Body Matters aims to investigate notions of Body in contemporary architectural discourses. Always a fundamental in architecture, the body needs to be reconsidered on its own terms, as a creative, material and philosophical concern. Beyond historical materialism and phenomenological approaches in architecture, recent new materialism thought has proposed a cross-disciplinary endeavour to confront long-held assumptions about the relationship between humans, nonhumans and the world.
The material world is understood as a network of relational, non-fixed entities, always in flux and emerging in unexpected ways around actions and events. How then can Architecture position itself and its role in these shifting and pluralist perspectives? Body Matters aims to explore not only what the body looks like, how it works and performs and what it is made of, but also how it blurs its own boundaries as it resonates with the environment. Ultimately it will interrogate how bodies matter, in architecture and beyond.
The themes of this conference bring into sharp focus ‘our forgotten relation to the encompassing earth’ (Abram) to discuss a renewed environmental sensitivity that spans across science, politics, nature and culture.
The organizers invite individual and group proposals for 20-minute papers, as well as for themed sessions, debates and round tables.
The organizers welcome proposals of papers with the intention or possibility to be supported by or delivered through performance or film-based presentation.
The organizers welcome contributions that explore contemporary developments and project future trends, as well as those that offer retrospective theoretical and critical interrogations.
Please indicate clearly if submitting a full session panel proposal.
For individual proposals please send a 400 word abstract with title, and a 50 word biographical note.
For themed sessions please send the individual abstracts together with a session proposal, introduction and title.
Proposals should be emailed to bodymatters@norwichuni.ac.uk
More information can be found in the full call for papers on the conference website.