice/
field, a CV and links to website/ blogs.


All speakers will have the option of having their paper included in the Museum
Of The Moment Archive* and also be featured in "The Arcades Project: A 3D
Documentary" Publication (Jan 2010).


UK travel costs will be covered/ free entrance and lunch provided during the
event participation fee to be agreed.


To make a submission email jennie@arcadesproject.org
To find out more about The Arcades Project : A 3D Documentary go to
www.arcadesproject.org



*The Museum Of The Moment Archive will be a multi media archive which will
be installed in the city centre as 'permanent' legacy of the project.

Dreamland Pavilion

Conference - The Dreamland Pavilion: Brooklyn and Development
October 2-3, 2009, Kingsborough Community College, The City University
of New York
CALL FOR PAPERS

How has Brooklyn become what it is—a place of nostalgia, imagination,
or fantasy as much as a territorial space, an "outer borough" of New
York City? Isn't it time to assess critically the rapid changes in
the borough over the last decade? With tremendous growth comes
certain costs, but how do we evaluate the present moment, poised
between Brooklyn past and Brooklyn future? How is "development"
defined differently by different groups in different contexts?
Finally, how do Brooklyn's diverse localities and populations reflect
or even shape the future of New York, a global metropolis? This
conference aims to be a space within which these and other questions
will be addressed, discussed, even answered. The two-day gathering
will combine moderated panels (in both traditional academic and
roundtable formats), guided visits to local sites, artistic
performances and discussion.

We welcome proposals from all relevant academic disciplines, including
history, literary studies, political science, geography, and
sociology. We are equally interested in proposals from those outside
academia, including architects, artists, journalists, activists, urban
planners and others concerned with Brooklyn in particular and urban
space in general.

The primary areas we will focus on in the conference are:

--The Arts and Cultural Practices: the borough's relationship to film,
literature, and the performing arts.

--Development Projects: the conflicts and controversies surrounding
Brooklyn's most important contemporary development projects,

--Demographics and Diversity: the broader forces that have reshaped
Brooklynites' lives in past and present, including migration,
education, housing and urban politics.

Possible topics for panelists to address within these areas could include:

--Renters and homeowners

--Decision-making processes

--Relationship of arts and culture to neighborhood geography

--Case studies of particular neighborhoods

--The Atlantic Yards project or Coney Island redevelopment

--Dynamics of race and/or ethnicity

--Environmental impact of development

--Access to local institutions

--Privatization and public space


Proposals should be submitted by February 1, 2009 and should include:

--A one-page description of your topic

--Contact information: Name, position and affiliation, telephone
numbers (home and cellphone), mail address and e-mail.


Please email completed proposals to Dr. Rick Armstrong, Department of
English, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York,
at: stephen.armstrong@kingsborough.edu.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Eben Wood, Department of English
Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York
2001 Oriental Blvd.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 368-5229
eben.wood@kingsborough.edu

or

Dr. Libby Garland, Department of History, Philosophy, and Political Science
Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York
2001 Oriental Blvd.
Brooklyn, NY 11235
(718) 368-5624
libby.garland@kingsborough.edu

Please also visit our conference website at:
http://www.kingsborough.edu/dreamland_pavilion.