Call for Papers

Session on Avant-garde

Codex and Code. Aesthetics, Language, and Politics in an Age of Digital Media

Norlit Conference, Stockholm, August 6–9, 2009

The interest for avant-garde has been growing during the first decade of the 21th century, and has resulted in the founding of, among others, the Nordic Network for Avant-Garde Studies and the European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies. The continuing mapping out of avant-garde activities in the Nordic countries in relation to the world at large, has made it possible to establish a more nuanced and heterogenic aesthetic history of the 20th century, and to recognize the possibility for an avant-garde aesthetics in the early  21th century as well. The relation between avant-garde, modernism and post-modernism has been disputed, though, and the discussion has to be taken further to clarify the complex aesthetic strategies in the Modern (beginning around 1850). This session welcomes papers on all sorts of subjects and themes that relates to the phenomena of the avant-garde/s, and to the discussion of the avant-garde in relation to – to allude to Matei Calinescus book – ”Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism”, where one is inclined to add the notion of ”realism”. A continued mapping out of avant-garde activities in the  20th and 21th century, archive archeology resulting in the discovery of forgotten artist and writers, and discussions on Nordic, European or global avant-garde activities within single nations, in a Nordic perspective or in a global perspective, are just a few areas which might be covered in this session on the avant-garde – where all papers on the avant-garde are welcome.