[spectre] CFP: Urban Art: creating the urban with art (Berlin, 14-16 Jul 16)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Ulrich Blanché <u.blanche at zegk.uni-heidelberg.de>
Date: Feb 29, 2016
Subject: CFP: Urban Art: creating the urban with art (Berlin, 14-16 Jul 16)

Humboldt University Berlin, July 14 - 16, 2016
Deadline: Apr 1, 2016

URBAN ART: CREATING THE URBAN WITH ART
14-16 July 2016 – Humboldt University Berlin
Keynote: Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar)

The conference deals with Urban Art, a new form of art and activism, 
that occurs in urban areas worldwide. First known under the label of 
"Street Art", the term has expanded to include diverse artistic and 
visual interventions in the exterior space. In contrast to the 
traditional term ‘public art’ Urban Art is very inclusive. Thus, it is 
both part of and reflective of current processes of global urbanization.
The extremely heterogeneous manifestations of Urban Art range from 
large-scale wall paintings to tiny stickers, performative interventions 
to alternative forms of urban planning; they accompany multiple forms of 
urban and global criticism and try to encourage participation through 
low artistic techniques.They are seen in passing, often by chance, on 
the street or by the discovery of images and locations online and in 
social media. Finally, the ambivalent areas of upvaluation and 
reinterpretation of urban spaces (gentrification), advertising and city 
marketing (commoditization) and attacks on private property (vandalism) 
are topics of Urban Art.

Works of Urban Art tend not to emerge from the art establishment, but 
come from anonymous players who make use of simple techniques and 
materials. Therefore, Urban Art is a phenomenon of the 'Low', which 
indeed evolved from a subculture, but clearly has features of mass 
culture: it is easily accessible to a wide audience on the street and 
online, works of Urban Art are often produced in series and at a low 
price.Urban Art messages are striking, comparable to advertising, and 
serve as entertainment or express site-specific criticism of urban 
surroundings. At the same time, the implicit notion of the urban 
provides the opportunity to reflect on the present development of the 
city and its medialization or aestheticism. This includes processes of 
virtualization, which participants test in a playful artistic 
environment or also concerning the monitoring in public space.

Topics of interest for submission may include, but are not limited to:

•    Urban or Public Art?
•    New Media (Internet and social media in the production and 
reception of urbanity)
•    Performativity (Action and reception by moving in the urban space)
•    Politics (Processes of participation and gentrification)
•    Tourism and Vandalism (Strategies of production and denial of urbanity)
•    Global-Local (Site-specific significance - global expansion)
•    Architecture and City Planning (Medialization of architecture and 
alternative forms of urban design/city planning)
•    Urban Art Research (Terminology, history of the core concepts)
•    Historicizing and Conservation of Urban Art
•    The Urban Pedestrian
•    Discussion of the concept of work (Werkbegriff) at Urban Art (What 
is the work of art in Urban Art?)
•    Urban Planning and Philosophy
•    Applied Ethics and the City
•    Race in Urban Affairs
•    Aesthetics and Urbanity
•    Humans, Animals, and Environment and the City
•    Feminism and the City
•    The City in the History of Philosophy
•    Urbanity and Justice
•    Urban Technology: Architecture, Engineering and Smart Cities

Abstracts of no more than 1500 characters (including spaces) are invited 
for papers, panels and workshop presentations and should be suitable for 
presentations of approximately 30 minutes.

Conference language is English.

Proposals should include name, contact information (address, phone 
number, e-mail), title of the paper, short CV in English (max. 200 
words). In the case of an unconventional presentation, please inquire.

Please send submissions and questions to Ilaria Hoppe, 
ilaria.hoppe at culture.hu-berlin.de and Ulrich Blanché, 
u.blanche at zegk.uni-heidelberg.de.
All submissions should be prepared for anonymous review. Notice of 
application results will be given by 1st May, 2016.

Deadline: April 1, 2016.

Partial reimbursement for travel expenses may be available for participants.

Contact
Prof. Dr. Ilaria Hoppe
Institut für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Georgenstr. 47
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +4930-2093-66235

Dr. Ulrich Blanché
ZEGK - Institut für Europäische Kunstgeschichte
Universität Heidelberg
Seminarstraße 4
69117 Heidelberg
Tel.: +496221-54-3544

Reference / Quellennachweis:
CFP: Urban Art: creating the urban with art (Berlin, 14-16 Jul 16). In: 
H-ArtHist, Feb 29, 2016. <http://arthist.net/archive/12322>.