3rd NECS Graduate Workshop, Belgrade, Serbia‏

After the success of the first NECS Graduate Workshop in Istanbul (Summer 2010)
and in anticipation of a successful second workshop in London (Summer 2011) we
are now organizing a two-day intensive workshop in Belgrade this Autumn focusing
on the topic Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies. The aim of the NECS
workshops isto bring young researchers and graduate students together in
fruitful debate creating a sustainable international network that meets
regularly throughout the year. Participants will find a platform where they peer
review works-in-progressand practice presentation and discussion skills in
preparation for academic conference participation.
While seeking to address the dissolution of traditional boundaries that mark
contemporary visual culture,with Blurred Boundaries/Contested Geographies we
hope to bring together a variety of research on the intersection between
mediation, representation and globalization. Blurred Boundaries/Contested
Geographies takes inspiration from the workshop’s location to encourage
discussions on the cinematic representations of divided and damaged landscapes.
The breadth of the workshop encompasses the geographies of both the shifting
frontiers in political/geographical/cultural landscapes, as well as those of
changing media ontologies which impact on the morphology of representational
space and image-migration. Papers are invited on, but are not limited to:
(inter)media modes of resistance to, transgression and blurring of frames and
fixed demarcations; interstitial spaces open to dialogue and transformation;
migratory aesthetics; distance and closeness; image appropriation;
genre-hybridity; globalization and its changing geographies.

Candidates are asked to submit a proposal (max. 300 words) with a short
biographical note (max. 150 words) to graduates@necs-initiative.org. The
deadline for submissions is 1 July 2011. The NECS graduate organizers will
select participants (max. 15) who will then be asked to provide a 3000-word
paper (excluding bibliography) by no later than 1 September 2011, to be
distributed among other participants in advance of the workshop. In order to
allow for a sufficient amount of discussion time, papers will not be read;
instead, participants will be asked to provide a short pitch of their argument
for a maximum of 10 minutes. Respondents will be assigned to each paper.
Discussion will take off from the basis of the papers and peer-feedback. In
addition to the workshop our program will include a film screening and
introductory keynote address. We explicitly encourage candidates to develop
their submitted papers further in view of a graduate panel proposal for the 2012
NECS conference.
The site of our workshop is the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, which was
founded in 1946 and exists as one of the oldest institutions of higher education
in the area of film studies. There is no fee for participation in the workshop
other than a NECS membership. Lunch will be provided. Participants are expected
to arrange their own travel and accommodation. For more information on NECS
please visit www.necs-initiative.org.