CFP: SHARP 2011 conference: Book in Art & Science
Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, the Library of Congress, the Corcoran College of Art + Design, and the Folger Shakespeare Library and Institute, the nineteenth annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP), “The Book in Art & Science,” will be held in Washington, DC, Thursday, 14 July through Sunday, 17 July 2011.
Evoking Washington’s status as an artistic and scientific center, “The Book in Art & Science” is a theme open to multiple interpretations.
Besides prompting considerations of the book as a force in either art or science or the two fields working in tandem, it also encourages examinations of the scientific text; the book as a work of art; the art and science of manuscript, print, or digital textual production; the role of censorship and politics in the creation, production, distribution, or reception of particular scientific or artistic texts; the relationship between the verbal and the visual in works of art or science; art and science titles from the standpoint of publishing history or the histories of specific publishers; and much more. Such topics raise a host of possible questions:
What tensions exist between the book in art and the book in science? What collaborations emerge? How do these tensions or collaborations differ according to time or place? What roles have material forms—manuscript,
print or digital embodiments or books, periodicals, journals,
editions—played in the histories of artistic and scientific works? How does the lens of art or science inform histories of reading and readers?
What does this lens reveal about histories of authorship? How have commercial factors or economics influenced the production or distribution of scientific or artistic works? What roles have states or institutions played in the history of the book in art and science?
The conference hopes to welcome many longstanding SHARP members but also aims to attract new members. The conference’s address of art and science in its title invites those working on the history of science, technology, knowledge production, or the scientific book, to join us.
The link to the electronic form for both session and individual-paper proposals is available now at www.sharpweb.org and will be posted on the conference website. If you want to propose a session with an alternative format, please email the program committee at the address above to obtain a special form for such submissions.
The deadline for both panels and individual proposals is 30 November 2010.
Eleanor F. Shevlin, Ph.D.
Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) Membership Secretary members@sharpweb.org