Critical Costume 2015
An international conference and exhibition of costume
25-27 March 2015, Helsinki, Finland
Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture
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What does it mean to study costume in the 21st century?
Early theoretical discourse on costume (Hollander 1975/1993; Wilson 1985/2013; Gaines 1990) underlines the active interrelation between costume, body and character by arguing that “costume assimilates bodily signifiers into character, but body as a whole engulfs the dress” (Gaines 1990: 193).
In the 21st century, costume practices are now encountered through a multitude of different media: from film and theatre to virtual environments and mediated platforms. Mediation has become a prevalent principle of contemporary life and culture. Yet, the role of the costumed body and of how bodily practices are ‘read’ within and explored through these contexts remains a central question of 21st century artistic scholarship and practice.
Costume is still a relatively new and emerging research area. However, the study of costume has significantly grown in profile in recent years as a subject worthy of focused academic study, as evident within the growing number of international scholarly publications on costume and the costumed body in the last decade. Most recently, special issues of academic journals, such as Canadian Theatre Review (2012) and Scene (2014, forthcoming), have addressed the agency of costume in live performance as well as in film and other media. In that regard, Critical Costume 2015 is the second event conceived under the banner of Critical Costume, following a research project initiated by Dr. Rachel Hann and Sidsel Bech at Edge Hill University (UK) in 2013 (see www.criticalcostume.com). The overall aim of the Critical Costume events is to offer a platform for new academic thinking and design practices around the study of costume: with costume conceived as a means of critically interrogating the body in/as performance.
Therefore, Critical Costume 2015 invites contributions from scholars and practitioners that seek to ad-dress the implications of research processes, new technologies and media for the study and practice of costuming today and in history.
While we welcome all proposals on the subject of costume, Critical Costume 2015 is particularly interested in contributions from practitioners and scholars that investigate the following:
The event includes
In that regard, we invite all interested parties to submit their proposals stating which presentation format you wish to be considered for:
Note: We welcome applications to present in more than one format.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed by an international team of reviewers. Submissions for paper presentations will be double blind peer-reviewed.
The event language is English.
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 31 October 2014 Extension of deadline!
Please submit your proposals online: HERE.
If you intend to submit artistic work for the exhibition, in addition to the online submission form above, please send images of your work as a single PDF file by email to: jorge.sandoval@aalto.fi.
Participation fee:
* The participation fee includes conference registration, conference materials, lunches and refreshments, and entrance to a special film screening at Helsinki Fashion Film Festival. In order to be included in the conference or the exhibition at least one contributor should register and pay the fee by January 31, 2015.
Researchers & Artists institutionally supported:
Regular, Early bird (by 31 January 2015) 220€
Regular (after 31 January 2015) 250€
Independent Researchers & Artists:
Reduced, Early bird (by 31 January 2015) 180€
Reduced (after 31 January 2015) 200€
Students (incl. MA & PhD candidates):
Student, Early bird (by 31 January 2015) 150€
Student (after 31 January 2015) 180€
Day fee 85€
The event will be open for registration after notification of acceptance.
Critical Costume 2015 is open to public attendance. A certificate of attendance will be provided to all participants.
Publication
Papers and visual essays from Critical Costume 2015 will be published in the new international peer-reviewed journal Studies in Costume and Performance (Intellect, 2016).
Journal editors: Donatella Barbieri, Kate Dorney and Sofia Pantouvaki.
Journal website: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=235/
Critical Costume 2015 is curated by Professor Sofia Pantouvaki and hosted by the Costume in Focus research group, based at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Important dates:
Deadline for the submission of proposals: 31 October 2014 Extension of deadline!
Notification of acceptance: 28 November 2014
Event dates: 25-27 March 2015
For more information, please contact: Prof. Sofia Pantouvaki, email: sofia.pantouvaki@aalto.fi.
Twitter: @CriticalCostume #CriticalCostume2015.
