[spectre] (fwd) Counterculture in the US West - Call for Papers

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 10:13:22 -0800 (PST)
From: Robin Oppenheimer <robino at sfu.ca>
Subject: Counterculture Call for Papers

I just returned from the College Art Association 
conference in LA, where I was on a panel about 
the aesthetics of the US West Coast 
counterculture (I presented my research about 
light shows). The two conveners from Denver are 
now putting out a call for papers for an art 
exhibition and book on the same theme that I've 
attached. Thanks!



Call For Papers

The Countercultural Object: Consciousness and 
Encounters at the Edge of Art, 1965-1975
Eds. Elissa Auther and Adam Lerner

The Countercultural Object: Consciousness and Encounters at the Edge of Art,
1965-1975 is an edited collection of scholarly 
essays that will consider the unique visual 
expressions of countercultural artists working on 
the West coast, the Rocky Mountain West, and the 
Southwest in the post-war period. The editors 
welcome proposals for essays focusing on the 
artistic practices of the American counterculture 
of the 1960s and 1970s that were aimed at 
transforming social norms and generating new life 
patterns. Examples of such practices might 
include, among others, the hand-built 
architecture of the communities Drop City and 
Libre in Colorado, the multi-sensory movement 
workshops of Anna Halprin in the San Francisco 
Bay area, the creation of immersive light shows 
in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the revival 
of craft throughout centers of the counterculture 
in the American West. In this study, art works 
and practices like those listed above will be 
organized around five themes emblematic of the 
counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s: altering 
consciousness, communal encounters, alternative 
settlements, °ƒhow to°± publications, and the 
handmade.

Essays will be selected with a view toward a 
cohesive book that highlights how artists 
associated with the counterculture contributed to 
a conception of art as a tool for personal and 
social transformation, immediate and direct 
experience, and cultural and political activism.

Interested individuals should submit an abstract 
of no more than 500 words, a 100-word author's 
biography, and a 2-3 page CV. Proposals must be 
received by May 31st, 2009.

Proposals may be sent as email attachments to
counterculturebook at gmail.com

or to Drs. Elissa Auther and Adam Lerner, 3433 
Pecos St. Denver, CO, 80211. Questions concerning 
the project may be sent to Elissa Auther and Adam 
Lerner at

counterculturebook at gmail.com.