Camp/camp: la colisión del estilo y la biopolítica

“Mientras más estudiamos el arte, menos nos importa la naturaleza.” Oscar Wilde

El Departamento de Literatura Comparada y Estudios Hispánicos, y el Centro de Estudios de Teoría y Crítica de Western University invitan a presentar propuestas de comunicación (abstracts) para la 22da Conferencia Anual de Estudiantes de Postgrado titulada “Camp/camp”, la misma que tendrá lugar del 26 al 28 de marzo de 2020.

La naturaleza ambigua del término ‘camp’ alude a diferentes significados dependientes del marco de referencia de cada individuo. El concepto de ‘camp’, como sensibilidad, es descrito por Susan Sontag por el uso del artificio y la exageración para “convertir lo serio en frívolo –es materia grave” (1). Una materia grave, ciertamente, cuando se consideran las implicaciones de abordar temas de biopolítica y totalitarismo mediante el estudio de la estética. De esta manera, procedemos a contrastar el estudio de ‘camp’ con el estudio del campo como “el espacio que se abre cuando el estado de excepción empieza y se convierte en la regla” (Agamben 168). Hoy ambos, ‘camp’ como sensibilidad y el campo como parte de la biopolítica, están imbricados en la corriente cultural del momento como una estética de la distracción: vemos la Gala del Museo Metropolitano de Nueva York, nos enganchamos a los ‘reality shows’ RuPaul’s Drag Race y Queer Eye, y nos obsesionamos con Lady Gaga y Barbra Streisand; al mismo tiempo, niños son enjaulados por instituciones de control migratorio, debatimos la crisis de refugiados, y el conflicto persiste en lugares como Hong Kong, Cataluña y el Medio Oriente, éste último a la vez reflejado en productos culturales como Persépolis (2000), la novela gráfica de Marjane Satrapi.

Aunque una definición de ‘camp’, como modo estético, a menudo parece elusiva, es un concepto omnipresente en nuestra cultura contemporánea. Además, el contraste con el campo como concepto filosófico amplía el ámbito de la cultura ‘camp’ y produce la intersección de lo serio con lo frívolo en maneras que exponen lo binario. ‘Camp’ expone las dicotomías arte/kitsch y naturaleza/artificio. Esto puede tomar la forma de lo carnavalesco-grotesco en la Edad Media, la Edad Moderna Temprana, y la Ilustración; por ejemplo, en obras como Gargantúa y Pantagruel, de Rabelais, la cual hace uso de imágenes escatológicas en relación con el cuerpo político. Muchos géneros literarios emplean elementos biopolíticos, especialmente la ciencia ficción, el terror, la ficción especulativa y la literatura del trauma. De hecho, la literatura del Holocausto se ha convertido en una categoría propia, con trabajos que van desde Si esto es un hombre (1947), de Primo Levi; Maus I & II (1980), de Art Spiegelman; y, El diario de Ana Frank (1947), hasta novelas como El niño con el pijama de rayas (2006), de John Boyne.

El arte y la literatura indígena canadiense con frecuencia combinan estos conceptos con lo biopolítico, tal es el caso de la pintura y el performance del artista del pueblo cree Kent Monkman, y su alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, cuyo trabajo yuxtapone el trauma con performance de estética queer interrumpiendo vistas idílicas de Canadá. El contraste entre ‘kitsch’ y ‘camp’ también aparece en las obras literarias de autores indígenas como Sherman Alexie, Thomas King Tomson Highway y Joshua Whitehead, cuyas novelas y poesía sugieren en el lector la importancia de rebelarse contra el cuerpo político colonial. Por otro lado, diversos referentes de Canadá han sido matizados por una sensibilidad ‘camp’, tal como se puede apreciar en el film Niágara (1953), de Henry Hathaway, con el protagonismo de Marilyn Monroe.

La sensibilidad ‘camp’ puede ser también percibida a través del trabajo de muchos cineastas. Por ejemplo, la encontramos en el característico estilo de Pedro Almodóvar, donde el concepto de ‘camp’ coincide con el de alta cultura, siendo popular desde los años 1960 hasta la actualidad. Otros filmes de Hollywood y producciones de Broadway han acogido la sensibilidad ‘camp’ en muchos clásicos como Barbarella (1968), Valley of the Dolls (1967), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) y Billy Elliot (2000). Muchos de estos clásicos acogen la naturaleza tiránica de la biopolítica, abordando temas como sexualidad, enfermedades, aborto, desórdenes mentales y abuso de drogas.

Buscamos enlazar una abundante cantidad de desconexiones entre la cultura y la biopolítica a través de conversaciones acerca de la naturaleza polisémica de la palabra ‘camp’. Invitamos a que se presenten comunicaciones en todas las áreas de Artes y Humanidades, lo cual incluye, sin carácter limitante, las siguientes: Literatura Comparada, Estudios Hispánicos, Teoría y Crítica, Estudios de la Mujer e Investigación Feminista, Estudios Queer, Cine, Geografía, Teología, Teatro, Historia, Estudios Indígenas, Música, Estudios Clásicos, Artes Visuales y Estudios Postcoloniales.

