Call For Posters and Demonstrations In Play: A Conference

University of Maryland, College Park

March 4, 2016

Albert Einstein wrote, “Play is the highest form of research.” In Play, a one-day conference, explores play as the principle of innovation and experimentation that underwrites gaming, performance, and other cultural, social, and aesthetic activities. Key questions In Play poses include: How can the  study of computer gaming, in line with studies of other cultural forms and productions, contribute to culture studies in the academy? How have embodied performance and play historically enabled possibilities for both freedom and domination, for the making as well as unmaking of societies? How does a focus on play complicate recent scholarship on the global history of experimental art forms?

In Play invites proposals for posters and demonstrations—conceived as tabletop presentations involving any type of media—that investigate the question of play. We especially encourage digital projects that supplement or link to posters, as well as mixed media presentations, performances, games (both digital and tabletop) and research projects. Undergraduate, graduate, and faculty proposals are welcome. Potential interventions in play might include:

·         Play in literature and literature as play

·         Playing with gender, sexuality, race, class, or (dis)ability

·         Mathematical, technological, and scientific discoveries

·         Adaptations

·         New Media

·         Gaming and game theory

·         Rule-breaking

·         Playing and Pedagogy

·         Subversion

·         Theater and performance

·         Artistic  experiments

·         Game designs and prototypes, whether digital or tabletop

Posters and demonstrations will be set up as the centerpiece of the conference for the duration of the event as well as, where possible, for at least a week beforehand.

Prizes will be awarded to student projects.

Please submit 500-word proposals or descriptions to inplayumd@gmail.com by 12/15/2015.

Please include poster title, full name, affiliation, contact information, and brief biography (250 words). Please inform us if you require technological accommodation. Any questions should be directed to inplayumd@gmail.com.

Plenary speakers for In Play include:

·         Patrick Jagoda, University of Chicago

·         Anastatia Salter, University of Central Florida

·         Julius Fleming, Jr., University of Maryland

·         C. Riley Snorton, Cornell University

·         McKenzie Wark, The New School

For more information, visit our website: http://english.umd.edu/InPlay or follow us on Twitter

@InPlayUMD.