MIXED MESSAGES CONFERENCE

[abroeck@v2.nl (Andreas Broeckmann)]

Charlotte/USA, October 1997

Mixed Messages: Images, Text and Technology

We find ourselves in a time of accelerated change, when many would say
our culture is becoming more visually oriented. Forms of communication
such as cinema, video and multimedia are becoming increasingly important
in our culture. The printed word is no longer our primary source of
information, but the word has not simply disappeared from the scene. It
appears to be joining (or rejoining) the picture. This phenomenon bears
examination. The relationship between words and pictures is complex,
multifaceted, and often paradoxical. It cannot be summed up neatly by a
homogeneous meta-theory. Each meeting of image and text has to be
understood in its own particular and perhaps peculiar context.

A multidisciplinary, multimedia conference entitled Mixed Messages
will be held at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte October
11-13, 1997. Mixed Messages will explore the boundaries, the
connections and disconnections, and overlappings of image and text, i.e.
pictures and words, and the effects of technology on these. We invite you
to participate in creating and exploring some of these contexts with us.

Join us for an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information about
the changing nature of communication in a society that relies
simultaneously on the diverse technologies of books, stories, film, art,
music, electronic media and conversations. The focus of the conference
will be theoretical rather than practical. The conference itself will be an
unusual experiment in combining communication technologies, as we
invite presentations in the forms of conference papers, studio art pieces,
computer networks, videos, workshops, panel and roundtable discussions
and more. Add your musings to our keynote events. A mixed media
conference proceedings will be produced.

We will be receiving presentation proposals December 15, 1996 - January
31, 1997. Queries are welcome while the submission details are still
being ironed out. We will have more information about this in the coming
weeks.

For further information
visit the conference web site at http://www.uncc.edu/~mixedmsg/

or e-mail Susan Brenner
scbrenne@UNCCVM.UNCC.EDU