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CAA invites individual members to submit abstracts for Poster Sessions at the 100th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, taking place February 22–25, 2012. Poster Sessions—presentations displayed on bulletin boards by an individual for small groups—usually include a brief narrative paper mixed with illustrations, tables, graphs, and similar presentation formats. The poster display can intelligently and concisely communicate the essence of the presenter’s research, synthesizing its main ideas and directions. Colorado State University has published useful general information on Poster Sessions.

Poster Sessions offer excellent opportunities for extended informal discussion and conversation focused on topics of scholarly or pedagogical research. Posters are displayed for three days during the conference, so that attendees can view the work even when the authors are not physically present. Poster Sessions take place in a high-traffic area, in close proximity to the Book and Trade Fair and conference rooms.

Proposals for Poster Sessions must include the following:

  • Title of Poster Session
  • Summary of project, not to exceed 250 words
  • Name of presenter(s), affiliation(s), and CAA member number(s)
  • A two-page CV
  • Complete mailing address and telephone number
  • Email address

Proposals are due May 2, 2011—the same deadline as the regular call for papers for the 2012 conference. Send all materials to Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs. A working group of the Annual Conference Committee selects Poster Sessions based on individual merit and space availability. Accepted presenters must maintain their memberships through the conference.

Displays must be assembled by 10:00 AM on Thursday, February 23, and cleared by 2:00 PM on Saturday, February 25. Live presentations last ninety minutes and are scheduled during the lunch breaks on Thursday and Friday, 12:30–2:00 PM. During this time, presenters stand by their poster displays while others view the presentation and interact with the presenters.

CAA assigns presenters one freestanding bulletin board (about 4 x 8 feet of display space) onto which they can affix their poster display and other materials, as well as a table to place materials such as handouts or a sign-up sheet to record the names and addresses of attendees who want to receive more information. CAA also provides pushpins or thumbtacks to attach components to the bulletin board on the day of installation.

Printed materials must be easily read at a distance of four feet. Each display should include the title of the presentation (104-point size) and the name of the presenter(s) and his or her affiliation(s) (72-point size). CAA recommends a point size of 16–18 or larger for body text. No electrical support is available in the Poster Session area; you must have your own source of power (e.g., a battery).

CAA 2012 Call for ParticipationThe 100th Annual Conference in Los Angeles—which concludes CAA’s Centennial year—takes place February 22–25, 2012. Listing more than one hundred sessions, the 2012 Call for Participation will arrive in the mailboxes of all individual and institutional members in March; you can also download a PDF of the twenty-four-page document from the CAA website immediately.

The 2012 Call for Participation describes many of next year’s panels and presentations. CAA and session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the eleven Open Forms sessions.

The deadline for proposals of papers and presentations for the Los Angeles conference is Monday, May 2, 2011.

In addition to dozens of wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA conference attendees can expect participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other institutions. The Los Angeles Convention Center is the conference headquarters, holding most sessions and panels, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, receptions and special events, and more.

The chairs of a session for the 2011 CAA Annual Conference—Debora Silverman of the University of California, Los Angeles, and Sarah Thornton, author of Seven Days in the Art World—seek proposals of papers for a panel called “Prophet/Profit: The Famous Case of Damien Hirst.”

Damien Hirst has garnered more global media attention and appears to have amassed more wealth than any other living artist. His work has transformed the relationship of artist and auction house and punctuated the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rijksmuseum. But what is Hirst’s place in art history? The scholarship on Hirst is thin on the ground compared to the miles of copy devoted to him in the popular press. We invite papers that address any aspect of his artistic practice, including its forms, themes, biographical issues, and socioeconomics. Silverman will present a paper entitled “Marketing Thanatos,” linking the violence of Hirst’s artworks to a range of historical sources from the Psalms to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Thornton, a regular contributor to the Economist, will compare Hirst’s artistic and marketing strategies to those of Andy Warhol and other artists who work as “creative directors.” Thomas Crow of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, will act as the discussant. We are keen to be joined by scholars representing a range of perspectives.

When crafting your proposal, please follow the guidelines established in the 2011 Call for Participation. Send your proposal to both Silverman and Thornton. Deadline: September 17, 2010.

The 99th Annual Conference in New York—which kicks off CAA’s centennial year—takes place February 9–12, 2011. Listing more than 120 sessions, the 2011 Call for Participation arrived in the mailboxes of all CAA members earlier this month; you can also download a PDF of the publication from the CAA website immediately.

This publication describes many of next year’s panels and presentations. CAA and session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the Open Forms sessions.

In addition to attending and participating in the wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA expects participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other art institutions. The Hilton New York is the conference hotel, holding most sessions and panels, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, receptions and special events, and more. Deadline for proposals: May 3, 2010.

Katy Siegel is incoming editor-in-chief of Art Journal and associate professor of art history at Hunter College, City University of New York.

During my tenure as editor-in-chief of Art Journal, I would like to publish a wide-ranging series that assesses contemporary art—its making, exhibition, criticism, history, and social uses. This series could include the kind of state-of-the-field essays that have traditionally been written about historical areas of study for The Art Bulletin. It could also mean more focused historiographic subjects, such as the evolution of “the contemporary” or the rise and fall of postmodernism. Or theoretical discussions of, for example, the relationships between the modern and the contemporary (questions of periodization being of special interest), or more speculative considerations of the changing role of contemporary art in current economic, technological, and social conditions.

I welcome approaches that are ambitious and generalizing, but since “the contemporary” is not really a single unified disciplinary object, I am also seeking writing that is partisan and partial, local and medium-specific. While one person might approach postmodernism from a historical perspective, as an object in the past, another might argue for its continuing validity under current conditions. Different authors might investigate the social meaning of “the contemporary” as opposed to the modern in particular countries at particular moments (the US at midcentury, China today), or for particular institutions, such as the museum, biennial exhibition, or university/college course.

I would like to hear from curators, teachers, critics, and artists about their own concrete experiences in relation to these large, abstract questions. I am interested not only in a wide range of topics, but also a diversity of approaches to those topics: art criticism, discussions, shorter polemical essays, and artists’ projects are all possibilities in addition to the scholarly article.

For more information, please write to katy.siegel@gmail.com.

2010 Call for Participation Published

posted by February 23, 2009

The 98th Annual Conference will take place February 10–13, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois, the first time since 2001. Listing more than 120 sessions, the 2010 Call for Participation, which you can download now as a PDF, will arrive in the mailboxes of all individual and institutional CAA members in March 2009.

This twenty-four-page publication describes many of next year’s panels and presentations. CAA and session chairs invite your participation: please follow the instructions in the booklet to submit a proposal for a paper or presentation. This publication also includes a call for Poster Session proposals and describes the Open Forms sessions.

In addition to attending and participating in the wide-ranging panels on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and educational practices, CAA expects participation from many area schools, museums, galleries, and other art institutions. The Hyatt Regency Chicago is the conference hotel, holding most sessions and panels, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, receptions and special events, and more. Deadline: May 8, 2009.