CFP: Appearing/ Revealing/ Disappearing: Cultural practices of staging in 19th-century France

CFP: Appearing/ Revealing/ Disappearing: Cultural practices of staging in 19th-century France
University of Lausanne
26-27 March 2020
CFP deadline: 10 December 2019

Generally associated with the theatrical practice and with the performance, the notion of staging played a central role throughout the whole 19th century. The post-revolutionary period largely contributed to develop a process of appearing, disappearing and revealing, intended as the possibility to be seen and to make the self visible on the occasion of socio-cultural and artistic events. The reaction to the turmoil generated by the 1789 Revolution and the austerity engendered by the Terror regime gives evidence of this capacity of juggling the necessity of being seen and the act of disappearing. This aspect will increasingly develop during the 19th century, evidently supported by the growth of the industry of entertainment, the diversification of drama and performances and the mass production of visual culture.
Within this context, staging becomes a way for an individual or a group of individuals to integrate a community. It also represents a bridge between the understanding of the process of appearing and its materialization, a link between the artistic, visual and literary spaces. This symposium aims at discussing mechanisms and patterns surrounding this process by focusing on the multiple references which shaped the act of appearing and disappearing.
Special attention will be paid to the cultural media enabling the staging, such as popular and/or satirical images, theatrical representations, entertainment industry, photography, but also the spatiality related to the staging. The heterogeneous character of these manifestations fosters a multidisciplinary approach which largely relies on transmediality, permeability of points of view and cross-cultural exchanges.

Potential topics could be:

Staging in visual arts
- Representations of staging
- Impact of images on the social status of staging
- Staging through the image: printmaking, caricature, photography
- Staging through the movement, the animated image and the projection

Materialities of staging
- Staging through theatrical performances
- Staging through the industry of entertainment
- Cultural practices linked to the organization of shows
- Diversification of the modalities of staging

The cult of performance
- Permeability of medias and genres
- Representation of the self and of the other
- Actors and personifications

The space of staging
- Space as catalyst for staging and the relationship to the audience
- Spatiality and interactions of staging
- The literary space between fiction and theatrical genres

Proposals (maximum 250 words), in French or English, have to be sent, together with a short bio-bibliography (maximum 500 words) to Camilla Murgia at the following address: camilla.murgia@unil.ch, by December 10, 2019. Accepted papers will be notified by the end of
December 2019. Papers will be published in an edited volume.

The conference is sponsored by the Faculty of Humanities, department of History of Art, University of Lausanne and the SHC (Centre des Sciences Historiques de la Culture), University of Lausanne. There is no registration fee for the conference.