The Society for Animation Studies invites panel and paper proposals for its 32nd annual conference and encourages submissions that consider the theme “Animate Energies.”

“Animate Energies” evokes animation’s dialectical definitions and practices—animating the inanimate, endowing with life, making objects move, and, in many cases, the tedious work or mechanical labor concealed behind expressions of freedom and possibility. It also evokes forces, powers, and resources that can be exploited, overlooked, or taken for granted, and that can generate resistance, activism, and new possibilities. Furthermore, to measure energy is to describe action and transformation within a system, whether that be an apple, rock pile, person, animation studio, or global media network. This mode of thinking about the energy of systems complicates anthropocentric and agent-centered ideas about the experience of animating or viewing animation.

The conference theme “Animate Energies” invites inquiry into the various human and nonhuman elements motivating and mediating production, distribution, exhibition, and reception. This includes efforts to understand the forces holding together distinct media assemblages—national and transnational studios, distribution infrastructure, aesthetic traditions, fan communities, transmedia narratives, and combinations thereof. It encourages participants to consider how animation enhances thinking about media not in terms of agents and objects but movements, flows, and energies.
This mode of inquiry includes comparing theories of animation to theories of mediation. Are claims that media constitute conditions and situations, extend and shape the human, create worlds, and structure being also the claims of animation? How might animation, in its many forms and definitions, draw attention to the energies of media or the activity, agency, and vitality of background conditions, structures, and environments, whether technological, economic, political, social, or ecological?

This theme is particularly germane to the conference site, New Orleans, which is home to energy and media industries and a broad range of cultural and artistic currents. The city has endured much and continues to face political and environmental challenges. Given that the city’s resilient and vibrant artist, activist, minority, indigenous, and migrant communities live increasingly at risk, we welcome proposals that support these groups and address issues pertinent to New Orleans and the Global South.

Applicants submitting proposals are encouraged to engage the aforementioned ideas and the following topics but all animation-related submissions will be considered:

*   animation theory and media theory
*   animation in science and technology studies
*   interdisciplinary animation/animation studies
*   animation and transmedia narratives or media mix
*   global or transnational geographies of animation
*   experimental animation
*   queer animation
*   afrofuturism and animation
*   indigenous animation
*   women in animation
*   neuro- and ability diverse animation
*   animation therapy
*   animation/animated sound/visual music
*   animation and game design
*   animation and comics/manga
*   animation and eco-criticism or sustainability
*   animation and political theory
*   animation and activism or political movements

Submission formats (Deadline: Jan 8, 2020)
Please submit all applications on the conference website.

Required specifications for proposals:

• 6 min microtalks: 150-word abstracts + 100-word biographical statement
• 20 min conference papers: 300-word abstract + 3-5 bibliographic references + 100-word biographical statement
• Pre-constituted 3-person panels: 300-word panel summary + for each presenter a 300- word abstract + 3-5 bibliographic references + 100-word biographical statement
• Screenings/workshops/roundtables/exhibitions: Proposals should be 350-500 words with project descriptions and links to support material.

Please indicate the duration of the event, the number of participants expected, and its requirements, including the facility (projection room, computer lab, studio with sinks, etc.), equipment, software, materials and the number of assistants (and skills) needed. We welcome applications for curated screenings, but request that accepted applicants secure exhibition rights from filmmakers or distributors. We may be able to offer small artist fees but cannot cover travel and accommodation costs.

Acceptance and Access

All letters of acceptance will be sent out by early February to facilitate applications for funding and travel visas. Non-presenting participants who require travel visas should contact organizers by email as soon as possible so we can write letters of invitation. Registration for all participants will be available through the website in February. We welcome participants to communicate any access needs through the online registration process. Applicants whose proposals are accepted need to be paid members of the SAS in order to present at the conference.

Contact: SAS2020@tulane.edu