Call for Papers and Conference - Art Brut and Materiality

International Symposium

The French painter Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985) coined the term 'art brut' in 1945. In his attempt to define this art, Dubuffet never specified clear stylistic features; rather he defined 'art brut' around notions such as 'spontaneity', 'authenticity' and 'imagination'. Nonetheless, Dubuffet's ideas are inseparable from the physical - the material - artworks that the artist collected from 1945 onward. His theorization of 'art brut' raises important questions about materiality.
 
This symposium seeks to reorient our understanding of 'art brut' by shifting scholarly focus to the concrete aspects of artworks and to different meanings of 'materiality'. It aims to develop new lines of inquiry on 'art brut' and to question our discipline's conventions.

These study days will be interdisciplinary and international. Researchers are invited to send their paper proposals before November 30, 2013 to canadartbrut@gmail.com. Proposals should be one page (single-spaced) and indicate the title of their presentation and the author's information (name, university, position, discipline, current research, publications). French and English languages will be the official languages of the symposium. We will ask every lecturer to write a summary of their presentation in their second language in order to improve the quality of the discussion.
    
A publication (Revue 20/21, Presses universitaires Paris Ouest Nanterre) is planned for 2015.
    
For more information, or for any question, please contact the organizers: pauline.goutain@carleton.ca, jill_carrick@carleton.ca and flahutez@gmail.com.

When:
June 11 and 12, 2014 (Wednesday and Thursday, 9 a.m - 5 p.m)

Where:
Carleton University, Institute for Comparative Studies, Conference room,
201 Patrick's building, 2nd floor, 1125 Colonel By Drive, K1S 5B6