Mercè Saumell

We are delighted that Mercè Saumell will be another participant in our Performing Monstrosity symposium; Mercè is the Head of Cultural Services at the Institut de Teatre in Barcelona. Originally starting as a practitioner, Mercè is an internationally-respected theatre critic and academic, and has made significant contributions to monographs of various Catalan performance groups such as Els Joglars, La Cubana and La Fura dels Baus, in addition to giving papers all over Spain and abroad on the theme of contemporary theatre. Her familiarity with Barcelona performance practices and interest in sociological phenomena make Mercè an undoubtedly fascinating addition to our symposium.

Josep-Anton Fernàndez

We are very pleased to announce the participation of Josep-Anton Fernàndez, professor at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia) and formerly of Queen Mary, University of London, at our conference. Josep-Anton is an esteemed addition to our keynote speakers, and his research focusses on questions of identity and representation through cultural studies and language and literature, as well as the role of cultural policy on the creation of normalised Catalan identities. Amongst his recent publications is El malestar en la cultura catalana: La cultura de la normalització 1976-1999 (Barcelona: Empúries, 2008), concentrating on issues of identity and legitimation in a post-modern, post-Franco Catalonia. You can find more information on Josep-Anton's research and publications at http://www.xn--fernndez-2ya.cat/en/index.html, and we are very pleased to have him participate in our Monstrous conference.

Slingshot: 2.8 Hours Later

Slingshot is a Bristol-based company run by Simon Evans and Simon Johnson who specialise in ‘street and pervasive games’, and entertainment products that make the most of their urban environments. Close collaborators with igfest (Interesting Games Fest), and the San Francisco Come Out & Play festival, their ‘city-sized’ games involve performance artists to create an immersively emotional experience.

Slingshot is perhaps best known for its Zombie Chase Game 2.8 Hours Later, in reference to Danny Boyle’s zombie horror 28 Days Later, and involved a ‘howling army of zombies’, chasing 250 players across a city abandoned to the zombie hordes. Equipped with a map, players must find their way from survivor to survivor, each of whom has the key to their next location, before finding their way to Resistance HQ; at this point the player is scanned – if they have evaded infection from the raging zombies then they can enter the zombie disco, otherwise the infected player joins the zombie hordes…

Given the excitingly urban experience 2.8 Hours Later promises, Slingshot promises to be involving and visceral addition to our Performing Monstrosity symposium, given their commitment to spreading fear of monsters, making use of throughout the increasingly frightening alienation of the urban environment. More information at 2.8hourslater.com.

KEY NOTE SPEAKERS

We are pleased to be able to confirm the participation of four key-note speakers: Dr. Deborah Dixon, a reader in the Geography department at the University of Aberystwyth, a leading researcher in our chosen field, whose research centres around case study analysis of monstrous, media and marginal geographies; Dr. Jen Harvie (pending), whose work concentrates on the interrelations between performance, the city and cultural identities; Dr. Andrew Asibong from Birkbeck, whose interests lie in the ethico-political implications of ‘fantasical representation’; SlingShot, a performance company based in Bristol, whose interactive street game 2.8 Hours Later is a zombie-themed urban experience.

Performing Monstrosity in the City

Call for papers: Performing Monstrosity in the City

1^st September 2012, Queen Mary, University of London

Performing Monstrosity in the City is a one-day cross-disciplinary symposium that aims to re-evaluate the multiple ways in which the monstrous manifests itself within the context of an increasingly globalised, postmodern urban landscape.

In a consumerist, highly-pressurised society that pushes many individuals to the limit of endurance and moral boundaries, monstrous images become ever more prevalent, particularly within the contested city space. On the one hand, the portrayal and manipulation of such images reflects the ever present, but shifting, power structures that seek to define and inscribe the body of the “other” as both dangerous and distorted. On the other, it is clear that the twenty-first century has brought with it a growing tendency to re-appropriate and perform the trope of monstrosity in multiple ways.

This symposium invites participants to contribute either by presenting a 20 minute paper or by leading or participating in a round table discussion. We are interested in encouraging a multi-disciplinary questioning of the employment of the monstrous as a mode of performance. Topics for discussion could include, but are not limited to:

·         Defining and problematising the monstrous

·         Monstrosity in theory and practice

·         The monstrous “other”

·         The city as a monstrous locale

·         Monstrous control mechanism versus monstrous rebellion

·         Monstrosity as appropriation

·         Commercialising monstrosity

Please send abstracts (250 words), for consideration by 1^st April 2012 to Charlie Allwood (c.allwood@qmul.ac.uk) or Anna Wilson (a.e.wilson@qmul.ac.uk). (Or please communicate with us if you are interested in being involved in round table discussions). If you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to contact us.