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Si riporta integralmente la seguente call for papers, per la quale si segnala l’avvicinarsi della scadenza e si invita alla partecipazione:

La Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa nella sede di Palazzetto Tito ospiterà nei mesi di giugno e luglio 2010 l’esposizione personale di Silvano Rubino intitolata In equilibrio tra due punti sospesi. Con l’occasione, nei giorni 17,18 e 19 giugno si terrà il convegno

Diafano. Vedere-attraverso.

Che cosa s’intende per diafano? E cosa, per trasparenza? Di quanti gradi, livelli, spessori è fatta la trasparenza? Possiamo assimilare diafano a trasparenza? O il diafano è solo un modo di esistenza del visibile che, seppure include la trasparenza tra le sue proprietà, non può esserne in nessun modo assimilato come semplice sinonimia? In cosa consiste allora lo scarto tra trasparenza e diafano sul piano materico e percettivo? E come cambia, a livello cognitivo e passionale, questa esperienza del vedere-attraverso ?
Goethe riguardo agli effetti di trasparenza e opacità affermava che se la torbidezza è un indebolimento della trasparenza e l’inizio della corporeità, possiamo definirla come un insieme di differenze, ovvero, di trasparenze e non trasparenze, da cui risulta una trama ineguale, una sorta di alterazione dell’unità che è, tuttavia, l’unica possibilità che abbiamo di percepire i colori. Questi, infatti, non possono essere colti se non all’interno di uno spazio torbido dove la materia oscura sembra combattere l’impero della luce. Analogamente il livello plastico di un’immagine non è mai da considerarsi come insieme di formanti stabilizzati una volta per tutte, ma come un processo in divenire che si rapporta alla percezione, soprattutto quando si ha a che fare con quelle forme di rappresentazione dell’impalpabile e dell’impercettibile. Queste ultime sono manifestate da alcune configurazioni testurali che mettono in scena il volatile, l’aereo. Il loro supporto, o ciò che s’interpone tra la vista dell’osservatore e l’oggetto osservato, nasconde e allo stesso tempo, attraverso l’effetto trasparenza, lascia trapelare. La sostanza che filtra lo sguardo è di natura tattile, a tratti palpabile, relativamente densa. È, ad esempio, la figura trasparente e opacizzante del velo. Con “velo” s’intende, infatti, una tessuto sottile che, pur coprendo e nascondendo, lascia intravedere ciò che sta sotto. A proposito dell’opera d’arte, riferendosi a Leon Battista Alberti e al suo celebre paragone tra il quadro e ciò che si vede attraverso un velo, Èmile Zola parlava dello schermo trasparente attraverso il quale vediamo gli oggetti più o meno deformati, soggetti a cambiamenti più o meno percettibili a seconda della natura di questo. Sono differenze modulate in base alle caratteristiche degli schermi, egli diceva. Lo schermo, anche quello apparentemente più trasparente, ha sempre uno spessore che rifrange e trasforma gli oggetti. Zola paragonava questa rifrazione a “una finissima polvere grigia”. La sua immagine di schermo polveroso anticipò un altro vetro impolverato, quello su cui Duchamp “sollevava la polvere”(élever, che, in francese, significa anche “allevare”). È il vetro polveroso che consentiva la nozione di retard, con tutte le sfumature di significato che questo termine comporta in Duchamp e che si assommano nella loro “unione incerta”.
Il diafano dunque non è tanto una qualità attribuita a immagini incorporee e atmosferiche in opposizione a forme plastiche precise, ma racconta piuttosto la storia di un percorso percettivo: racconta il processo di affioramento alla visibilità di un qualcosa attraverso forme, colori e configurazioni che accrescono l’iniziale incertezza, trasformando la loro contemplazione in un esercizio che non finisce nell’acquisizione di una certezza. Il diafano è l’ultimo stadio di rarefazione in cui la figura viene ancora percepita : rappresenta il minimo di definizione necessario affinché la percezione di questa venga riconosciuta come tale. Quanto più bassa sarà la sua definizione, quanto più ignoto apparirà l’oggetto. Nel diafano, alla problematica dell’opacità si aggiunge dunque la problematica della trasparenza, la successione per gradi della trasparenza. Tra trasparenza e opacità si distende un continuum graduale: dal fantasma della pura trasparenza (che al limite si confonde con il vuoto, il nulla) fino al traslucido (al diafano) che lascia filtrare la luce, ma non lascia vedere i contorni né le tracce delle figure dietro lo schermo. Il diafano è dunque il segreto di un visivo che lascia tracce del suo passaggio. È l’intervallo attraversato dallo sguardo nel farsi strada attraverso gli strati d’intermediazione costituiti da materie come l’aria, l’acqua, il vetro e ogni elemento translucido che può andare dalla pellicola filmica all’alabastro.
È dunque sulla natura semiotica di questa intermediazione che s’interpone tra il nostro sguardo e gli oggetti rappresentati, che il convegno si dovrà interrogare, a partire dalla riflessione filosofica sul diafano, fino allo studio di opere d’arte visive o musicali, dall’effetto nebbia nel cinema all’architettura translucida per finire con quegli oggetti il cui confine tra design e arte è talmente sfumato e indecidibile, da essere diafano appunto.

