Visual Studies Publication ~ Call for Papers

To Find a Form to Accommodate the Mess is a publication of the Visual Studies graduate department at SUNY Buffalo showcasing the artwork of the graduating class of 2014, along with scholarly and creative writing on the themes of anxiety, critique of the spectacle, and revealing ideologies. We are looking for essays of approximately 1500 words on one of the themes, or you are invited to write about the work of one or more artists in the program, using approximately 700 words/artist. Please visit this link to view the artwork: http://visualstudies2014.wordpress.com/

Papers should be sent to visualstudies2014@gmail.com by midnight, March 21st for review.

Anxiety

In an era marked by precarity, mass surveillance, and ecological disasters, anxiety pervades our everyday experience. Whether it is collective or personal anxiety, concerns regarding survival and sustainability, attempts to cope through meditation, medication or organization, we are looking for engagement with any aspect of this affect.

Critique of the Spectacle

What is the current state of the spectacle 50 years after the term was coined? Has the critique of spectacle been recuperated, or is there still potential for resistance in this approach? Some of the topics in this area may include, but are not limited to: the consumption of identity and celebrity, abstraction and alienation in everyday life, the spectacle of opposition, recuperation, and the impact of the market on images.

Revealing Ideologies

Ideologies determine what is allowed to be seen, and what is left unmarked. We are looking for writing that investigates how ideologies reveal, camouflage, structure and define meanings, delving behind what appears to be. Work in this area may include, but is not limited to: alternative histories and analyses of power relations.