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The Bluff Collaborative for Research on Dada and Surrealism: Announcement of a Convening Spring 2027

Type: Calls For Papers [View all]
Posted by: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Deadline: Thu, December 31st, 2026

The Bluff Collaborative for Research on Dada and Surrealism generates new scholarship on the revolutionary art movements of Dada and Surrealism by bringing together knowledge from the museum, archive, lab, and studio to advance fresh perspectives on the power of art and ideas in society today.

Dada and Surrealism were global artistic, literary, and intellectual movements that emerged in the wake of World War I. Artists associated with these movements in the interwar years rejected traditional practices and conventions alongside momentous political and social change, challenging norms and sparking new ways of thinking through provocation and dialogue. The impact of Dada and Surrealism extend far beyond Europe and the World Wars—indeed, their influence on the revolutionary, experimental and vitality that art can offer endures today.

With objects of art at the core of our study, The Bluff Collaborative merges historical and material research with contemporary thinking to offer a platform for new views and conversations. Through our shared program of study, lectures, performances, and more, we aim to inspire artists, scholars, and Museum visitors to find new meaning in history and to approach the uncertainties and challenges of our own time with curiosity, experimentalism, and a spirit of emergent collaboration.

Each year The Bluff Collaborative dedicates its program to a research theme and publishes its work in The Bluff Almanach (see our inaugural issue here: metmuseum.org/research-centers/bluff-collaborative-for-research-on-dada-and-surrealism/volume-1-man-ray). For 2026-27, we are focusing our object-based work on "Echoes and Traces." In the spring of 2027 we will host a convening session and invite papers from a multitude of disciplines that consider our research theme, particularly related to a work or works in the Bluff or Met collections. Possible topics might include but are not limited to acoustic, psychological, temporal, or visual disruption, fragmentation, or repetition in Dada or Surrealism; or a technique or artwork that acts as ghost or residue.

To participate, please send an abstract of no more than 1-2 double-spaced pages, cv, and letter of interest by December 31, 2026 to: BluffCollaborative@metmuseum.org. Participants will be notified in January 2027.

Posted on Fri, November 6th, 2026
Expires on Thu, December 31st, 2026

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