Los siguientes, son posibles temas:

-Biopolítica (el trabajo de Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Robert Esposito, etc.)

-Colonialismo/postcolonialismo (trauma, reconciliación, nociones de identidad)

-Migración y movilidad humana (política, problemas éticos, la realidad vivida por el refugiado)

-Estética (‘camp’, ‘kitsch’), las imágenes de WJT Mitchell, las instalaciones de Jeff Koons.

-Literatura (géneros como terror, erótica, pulp fiction, novela rosa, etc.)

-Telenovelas (Thalía; María, la del barrio; Betty, la fea, y las sátiras estadounidenses Ugly Betty y Jane the Virgin)

-Geografía (el movimiento ‘land back’, el sistema de reservas canadienses, la geopolítica del norte)

-Decadencia

-Iconos del ‘camp’ (Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Tallulah Bankhead, Eartha Kitt, Cher, etc.)

-Estudios Queer: RuPaul’s Drag Race y homo-nacionalismo, narrativa drag.

-Estudios Feministas (el cuerpo desde una perspectiva feminista, estética de drag-kings, butch-femme)

-Girl power y ‘camp’ (Wonder Woman, Spice Girls, Glow)

-‘Camp’ y capitalismo

-Fenomenología del ‘camp’ mediante experiencias/performance/obras de arte de estética queer

-Black Camp (Paris is Burning, Michael Jackson y Prince)

-Indigenous Camp (Kent Monkman, Adrian Stimson, Sherman Alexie, Joshua Whitehead)

-Educación y pedagogía

-Pantomima

-Televisión para niños y ‘camp’

-Política canadiense y/o estadounidense (“Sassy Trump”, la Guerra Fría y sus consecuencias

-Literatura apocalíptica/historias de la creación, narrativas distópicas.

-Naturaleza direccional del ‘camp’ –revela u oculta

-Cine de culto –ejemplos – Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, Pink Flamingos, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Showgirls

-Adaptaciones de cine/teatro –ejemplos – Billy Elliot, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret

-Cine de autor y ‘camp’ (Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

-Eurovision: ‘camp’ y nacionalismo

-Dandismo

-Camp y “lo feo”

-Nostalgia en la cultura popular (cómics, televisión, películas: Flash Gordon, Masters of the Universe, Batman, etc.)

-Videojuegos y ‘camp’ (adaptaciones, superhéroes y supervillanos, etc.)

Las comunicaciones deben ser preparadas para una presentación que no supere los 20 minutos. Por favor, enviar propuestas de comunicación (abstracts) de 300 palabras, adjuntando una biografía de hasta 50 palabras a la dirección de correo electrónico gradconference2020@gmail.com hasta el 7 de enero de 2020. Las propuestas deben incluir la siguiente información: breve biografía del participante (50 palabras), afiliación (departamento y universidad), el título de la presentación, y la indicación de cualquier recurso o requerimiento especial que necesite.

Preguntas sobre esta conferencia deberán ser formuladas a la dirección de correo electrónico: gradconference2020@gmail.com.

Para mayor información y actualizaciones en torno al evento, por favor visitar gradconference2020.home.blog  o seguir nuestro perfil en twitter

@camp_uwo

Traducido por: Luigi De Angelis Soriano

Camp/camp: the collision of style and biopolitics

“The more we study art, the less we care for nature.” Oscar Wilde

The Department of Comparative Literature, Hispanic Studies, and The Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism at Western University invite abstracts for the 22^nd annual Graduate Student Conference on “Camp/camp,” which will be taking place March 26-28, 2020.

 The ambiguous nature of ‘camp’ means that it summons different meanings dependent on one’s frame of reference. Camp as sensibility is described by Susan Sontag as using artifice and exaggeration to “convert the serious into the frivolous—these are grave matters” (1). A grave matter, indeed, when we consider the implications of covering over matters of biopolitics and totalitarianism with the study of aesthetics. Thus, to contrast the study of camp with the study of the camp, as exemplified by the work of Giorgio Agamben, is to reveal the intimate relationship between aesthetics and biopolitics. Following Agamben, we contend that the body is reduced to ‘bare life’ in the camp, “the space that is opened up when the state of exception begins to become the rule” (Agamben 168). Today, camp as sensibility and camp as the biopolitical are both ingrained in our current cultural moment as an aesthetics of distraction: we watch the MET Gala, binge RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eye, and obsess over Lady Gaga and Barbra Streisand; at the same time children are locked in cages by ICE, we debate the refugee crisis, and conflict continues in places like Hong Kong, Catalonia, and the Middle East, as captured by Marjane Satrapi’s graphic autobiography, Persepolis (2000).

