Relational Forms II-Ex certa scientia:An International Conference

Date: December 13 – 15, 2012
Venue: Porto Portugal

This conference aims to respond to the intense interest that interdisciplinary and intermedial designs have obtained in many of the areas of study pertaining not only to literature and the arts but also to the sciences. It will lay a significant emphasis on the ways in which the discourses of literature, film, painting, music and other such cultural practices become interwoven with the discourses of science; and, conversely, on the ways in which the practices and theories of science reach beyond their more conventional boundaries and into the fields of artistic creativity and the humanities.

The conference will welcome contributions focusing on specific instances of interdisciplinarity and intermediality within the general context outlined above. It will also be open to studies that interrogate the theoretical and critical tools that have traditionally been applied to the study of intermedial relations and/or the relationships between the various relevant fields.

Specifically, the conference is meant to commemorate the 350th anniversary of a major event in the history of science and scientific institutions: the granting of the Charter to the Royal Society of London by King Charles II in 1662. The range of the conference, however, will be considerably broader: the programme will accommodate participants with interests as diverse as literary studies, the arts, the language of art history and art criticism, writing and performance, the philosophy of science, and the history of scientific inquiry and scientific institutions.

As indicated by the number in its title, this conference is the second in a series of academic events that reflect the ongoing concerns of the eponymous research group (Relational Forms), based at CETAPS (the Centre for English, Translation and Anglo-Portuguese Studies).

The organisers will welcome proposals for 20-minute papers in English on any of the areas mentioned above. Suggested (merely indicative) topics include:
• literature, the visual arts and the sciences: fascinations and perplexities
• the politics and poetics of discourse: scientific, literary, artistic
• the institutional framework: academies in literature, the sciences and the arts
• the loci of display / circulation: museums, galleries, publications
• object and subject in literature, the visual arts and the sciences
• representations of science and scientists in literature and the arts
• the implications of the arts and the humanistic disciplines for scientific research
• the cultural significance of scientific discoveries
• anthropological foundations of literature, science and the arts
• points of contact in the histories of the sciences, literature and the arts

Submissions should be sent by email to relational@letras.up.pt
Please include the following information with your proposal:
• the full title of your paper;
• a 250-300 word description of your paper;
• your name, postal address and e-mail address;
• your institutional affiliation and position;
• a short bionote;
• AV requirements (if any)

See for submissions details, registration, and all further information: http://web.letras.up.pt/scientia