Patrizia Magli

E. Zola, Correspondance (1958-1871). Paris : Editions de Bernouard, 1928, pag. 250.

http://www.bevilacqualamasa.it

Call for Papers
We invite you to present your research at the SDN Conference 2010. We are looking for high quality research papers to be published in the conference proceedings. Submitted abstracts and papers must contain original research that has not been previously published and is not concurrently submitted for publication elsewhere. The conference language is English and all material has to be submitted to the conference in English.

Submission
The process for submission is in two stages: submission and review of abstracts, and final submission and review of full papers. You need to submit an abstract to be considered for submission of a paper. Based on the review of the abstracts a recommendation for submission of short papers and full papers will be given. Short papers are 3000 words, full papers are 5000 words in length.

Important Dates and Deadlines
2 May 2010  Submission Deadline for Abstracts

3 June 2010  Notification of Acceptance for Abstracts

18 July 2010  Submission Deadline for Final Papers

August 2010 Papers Accepted/Revised

28 October 2010  Conference opens

Abstracts
Submissions for the first review stage are welcome in the form of a written abstract. Successful authors will be requested to submit a short paper or a full paper.

Abstracts submitted for review should have a maximum length of 800 words, including key references, plus, where appropriate, not more than one A4 page of images.

The abstract should at a minimum indicate: keywords, the context of the research including research question and hypotheses; how the research has been developed including research method; and the main findings and conclusions that you will present to the conference.

Detailed submission instructions and a link to the electronic submission system will be available on the conference website at www.sdn2010.ch before 4 April.

Abstracts will be accepted from 4 April 2010. Deadline for submission of abstracts is 2 May 2010.

Final Papers
Short papers are limited to 3000 words, full papers are limited to 5000 words. Based on the review of the abstracts, a recommentation for submission of a short paper or a full paper will be given. An invitation to submit a short paper or a full paper will be accompanied by reviewers’ comments and suggestions. All submitted papers will undergo a second review and revision process.

More infos:

http://www.sdn2010.ch

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey | 29 giugno - 2 luglio 2010
http://onmuseums.com/conference-2010/

Plenary speakers include some of the leading thinkers in museum studies and leading practitioners, as well as numerous paper, colloquium and workshop presentations.
Participants are welcome to submit a presentation proposal either for a 30-minute paper, 60-minute workshop, jointly presented 90-minute colloquium session or a virtual session. Parallel sessions are loosely grouped into streams reflecting different perspectives or disciplines. Each stream also has its own talking circle, a forum for focused discussion of issues. For those unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual participation is also available.

Call for Papers deadline: 8 April 2010
http://onmuseums.com/conference-2010/call-for-papers/#sd

Call for Papers “Designing for Aesthetics of Interaction”

> for more information visit: www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/announcement

Design and Craft : a History of Convergences and Divergences
7th Conference of the International Committee for Design History and Design Studies
ICDHS 2010
20-22 September 2010
Brussels, Belgium

The conferences of the International Committee of Design History and Design Studies (ICDHS) aim to assess the current state of affairs of design history and design studies.

The seventh ICDHS conference, “Design and Craft: A History of Convergences and Divergences”, will bring the relation between design and craft to the fore. This theme offers an excellent opportunity to gather new design historical and theoretical research from over the world in a focused discussion on regional specificities as well as the impact of global processes of industrialisation. If, until now, design history has been largely dominated by the Western narratives of industrialization, then moving the focus towards non- industrial design practice might bring non-Western scholars to the forefront. Moreover, previously marginalized design histories in industrialized countries can finally get a voice.

The Brussels’ ICDHS conference will contain strands where the emphasis is laid on the presentations (of about 20 minutes each) and workshops with an emphasis on debate and discussion.

> Per ulteriori informazioni sulla consegna di abstract e papers e per i differenti temi della conferenza si veda il sito: http://www.designandcraft2010.be/

March 3 to 5, 2010

Monterrey Tech at Toluca, Mexico

The 1st international congress on Web Studies aims at providing a venue for researchers and professionals from different backgrounds for discussion, study, practical demonstrations, sharing, and exchange on new developments and theories regarding the World Wide Web. The congress therefore invites contributions from a heterogeneous set of fields and domains such as: Web systems, computational intelligence, human-computer interaction, digital theory, Web sociology, and well as interactive and digital arts. We also encourage contributions from businesses and organizations.

On the occasion of celebrating its 20th anniversary, ESDi is organizing The 1st International Congress of Design and Innovation of Catalonia which will be held on the 18th and 19th of March 2010 in Sabadell (Barcelona).

The Congress is considering a wide group of thematics that are involving many interestes for the possible participants. We will apreciate that you include your Call for papers (or the link http://www.esdi.es/focus/Papers_english1.pdf that contains it) in the communication of your events in your webpage or specialized magazines.

