CFP: International Symposium: <b>The Engagement of the Spectator </b>(May 2014)<br><br>Please distribute widely.<br><br>(English CFP version below. Attached CFP is in both French and English.)<br><br><br>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center;line-height:150%" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif";font-variant:small-caps" lang="EN-CA">CALL
FOR PAPERS</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">International Symposium:<b> The Engagement of the Spectator</b></span></p>



<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="FR-CA">Université
du Québec à Trois-Rivières,<span>  </span>May 22-24,
2014</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:150%" align="center"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="FR-CA"> </span></p>



<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">Debates on the activity
of the spectator have proliferated since Anne Ubersfeld’s<span>  </span><i>L’école
du spectateur</i> (1996), whether they tend towards a historicization of
spectator practices, aim to classify the aesthetics in which the spectator is
immersed, or attempt to trace his* contours, highlight his relation with a
given performance or describe his activity (political, aesthetic, physical,
psychological, cognitive, etc.) before, during and after the presentation</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="FR-CA">. </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">To cite a few examples,
Catherine Bouko (2008) speaks about the </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">post-dramatic spectator</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA"> and in so doing revitalizes the approach
to the semiology of audience reception. Josephine Machon explores immersive
practices as a place in order to study the relation between human beings and
their environment. Madeleine Mervant-Roux (1998 and 2006), for her part,
demonstrates the importance of frontality in Italian-style performance halls
and seeks to enhance the role of watchman-dreamer played by the individual who
attends a play.<span>  </span>Additionally Florence
March (2010) discusses the </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">theatrical relation” based on concrete spectator
experiences. We can also consider Olivier Neveux’s <i>Politiques du spectateur</i> (2013), the reinvention of the sociology of
the spectator by Ethis, Fabiani and Malinas (2008), thanks to the <i>Festival d’Avignon,</i> and finally, the
study of the spectator’s presence in dramaturgy by Thomas Hunkeler (2002 and
2008).<span>          </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">These debates have
given way to a new lexicon for discussing audience reception in the theatre. Yves
Thoret has proposed the French <i>spectature</i>
for </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">the effect the performance produces on the
public” (1993:11). On the other hand, Dennis Kennedy, who argues that </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">a spectator is a corporeal presence but a
slippery concept</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA"> (2009:3), adopts the noun
</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">spectation</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">, while Bruce McConachie risks the
neologism <i>spectating</i> when seeking to
explain the role of attention, empathy, emotion and culture in theatrical
reception. Likewise, his work, <i>Engaging
Audiences</i> (2012), encourages us to conceive of spectator practices in terms
of engagement. For the author, the notion supposes a two-way relationship
between creators and spectators engaged in a </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">performative communication.</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"" lang="EN-CA">″</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA"> Engagement, furthermore, allows us to
overcome the perpetual opposition between the spectator’s passivity or activity
and to move beyond his mere corporeal presence. In addition, although it does
not sidestep the issue of political emancipation discussed by Jacques Rancière
(2008), it is far from limited by it. This metaphor encourages us to define the
nature of this engagement along with the mental processes involved, the
processes the creators call on to obtain it and<span> 
</span>the type of aesthetic and cultural experience it is suited to.
Additionally,<span>  </span>it calls for grounding the
debate in theories, </span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"">modelizations,</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA"> concepts and concrete tools that allow it
to be managed. Toward this end, we will explore both the particular relations
that develop in certain performances and the theoretical foundations for
approaching the multiple practices where the public’s engagement in the
performing arts is demonstrated. <span> </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">Our focus is on three
main areas. <span> </span>(1) The first invites
researchers to consider what <b>disciplines</b>
and <b>interdisciplinary approaches</b>
tell us today about spectator practices. Which phenomena are clarified and
which go unmentioned? What importance is accorded to notions such as attention,
empathy, identification, emotion and interaction? Is it possible to forge a
poetics of spectatorship from a particular era? In short, what dimensions of
the theatre-public relationship can these approaches highlight? (2) The second
area concerns <b>the spectator’s proposed</b>
<b>relational context</b>. In other words,
what environment and what type of experience await him? <span> </span>How is he prepared, guided, oriented regarding
the reception of the presentation intended for him? <span> </span>In what ways and using what processes? (3) The
third area focuses on <b>the public’s
degree of willing participation</b> in the experience. How is it persuaded to
engage in the performance and on <span> </span>what
basis? In what ways is it addressed? Is dissension possible? How much participation
is the public ready to accept? <span> </span>Is it
even willing to take on the role of a character? How much room for manoeuvre
does it enjoy in certain aesthetics, and how can these practices be
distinguished?<span>  </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-indent:35.4pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">Proposals of 300 words
maximum, in French or in English, and accompanied by a brief biographical note
must be sent before September 30, 2013 to Hervé Guay, Université du Québec à
Trois-Rivières (<a href="mailto:Herve.Guay@UQTR.CA" target="_blank">Herve.Guay@UQTR.CA</a>) and Catherine Bouko, Université Libre de
Bruxelles (<a href="mailto:cbouko@ulb.ac.be" target="_blank">cbouko@ulb.ac.be</a>). Notices of acceptance will be sent out by
December 15, 2013 at the latest.<span>  </span>Length
of time for presentations is twenty minutes. Please note that two renowned
festivals, the <i>Carrefour international de
théâtre de Québec</i> and the <i>Festival
TransAmériques de Montréal</i>, will be taking place at the same time close by.<span>  </span></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Times","serif"" lang="EN-CA">*The use of the masculine pronoun in this
text is gender-neutral. </span></p>

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