cfp: Reframing Music Video Research conference, Turku, Finland, 20.-21.4.2023

What: Music video research conference

Where: Turku, Finland

Organizers: #NorPopVid Finnish Academy research project, Åbo Akademi, University of Turku, Finnish Ethnomusicological Society SES, IIPC

Conference committee: Anna-Elena Pääkkölä (chair), John Richardson, Mathias Korsgaard, Johannes Brusila, Hanna-Mari Riihimäki

Keynote speakers: Nikki Dibben, Kai Arne Hansen, Emily Casten 

CFP

This conference focuses on new developments in music video research, whatever forms this has taken. Music video technologies and platforms have changed dramatically in recent decades, resulting in a multitude of different expressive forms and practices. All of this has been accelerated by the cultural ascent of social media and livestreaming technologies, but also due to the increasingly volatile political climate and a chain of global and environmental crises. The changes wreaked on our daily lives during the Covid-19 epidemic converged with a return to DIY aesthetics, as producers found it increasingly difficult to gather together physically to shoot music videos. Many turned to home production, some used the lessons learnt from music video aesthetics to create concert-like performances for online consumption, while others extended the expressive means of traditional formats by exploring the potential for innovation in social media and new online platforms. Livestreaming emerged as a new source of revenue for artists and the promotion of their music in a historical moment when physical performance was no longer possible. These changes impacted also on how music videos have intersected with ideas about gender, nationality, (dis)ability, race, class, political conviction and other categories. All of this suggests a need for researchers to rethink and reframe their understanding of music video and its related forms. By renewing the methodological and conceptual foundations of our research work, it is our hope that our understanding of music video practices and aesthetics will grow in exciting new ways.    

We invite presentations addressing new approaches to music videos, including the use of new technologies and platforms, but also the relationship between mainstream and marginal musics, identities and cultures; local and global cultures; and research specifically addressing musical and audiovisual aesthetics. Proposals for 20 minute presentations are requested on the following themes: 

  • New perspectives on music video production (especially during Covid-19)
  • Global vs. local politics 
  • Transnational relationships and collaborations
  • Music videos and local identities (esp. Nordic identities)
  • Music videos and minority cultures
  • Music videos and women* (incl. nonbinary and trans women)
  • BIPOC music videos (in the context of white mainstream cultures)
  • Disability in music videos
  • Unruly bodies of/in music videos
  • Amateur music videos
  • Evolving and experimental music video aesthetics in other audiovisual media
  • Changing music video industries and technologies

The event takes place on campus at Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland, with some of the keynote speeches streamed live or recorded and published online. We will keep in mind the option of changing this to a fully distant event if the global health and/or safety situation requires us to do so. 

Papers should be 20 mins in duration with an additional 10 mins permitted for questions and comments. We welcome prerecorded video presentations or video essays, especially if they incorporate experimental or artistic approaches in their audiovisual language alongside academic reflection. However, presentations should all be given on location, with the videos producers present to answer questions from the audience. 

In order to participate, send a 200 word abstract and 100 word bio (in the same word file) to this email address (reframingmusicvideoresearch (at) gmail.com) by September 15th, 2022. You will receive confirmation of your participation by September 30th. A conference dinner will be held on April 20th. You will need to register for the conference dinner at the same time as registering for the event. Information about the conference fee will be sent to accepted participants in autumn 2022. You may participate also without presenting: more information on the participation fee for non-presenters will be added to the event’s social media sites. 

In addition to this event, some free events regarding Finnish music videos will be held in Helsinki, at Tieteiden talo. Participants are welcome to attend! More details will follow. 

Event home page: https://reframingmusicvideoresearch.wordpress.com/ 

Event on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/532373915164890?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22surface%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22edit_dialog%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D