[spectre] CfP Prague Conference 2007 - MutaMorphosis

[Pavel Sedlak]

First Call for Abstracts: Deadline 31st of January 2007

MutaMorphosis: Challenging Arts and Sciences, International Conference, Prague

International Conference organised by CIANT as part of the ENTER 
festival in the framework of the Leonardo 40th anniversary 
celebrations. The festival will feature also the first retrospective 
exhibition of Frank J. Malina.

8th - 10th of November 2007, Prague, Czech Republic

Conference website: http://www.mutamorphosis.org

The conference will explore the major mutations that are affecting 
the future of our world. We invite papers from artists, scientists 
and researchers on the evolution of living beings and the societies 
they constitute, and on modes of knowledge, expression and 
communication of humans, animals and other forms of life.

'MutaMorphosis' seeks a multiplicity of perspectives as well as a 
qualified and diverse group of conference participants.  The 
conference will concentrate on the growing interest -- within the 
worlds of the arts, sciences and technologies -- in EXTREME AND 
HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS. These environments appear as symptomatic 
indicators of the mutations that are taking place; they are potential 
vectors that make possible an awareness of the different problems at 
the origin of the disturbances that threaten the ensemble of the 
Earth's eco-systems.

We invite practitioners in the arts, sciences, engineering and 
humanities to submit abstracts that explore the limits and extremes 
within the following streams of interest:

1. LIFE

How do the arts and sciences deal with new ideas about strategies of 
life in extreme conditions?

Keywords: adaptation, artificial life, bioart, biotechnology, cell, 
cloning, control, emergence, ethics, evolution, extremophilia, 
hybrid, limit, organization, performativity, self-organization, 
strategy, survival, symbiogenesis, symbiosis, tissue, transformation, 
transgression, transplantation, unpredictability.

2. SPACE

How do the arts and sciences face radical scales and extreme environments?

Keywords: Antarctica, astrophysics, colonisation, climate, dark 
matter, dark energy, deserts, deteritorialization, ethics, 
exobiology, exploration, geotagging, globalization, map, macro, 
micro, nano, singularity, outer space, speed, territory, underwater, 
vacuum.

3. COGNITION

How do the arts and sciences address evolving ideas about cognition 
in extreme environments?

Keywords: collective intelligence, complexity, connectivity, 
decision, deficiency, distributed, ethics, intelligence, dysfunction, 
emotion, efficiency, information, instrument, handicap, manipulation, 
memory, mobility, networked, pathology, perception, sensorial, 
simulation, system, therapy, visualization, web 2.0.

All submitted abstracts will be peer reviewed by an international 
advisory panel. Submissions accepted and presented at the conference 
will be published in the conference proceedings.

500-word abstracts required by 31st of January 2007 via email to 
mutamorphosis at ciant.cz.

Join us in Prague 8th - 10th of November 2007.



Conference Steering Committee: Alban Asselin, Louis Bec, Annick 
Bureaud, Don Foresta, Denisa Kera, Roger F. Malina (co-chair: 
rfm.mutamorphosis at gmail.com), Louise Poissant, Pavel Sedlák 
(co-chair: sedlak at ciant.cz), Pavel Smetana

Organiser: CIANT - International Centre for Art and New Technologies 
in Prague (www.ciant.cz, CZ)

Co-organisers: Leonardo (www.leonardo.info, USA; www.olats.org, FR), 
Hexagram (www.hexagram.org, CAN), Pépinières européenes pour jeunes 
artistes (www.art4eu.net, FR)

Partners: Centre for Global Studies at Charles University 
(http://cgs.flu.cas.cz, CZ), CYPRES Arts Sciences Technologies 
Cultures (www.cypres-artech.org, FR), Czech Academy of Sciences - 
Week of Science and Technology (www.avcr.cz/tydenvedy, CZ), French 
Institute in Prague (www.ifp.cz, CZ), MARCEL (www.mmmarcel.org, GB), 
UQAM (www.uqam.ca, CAN)