Call for Papers & Works

Resonance and Remembrance: An Interdisciplinary Bell Studies Symposium
Call for Papers and Works

Location: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Date: Friday, March 31 – Sunday, April 2, 2017
Proposal deadline: January 15, 2017

Keynote speaker: Steven Feld (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Emeritus at the University of New Mexico), featuring Rahim AlHaj (oud)

Tower bells such as the carillon are hidden in plain sight: the instruments and their players cannot be viewed on performance stages, yet they provide soundscapes and focal points for thousands of cities and towns worldwide. The School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor will host Resonance and Remembrance: An Interdisciplinary Campanology Symposium from Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2, 2017 as part of a yearlong series of carillon events marking the University of Michigan Bicentennial. We invite proposals from any discipline concerning bells and bell-ringing practices of all periods and cultures, as well as proposals for the presentation of creative campanological works.

The symposium will create a space for scholars and arts practitioners to engage across disciplinary boundaries on combined panels and performances. We encourage proposals from fields ranging from musicology and sound studies to art history, anthropology, urban studies, architecture, the history of the senses, science and technology studies, new media, Dutch studies, legal studies, media arts, creative writing, performance studies, and more, as well as from artists working in any medium.

Presentations in diverse formats are encouraged, including individual papers, poster sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions, lecture-recitals, and themed panel sessions. U-M has two carillons available for performances.

Possible paper topics include but are not limited to:

• How do bells regulate the progression of institutional and social time? How have they shaped their cities over time?
• How have developers of sound synthesis and digital fabrication technologies approached the creation of bell sounds?
• How do bell towers serve as both reified symbols of institutional power and longevity as well as instruments of resistance and transformation?
• How can artistic and technological interventions enable open-ended audience interaction with the carillon, formerly an instrument for the disciplining of everyday life?

Proposal formats

• Individual papers: 300-word abstract
• Themed panel sessions: Individual papers should follow the guidelines above, and should be supplemented by a 350-word summary of the session theme and relationships between papers
• Posters: 300-word proposal. Describe how you will illustrate your project, the motivation for the work, and the contributions being presented.
• Lecture-recitals: 250-word abstract, supplemented by a short biography and recording(s) of the performer(s) playing examples from the proposed repertory.
• Workshops, roundtables, and other formats not listed above: 350-word abstract that clearly describes the intended format and duration, plus one optional piece of supplementary material.

Proposal submission

• Email proposals to michigancarillons@gmail.com with the subject line “Campanology 2017 Proposal.” The proposal should be attached or linked as a shared cloud document.
  • In addition to paper title and abstract, please include your
    • Name
    • Preferred affiliation or city
    • Audio-visual requirements
• Deadline: Midnight, Eastern Time, on Sunday, January 15, 2017

About the University of Michigan carillons: http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/organ/Carillon_study.htm

Conference organizers: Tiffany Ng, John Granzow (U-M)

This symposium is sponsored in part by the University of Michigan Bicentennial.