CFP: ATG Symposium (30-31st July, London)

[Julian Ross]

Call for Papers:

The Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice, Birkbeck
College, University of London presents:

 

Symposium: The Art Theatre Guild of Japan: Spaces for Intercultural and Intermedial Cinema

30th-31st July 2011

Gordon Square Cinema, Birkbeck College, University of
London

 

Keynote Speaker: Roland Domenig (University of Vienna)

Confirmed Plenary Speaker: Hirasawa Go (Meiji Gakuin University)

 

More details will be announced at:

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/creative/news-events/atg

 

With the generous support of: The Japan Foundation

 

In collaboration with: Mixed Cinema Network, Close-Up Film Centre
and the BFI

 

In Conjunction with:

 

The Art Theatre Guild of Japan Season (August: BFI Southbank)

 

Theatre Scorpio Retrospective: Japanese Independent and Underground Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s (July:
Close-Up Film Centre)

 

Symposium Convenors:

Oliver Dew (Birkbeck
College, University of London)

Julian Ross (Mixed Cinema
Network, University of Leeds)

 

To celebrate the arrival in London of the Art Theatre
Guild of Japan (ATG) season at the BFI Southbank and the Theatre Scorpio
retrospective programme at the Close-Up Film Centre in July and August 2011,
this international symposium will explore the many faces of Japanese
independent arts in the 1960s and 1970s.



Partly inspired by the BFI, ATG was inaugurated in 1961 to
distribute and exhibit international new-wave films across Japan, generating an
engagement with global film culture. In 1967 the organization began to assist
in the production of local independent filmmakers’ projects, co-producing some
of the most critically acclaimed works of the key directors of the era,
including Oshima Nagisa, Susumu Hani, Yoshida Kiju, Terayama Shuji and
Wakamatsu Koji, amongst many others. Furthermore, ATG, and in particular its
centrepiece cinema Art Theatre Shinjuku Bunka and its underground space
Sasori-za (Theatre Scorpio), instigated a dialogue between cinema and the other
arts that reached previously unattained levels. ATG continued to co-produce key
works in Japanese cinema for decades afterwards.



The symposium aims to contribute to the recent resurgence of
critical and public interest in 1960s avant-garde culture across the globe, and
place ATG’s phenomenal creative output in an international context. We would
like to focus in particular on how cultural spaces, such as the Art Theatre
Shinjuku Bunka, were key in yielding an atmosphere where a network of
heterogeneous artistic voices could interact and collaborate, develop a
relationship with their audience, and experience their art within an
international forum. Although the focus will remain on the circuit of ATG
activities, the symposium aims to branch out further to explore alternative
venues and fields of activity that were equally significant within the cultural
climate.

 

Although all proposals will be considered,
we particularly welcome papers that explore the following themes:

 

·      
Japanese Cinema of the 1960s/70s in an international
context

·      
Japanese Cinema of the 1960s/70s and its
relationship with other arts

·      
The meaning of independence in 1960s/70s
Japanese culture industries

·      
Japanese experimental cinema and avant-garde
arts of the 1960s/70s

·      
The impact of ATG and other comparable cultural
spaces on 1960s/70s Japan

·      
Examples of cross-medial collaborations

·      
Audiences of 1960s/70s Japanese arts and reception
of such works in Japan and elsewhere

·      
Comparative studies of cultural venues

·      
Comparative studies of new wave films in world
cinema

·      
Studies of key directors and collaborators
(cinematographers, actors, art directors, etc.) of 1960s/1970s Japanese cinema.

·      
The resonance of Japanese 1960s culture in
the world today



We welcome proposals from researchers at
any stage of their project, and we will accept proposals from those within and
beyond the academic field of film studies. Please send a 400-word abstract and
200-word (max) biography to atg.symposium at gmail.com.



Please note that selected papers will be considered for
publication in a special issue of Vertigo Magazine dedicated to Theatre
Scorpio.

For more information on Vertigo Magazine, published by Close-Up
Film Centre, please visit: www.vertigomagazine.co.uk
or www.closeupfilmcentre.com/

 

The
deadline for application is 25th May 2011

Successful
candidates will be approached by 31st May 2011.To register
a seat for the symposium or for any further questions, please contact the
e-mail address above.


 		 	   		  
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