The call for papers is now open for Ian Hamilton Finlay: Little Fields, Long Horizons, a symposium which will take place next year at the University of Edinburgh on July 13 and 14, with an associated event at Little Sparta on July 15.
Submissions are due by March 10. The conference is supported by the British Academy.
About the conference
This two-day symposium will explore new critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the Scottish poet, artist and avant-gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006). As Finlay’s reputation worldwide continues to grow a decade after his death, we wish to ask searching questions about the boundaries of his practice, its philosophical, political and cultural dimensions, and its legacies and affinities across a range of media, disciplines and geographical boundaries. A number of attendees will also have the chance to visit Finlay’s poet’s garden at Little Sparta in the Pentland Hills for an event in its new workshop space.
Keynotes: Susan Stewart, Princeton University
Stephen Bann, University of Bristol
Drew Milne, University of Cambridge
Topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
Finlay and late modernism(s)
Little Sparta and ecology
Finlay and poetics, including objectivist/concrete/visual/new-media poetics
Finlay and visual/conceptual art
Finlay in context: encompassing movements/milieus/cultures; associated figures
Finlay and the political, including Finlay as revolutionary/counter-revolutionary, Finlay and the French Revolution, Finlay and the Third Reich
“Flytings” and “Battles” as aspects of avant-garde practice
Finlay as collaborator/Finlay’s collaborators
Finlay and European romanticism
Finlay and the (nuclear) sublime
Neo-classical and pre-Socratic re-armaments
Finlay and (inter)nationalism
Finlay and Northern Renaissances
Wild Hawthorn Press and small-press publishing as creative practice
Finlay and landscape architecture/garden design
Ongoing and contemporary creative responses to Finlay’s work
250-word abstracts for twenty-minute papers and 500-word abstracts for full panels/round-tables will be accepted by the organisers Greg Thomas and Alex Thomson at Greg.Thomas@ed.ac.uk until 10th March 2017. However, participants are asked to respond with expressions of interest as soon as possible. For up-to-date event and attendance fee details visit our website.