Although a definition of camp as an aesthetic mode often seems elusive, it is something which is found almost everywhere in our contemporary culture. Moreover, the contrast of the camp as a philosophical concept widens the scope of the culture of camp and brings together the intersection of the serious with the frivolous in ways that expose the binary. Camp exposes the dichotomies of art/kitsch and natural/artifice. This can take the form of examining literature, such as the carnivalesque-grotesque in Medieval, Early Modern, and Enlightenment literatures, for example Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel which makes use of scatological imagery in relation to the body politic. Many genres of literature employ biopolitical elements, especially science fiction, horror, speculative fiction, and trauma literature. In fact, Holocaust literature has itself become its own category, ranging from autobiographical works, such as Primo Levi’s If This is a Man (1947), Art Spiegelman’s Maus I & II (1980), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1947), to novels like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006).

Indigenous Canadian art and literature often combine these concepts with the biopolitical, such as in the art and performance of Cree artist Kent Monkman and his alter-ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, whose work juxtaposes trauma with queer aesthetic performances interrupting idyllic vistas of Canada. The contrast between kitsch and camp also emerges in the literary works of Indigenous authors such as Sherman Alexie, Thomas King, Tomson Highway, and Joshua Whitehead, whose novels and poetry impress on the reader the importance of rebelling against the colonial body politic. On the other hand, distinct Canadian landmarks have also been tainted by a camp sensibility, as seen in Henry Hathaway’s Niagara (1953) starring Marilyn Monroe.

Camp is also sensed through the work of many filmmakers, such as in Pedro Almodóvar’s signature style, where camp meets high art and has been popular from the 1960s through to the present. Other Hollywood films and Broadway productions have long embraced camp sensibility in many classic films such as Barbarella (1968), Valley of the Dolls (1967), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), and Billy Elliot (2000). Many of these classics also embrace the tyrannical nature of biopolitics that deal with issues in sexuality, disease, abortion, mental illness, and drug use.

We look to bridge an abundance of disconnections between culture and politics through conversations on the polysemic nature of camp. We invite papers in all fields of the Arts & Humanities, which include, but not limited to Comparative Literature, Hispanic Studies, Theory & Criticism, Philosophy, Women’s Studies and Feminist Research, Queer Studies, Film Studies, Geography, Theology, Media Studies, Theatre Studies, History, Indigenous Studies, Music, Classical Studies, Visual Arts, and Postcolonial Studies.

Possible topics:

-Biopolitics (the work of Michel Foucault, Giorgio Agamben, Robert Esposito, etc.)

-Colonialism/post-colonialism (trauma, reconciliation, notions of identity)

-Migration and mobility (politics, ethical issues, the lived reality of being a refugee)

-Aesthetics (camp, kitsch), WJT Mitchell’s pictures, Jeff Koons’ installations

-Literature (genres such as horror, erotica, pulp fiction, romance novels, etc.)

-Telenovelas (Thalía; María, la del barrio; Betty, la fea, and American satires Ugly Betty and Jane the Virgin)

-Geography (‘land back’ movement, Canadian reservation system, geopolitics of the North)

-Decadence

-Camp Icons (Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Tallulah Bankhead, Eartha Kitt, Cher, etc.)

-Queer Studies: RuPaul’s Drag Race and homonationalism, drag queen storytelling

-Feminist studies (feminist embodiment, drag-kings, butch-femme aesthetic) 

-Girl power and camp (Wonder Woman, Spice Girls, Glow)

-Camp and capitalism

-Phenomenology of Camp through queer aesthetic experiences/performances/artworks.

-Black Camp (Paris is Burning, Michael Jackson, and Prince)

-Indigenous Camp (Kent Monkman, Adrian Stimson, Sherman Alexie, Joshua Whitehead)

-Education and teaching pedagogy

-Pantomime

-Children’s television and Camp

-Canadian and/or American Politics e.g., “Sassy Trump,” the Cold War and its aftermaths

-Apocalyptic literature/creation stories, dystopian narratives

-Directional nature of camp – revealing or concealing

-Cult films – examples – Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, Pink Flamingos, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Showgirls

-Film/theatre adaptations – examples –  Billy Elliot, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret

-Auteur Cinema and Camp (Quentin Tarantino, Pedro Almodóvar, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)

-Eurovision: camp and nationalism

-Dandyism

-Camp and “the awful”

-Nostalgia in popular culture (comic books, television, movies: Flash Gordon, Masters of the Universe, Batman, etc.)

-Video games and camp (adaptations, superheroes and supervillains, etc.)

Formal papers should be designed to be delivered in no more than 20 minutes. Please send ~300 word abstracts, along with a 50 word biography, to gradconference2020@gmail.com by January 7, 2020. The abstracts should also include the following information: Presenter’s short biography (50 words), affiliation (Department and University), a presentation title, and an indication of any special media or other requirements. 

Conference queries should be sent to gradconference2020@gmail.com. Please also visit gradconference2020.home.blog for more information and updates, or follow us on twitter @camp_uwo

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