Anna Borrell
Head of International Relations Department
Escola Superior de Disseny, ESDi
Marqués de Comillas 79-83
08202 Sabadell (Barcelona) ESPAÑA
Telf. +34 93 727 48 19 (ext. 39)
Fax. +34 93 727 42 49
mail: aborrell@esdi.es / interchange@esdi.es
www.esdi.es

4_xuba (call for papers pdf)

An international interdisciplinary conference exploring the interpretive potential of architecture, exhibitions and design.

20-22 April 2010
Keynote Speaker: Peter Greenaway CBE

Call for papers
Narrative Space is a 3-day international interdisciplinary conference exploring the creation of narrative environments in museums, galleries, historic sites, buildings and landscapes. From the level of the site and the building down to the level of the exhibition and the object, how can we create environments which tell stories of people, of places and of collections? How can spaces, objects and a range of media be utilised to create spatial experiences which are engaging, meaningful and memorable?

Narrative Space draws together museum professionals, exhibition designers, architects and academics to explore practice at the cutting-edge of exhibition and experience making. In order to explore this vast area of research and practice it covers a range of themes including the ability of sites and buildings to hold or be overlaid with narratives; the history and theory of display; museums and exhibitions as spatial media; harnessing the spatial character, history and potential of buildings and sites; the nature and role of narrative and storytelling in the making of interpretive environments; the role of visitor-centred design in the production of museum space; and the emergence of a new range of interpretive approaches to museum and exhibition making which cut across architecture, film, design, digital media, interior and graphic design, literature and art.

Proposals are sought from museum practitioners, architects, designers, artists, filmmakers and others actively involved in the imaginative reshaping of museums, galleries and visitor experiences as well as academics researching in the areas of museum and gallery architecture, exhibition and display, both historical and contemporary.

Please send a short proposal of no more than 300 words to Suzanne MacLeod at sm100@le.ac.uk and Laura Hanks at laura.hanks@nottingham.ac.uk

Deadline: 29th July 2009
For additional information see the website

2nd Call for Papers:
HWID2009
Working conference on usability in social, cultural and organizational contexts

Hosted by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC),

A Scientific Society of Ministry of ICT, Government of India, Pune, India.
Venue: Pune University.
Wednesday and Thursday, 7-8th October 2009, Pune, India
Deadline for submissions: August 3rd 2009.

Theme and Focus:
The HUMAN WORK INTERACTION DESIGN 2009 working conference analyzes the concept of usability in social, cultural and organizational contexts. Analyzing usability in context is important for connecting empirical work analysis and interaction design. In industry, a wealth of usability evaluation methods is used to evaluate computer software user interfaces and other interactive products: Inspection methods, Workplace observation, Think-Aloud Usability Test, etc. These techniques often give - seemingly - similar results when applied in diverse social, cultural and organizational settings, but experience shows that we need a deep understanding of the cultural, social and organizational context to interpret the results, and to transform it into interaction design.

The working conference will present current research into and industrial experiences with usability as a way of connecting empirical work analysis and interaction design, with a special focus on contexts in India. Cultural usability is a comprehensive concept, which adheres to all kinds of contexts in which humans are involved (private family, work, public and private organizations, nature and climate, technological, etc.).

The purpose of the working conference is to enable practitioners and researchers to analyze the concept of usability and how it can be used to connect empirical work analyses and interaction designs in different contexts. After the conference, a limited number of selected papers will be published in an IFIP Springer book.

We expect the participants will be people from industry and academia with an interest on usability, work and design in different social, cultural and organizational contexts. The working conference will be conducted in a good social atmosphere that invites to openness and provides time to reflection and discussion about each of the accepted papers and cases.

See the website for additional information

The conference chair and Scientific Committee warmly invite you to participate in iDEMi09. The conference Venue will be the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto.

The conference aims to create a forum where academics and industry practitioners can share knowledge and real world problems, to identify the critical elements of design and product/service development management that lead to innovation.

14 - 15 September

FEUP Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto - Portugal

http://www.idemi09.com/index.asp

Themes

A. Research

Design process and organisation
Product design
Organisational design
Program and portfolio design
Design creativity and Innovation
Customer Centered design
Human factors in design
Design Methods Tools and Technology
Technology integration for process and people enhancing
Tools for standardisation and organisational learning
Networks and open innovation
Design and management of networks
Integration of supplier in the NPD system

 
B. Company Case Studies

Successful case studies of new product/services launch, process innovations, business models
Case studies on the introduction of best practices for product/services process Innovation
Entrepreneurship and academic spin-offs

C. Projects development within NPD courses at Postgraduate level (MBA and Msc)

Successful projects developed by students attending NPD courses within MBA/MSc Programs

Abstracts submitted should have up to 500 words and should describe the objectives, research questions or problem addressed, the methodology, results and managerial/organisational implications and the most relevant references (if applicable). Each abstract will be evaluated by two members of the Scientific Committee. The criteria to be used in the evaluation are:

Novelty and quality of the proposed abstract
Competence in the development of the research or case
Contribution to knowledge in the field of NPD/ Innovation and best practices in industry.