OCEANIC AVANT-GARDE are seeking contributions to a special volume of the ongoing Brill reference work series, Cultural Histories of the Avant-Garde: A Companion Series www.brill.com/CHAG This volume will be dedicated to exploring the question of an Oceanic Avant-garde.
Given avant-garde studies has extended beyond a narrow Western European-North American lens to encompass discussion of a wider global context, this cultural history aims to examine a topic that is both perplexing and thought-provoking. To ponder the question of an Oceanic avant-garde entails considering the limits of a Western art-historical, cultural, and aesthetic framework. It would also need to consider a history that occurs episodically, not as continuous lineages of innovation and influence, but instead more fragmentary. The challenge is how to narrate such a history of artistic and cultural encounters?
Potential contributions may explore this topic from quite different trajectories:
(i) a history of avant-garde projections about the oceanic and Australasian regions;
(ii) examining avant-gardists and fellow travellers who visited the region;
(iii) exploring how artists from these regions fared when visiting Europe or North America to engage with the avant-garde spirit;
(iv) contemplating the intersections between the avant-garde and indigenous traditions.
Both brief case studies and longer thematic essays are welcome. In general, contributions are sought that creatively responding to a topic that links a particular context, Australasia and Oceania, that is far from uniform, with the avant-garde, which is not the standard consideration for cultural histories of this region.
Cultural Histories of the Avant-Garde: A Companion Series www.brill.com/CHAG provides a comprehensive overview and in-depth analysis of the cultural manifestations of the avant-garde from 1900-2020. The avant-garde perspective central to these companions will emphasise the collaboration and exchange between individual arts and separate national traditions. As a result, the series will shed light on central aspects of global cultural history.
The companion series continues and expands upon A Cultural History of the Avant-Garde in the Nordic Countries.
Expressions of interest are being accepted for this special volume on an Oceanic Avant-Garde.
Abstracts due: 29 July 2023
Contacts: Ann Stephen ann.stephen@sydney.edu.au
Andrew McNamara andrewemcnamara@gmail.com