CFP: The Art of Death and Dying, Univ. of Houston, Oct 2012

The Art of Death and Dying, University of Houston, October 25-27, 2012

The University of Houston Libraries, in partnership with the Blaffer Art Museum, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, the Department for Hispanic Studies, the Honors College and School of Art, will host a three day symposium titled "The Art of Death and Dying" on October 25-27, 2012.

We welcome scholars in all disciplines to submit paper proposals on literary, visual, and performing arts topics related to death and dying. Topics of the symposium include, but are not limited to:
Depictions or interpretations of death and dying in performing and visual arts
Depictions or interpretations of death and dying in literature
Depictions of death and dying in film, radio, and television
Commemoration of the dead in art, architecture and performance
Artifacts of death and dying as represented in archival or museum collections
Artistic depictions of the after life
Cultural death rituals
Cultural expressions of mourning
Death and dying in Latin American arts and culture
Readings of original creative material on the subject
Performances of original material on the subject
Presentation of original visual material on the subject
Memorial architecture
Cemetery design
Analysis of an artist's, architect's, performer's, filmmaker's or writer's work related to the subject

Proposals related to death in Latin American arts and visual culture are encouraged. The organizers will accept presentations in both Spanish and English.

Papers will be selected based upon the quality of the proposal (including merit of the topic, clarity of expression, and relevance to the conference theme), the proposal’s ability to provoke critical exchange and debate, and opportunities for interaction between participants that will enable attendees to engage in a truly interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and viewpoints.

Presenters will be afforded the opportunity for their symposium paper/presentation to be published in the Texas Digital Library. (http://www.tdl.org/#feature1)

Papers will be twenty minutes in length and will be followed by ten minutes of discussion. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted on the symposium website:

http://artofdeathanddying.blogspot.com/p/abstract-submission-form.html

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2012.