The Electronic Literature Organization‘s symposium ELO2007 this May was a great event, with lots of enthusiastic e-literature writers, critics and readers, and a lot of promise for the future. While we were there, Dene Grigar spoke eagerly of her plans for the next ELO conference, which she’s co-chairing with John Barber in Vancouver, Washington next year. I’ve been to a conference chaired by Dene once before (Computers and Writing in 1999) and it was fabulous – she’s a dynamo of a woman and I know she and John will do a great job with the ELO Conference too. The dates are now finalised, and the CFP is out (papers by November 30th) – I’m reposting this from Scott’s blog, and Scott writes that there’ll be more information in August at eliterature.org.

Visionary Landscapes: Electronic Literature Organization 2008 Conference

Thursday, May 29-Sunday, June 1, 2008
Vancouver, Washington
Sponsored by Washington State University Vancouver & the Electronic Literature Organization
Dene Grigar & John Barber, Co-Chairs

Producing a work of electronic literature entails not only practice in the literary arts but sometimes also the visual, sonic, and the performative arts; knowledge of computing devices and software programs; and experience in collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and hybridity. In short, electronic literature requires its artists to see beyond traditional approaches and sensibilities into what best can be described as visionary landscapes where, as Mark Amerika puts it, artists ìcelebrate an interdisciplinary practice from a literary and writerly perspective that allows for other kinds of practice-based art-research and knowledge sharing.î

To forward the thinking about new approaches and sensibilities in the media arts, The Electronic Literature Organization and Washington State University Vancouverís Digital Technology and Culture program are inviting submissions to the Electronic Literature Organization 2008 Conference to be held from May 29 to June 1, 2008 in Vancouver, Washington.

ìVisionary Landscapes: Electronic Literature Organization 2008 Conferenceî is interested in papers that explore forms of digital media that utilize images, sound, movement, and user interaction as well asññor in lieu ofññwords and that explore how we read, curate, and critique such works. Topics may include:

ï New, non-screen, environments for presenting multimedia writing and/or electronic literature
ï Research labs and new media projects
ï Strategies for reading electronic literary works
ï Curating digital art
ï Innovative approaches to critiquing electronic literature
ï Emerging technologies for the production of multimedia writing and/or electronic literature
ï Building audience for new media literary works and writing
ï Digital, literary performances
ï Publishing for print or electronic media connecting literature and the arts through common archiving and metatag strategies
ï Artistic methods of composition used in intermedia storytelling (improvisation, collaboration, sample and remix, postproduction art, codework, hactivism, etc.)

In conjunction with the three-day conference, there will be a juried Media Arts Show. Along with prizes for the most notable work, selected artists will be awarded bursaries to attend the conference featured at the show. Submission guidelines will be posted beginning August 15, 2007 on the conference website.

The keynote speaker is internationally renowned new media artist and writer, Mark Amerika, named a ìTime Magazine 100 Innovator.î His artwork has been exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, the ICA in London, the Walker Art Center, and the Denver Art Museum and has been the topic of four retrospectives. Amerika is also the author of many books, including his recently published collection of artist writings entitled META/DATA: A Digital Poetics (The MIT Press), founder of the Alt-X Network, and publisher of the electronic book review. He currently holds the position of Professor of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Deadline for Submissions for Presentations: November, 30, 2007
Notification of Acceptance: December 30, 2007

Vancouver, Washington, located in the Pacific Northwest just across the Columbia River from Portland, OR, is about a six hour drive south of Vancouver, Canada and three hours south of Seattle, Washington. The conference day events will take place at Washington State University Vancouver, a Tier One research Institution built in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains with views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens. The official conference hotel is the Hilton Vancouver located in downtown Vancouver, Washington with easy access to restaurants, bars, and evening conference events. Special rates have been negotiated for conference attendees. A conference shuttle will take attendees to and from the campus daily. The recommended airport is PDX at Portland, which is about a seven minute drive to downtown Vancouver, WA.

The cost of the conference is $150; graduate students and non-affiliated artists pay only $100. Conference registration covers access to all events, the reception, some meals, and shuttle transportation.

For more information, contact Dene Grigar at Grigar@vancouver.wsu.edu.