Deadline: 31 October 2024

Submissions to be published in issue 36 (June 2025)

The guest editors are Francesca Franco and Clio Flego.

Call for papers

The 10th International Conference on the Histories of Media Art, Science, and Technology (RE:SOURCE) held in Venice in 2023 marked a significant milestone in celebrating the dynamic interplay between art, science, and technology over the past six decades. In light of the insightful discussions and ground-breaking research presented at the conference, we propose a special issue of Artnodes to consider the pivotal role of memory in media art history.

The purpose of this special issue is to delve into the field of media art history with a focus on the effectiveness of documentation, preservation and the integration of new technologies in relation to future collections, both within and outside institutional frameworks. Drawing from an archaeological approach and a digital-art-historical perspective, we aim to understand the specific context in which media art history has emerged and evolved. Despite the abundance of examples and advancements since the inception of digital technologies, scholarly studies have yet to fully grasp the significance of this field for the development of media art and for a transdisciplinary understanding of contemporary creators' use of digital technology to address broader societal issues. Through an examination of the role of media art history within and beyond museum spaces, this issue seeks to shed light on its importance in connecting with wider societal contexts and expanding its influence beyond conventional boundaries. We welcome contributions that explore theories, trends, and case studies in this field, aiming to deepen our understanding of how documentation, preservation and technological integration shape the trajectory of media art history and its impact on our shared cultural heritage.

Sincerely,

Francesca Franco and Clio Flego

Francesca Franco

Francesca Franco, PhD, is a Venetian-born curator, art historian and producer based in the UK and Italy. From 2019 to 2023, she was Co-Investigator on the AHRC-funded project “Documenting digital art: re-thinking histories and practices of documentation in the museum and beyond” at the University of Exeter. In 2022, she produced and curated Vera Molnár: Icône 2020, an exhibition centred on a new commission, and Icône 2020, at the 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia. In 2017, she was curator-in-residence at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa Venice, where she curated Algorithmic Signs, an exhibition that explored the history of pioneering generative art. The central theme of Francesca’s research is the history of art and technology and the pioneers of computer art. A major focus has been the history of the Venice Biennale culminating in a series of publications that have been translated into various languages. Her first solo-authored book, Generative Systems Art, was published by Routledge in 2018. Her second monograph, The Algorithmic Dimension, was published by Springer in 2022. Her forthcoming book on the history of computer art at the Venice Biennale will be published by Springer in 2024. Her most recent exhibition, Vera Molnár: Variazioni Icône, was on view in 2024 at the Accademia d’Ungheria in Rome.

Affiliation: College of Humanities, University of Exeter, UK.

Clio Flego
Clio Flego is a research fellow at the University of Genoa who is currently working on human-machine interaction and AI application for cultural practices. She holds an EMJM in Media Arts Culture, and a graduate degree in Visual and Performing Arts from IUAV Venice. She has extensive international experience in project management, with expertise in cultural projects at the crossroads of art, science, and technology. She has organized and programmed international conferences and events, such as RE:SOURCE – International Conferences on the Histories of Media Arts, Science and Technology (IT, 2023), KiezSalon Adventurous music series (DE, 2015-2017), Madeira Micro Film Festival (PT, 2015-2016), and LEM Festivals (ES, 2014), curating exhibitions for institutions such as Art_Inkubator (PL, 2019) and Paratissima (IT, 2018). She has cooperated as a creative and critical thinker with universities and cultural institutions such as ISAST Leonardo (US), Radio Web MACBA (ES), EPFL (CH), FACT Liverpool (UK) and Venice Biennale (IT). She served as European Innovation Ambassador in 2019-2020, and she is an active board member of three cultural associations (RESOURCE, Amici del Festival della Scienza, and MetaDiaPason) dedicated to advancing art and science across Italy. She is currently Art Papers Juror at SIGGRAPH2024, the Premier Conference & Exhibition on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques.

Affiliation: DIBRIS Department, University of Genoa, Italy.

Themes and Questions

This special issue seeks to explore and answer key questions surrounding the theme of memory in the context of media art history. We aim to address the following questions:

1. Creating Future Memories: How can we shape future memories through effective documentation, preservation and the integration of new technologies?
2. Media Art History in and outside the Museum: What is the role of media art history within the museum space, and how does it extend beyond these institutional boundaries?

Scope of the special issue

We invite contributions that span a diverse range of subjects within the broader theme of memory in media art history. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Media art conservation and preservation
• Innovative approaches to documentation and archival research
• The evolving role of researchers in shaping curatorial practices
• Intersection of media art with cinema, games, and other interactive forms
• Museological perspectives on media arts
• Re-enactment of exhibitions and its impact on preserving historical narratives
• Integration of new technologies in curatorial practices

  

Submission process

To submit an article, register an account on the Artnodes site and follow the submission instructions. You can review the author guidelines and submission checklist at https://artnodes.uoc.edu/about/submissions/

The originals must be submitted in editable electronic file form and must not exceed the 5,000 words (including all sections).

Queries

For problems with the platform: jsoleg@uoc.edu

For questions about how the journal works: artnodes@uoc.edu

About Artnodes

Artnodes is an open-access academic journal produced by the UOC since 2002. It is published the full issues in January and July. However, from March 2022, the contents of each issue will not be published all at the same time, they will appear at regular intervals throughout the year (online first) until the issue is deemed closed.

This system speeds up the publication time of the journal's contents considerably, without the need to wait until the whole issue has been edited.

Its articles come from public calls for scientific articles and are submitted for blind review by experts in the relevant subject area. The journal is indexed in Q1 in the Scimago Journal & Country Rank (2022), Carhus Plus+, Scopus (Elsevier), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), MIAR, Latindex, FECYT Seal of Quality, etc. You can find more information here: https://raco.cat/index.php/Artnodes/indexing