Sound the bugle, Critical Animals is calling for proposals for the 2010 festival.
Applications close Wednesday 31 March.
Deadline for applications extended to WEDNESDAY 14 APRIL
Critical Animals is the creative research arm of This is Not Art, held each October in Newcastle, NSW. We welcome proposals for papers, panels, presentations, performances, exhibits, installations and 
happenings. The symposium is interdisciplinary and unthemed – it is an opportunity to present research material and creative practice with the thought to generating discussion and collaboration. In particular we look for artists that engage with creative research, challenge their medium or reflect upon their practice.
Please distribute this callout to any artists, researchers, writers, students, performers, academics and thinkers – anyone who’s critically engaged in creative and experimental art practices.
Hello, I have written a personal investigative journalism piece.
Could this be considered as something I could submit?
Thank you
Regards
Kari
Hi Kari,
The personal, the investigative and the journalistic are all welcome at CA. Would you propose to present it as a paper?
Regards,
Aden
Hi Aden,
Interested in organising a piece for Critical Animals. The focus’d be Local/ Regional Culture in Aust Poetry – reading of poems concerned with place, specificities of place, local and/or regional. Not specific to Newcastle or the Hunter, but local cultures generally. Would aim to gather poets who would read and discuss their poems. Any feedback or suggestions appreciated,
Chris
Hi Chris,
As always, we welcome poetry and poetics proposals, and you should put one in. If there’s any particular take on locality and culture, outline that in the submission, as well as the capacity for reflection within the event. If you have any interested or committed parties at the time of submission, include them in the proposal, but it’s ok for there to be gaps too – if the event gets programmed we generally have other writers and poets that want for a home.
Cheers,
Aden
Hi Aden,
I teach into the Multimedia degree at CQUni, and have a particular interest in photography and media theory.I’d like to propose both a paper and a photographic exhibitions.
In the face of ever cheaper and technically quite astounding digital cameras, a strong subculture of lo-fidelity analogue photography exists and finds much expression on the Internet. This paper – Pet cameras and the Lomo aesthetic – looks critically at the work of the lo-fi photographer (or Lomographer) by surveying amateur photography sites, photographic discussion sites and commercial blogs aimed at Lomographers and framing this behaviuor by reference to new media and fan behaviour theory.
The aesthetic approach that is suggested is built around an affection that lomographers feel for their cameras – either out of a nostalgia for the pre-digital age or an affection borne of the coolness of Retro in contemporary youth culture.
I plan to work this up to a more detailed proposal by the end of the week, but would welcome any early feedback – particularly as to whether this could potentially be included.
The website provided above takes you to a Flickr set where I propose 20 images that would exemplify elements of the aesthetic approach to Lomography I propose.
This sounds like a fantastic event and I’m very keen to be involved.
regards,
Brendan
Hi Brendan,
Sounds like you don’t need a lot of feedback at this stage. At last year’s festival we held a DIY Pinhole Camera Workshop, which went great and was well-attended. So I guess my only suggestion would be to think of creative ways that this research can take form within or during the festival. We are less interested in straight exhibitions than we are in exhibitions and installations that explicitly speak to the line of inquiry, reflect on process or engage with critical research. That’s not to say that a paper wouldn’t be the best form for this research to take. Anyway, I’ll leave it with you.
Look forward to receiving your proposal.
Best,
AR
Hey guys,
I’d also be really keen to exhibit some work and (perhaps) discuss some similar themes to those raised by Brendan. I’d love to see more of your work, Brendan, and perhaps some ideas on our overlapping interests!
The project I’m currently working on is primarily a way of kicking out against the mainstream absorption of digital media in favour of obsolete photographic technologies, namely vintage Rolleiflex cameras, expired film, faulty 35mm cameras and explorative darkroom techniques. The very organic and unpredictable nature of these mediums, much like the Holga of Brendan’s work, seems to be in direct contrast to the clean and perfect nature of digital cameras and the dominant photoshop mentality.
Anyhow, I’ll put together a proper application. Things are sounding exciting so far – looking forward to TINA!
Lauren
x
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for your interest in CA. Your work sounds interesting and you should submit a proposal. What form does your project take?
As per my remarks to Brendan, Critical Animals’ charter is to be a home for creative research rather than straight exhibiting. Occasionally we exhibit work without requiring artist discussion, but this is when the work or series does its own explication, when there is a strong underpinning of critical theory or creative research. The mainstay of CA remains discussion and conversation. We are interested in papers, presentations, panels and especially, experimental ways of presenting research within and during the festival.
Best,
AR
Hi Aden,
I sent you a submission on the 30th with a literal relationship to the title of the symposium in that it involves non-human animals and their representation. My research field pushes the boundaries of painting, as a collection of pigment on canvas. I place deceased animals on canvas to decompose, a process documented on my blog. Due to the time it takes for the process to unfold, it would be difficult, or not impossible to set up the installation at the festival. An outdoor site in advance would be required and I could demonstrate the post-decomposition procedures to an audience. Or I could simply present a paper using my blog for a visual demonstration. Is online access available for presentations?
Hi Vanessa,
Thanks for your submission. I’m sending you an email in reply to your queries.
Cheers,
AR