Editors: Larisa Dryansky (Université Paris-Sorbonne / INHA) and Érika Wicky (UQAM)

Intermédialités/Intermediality1seeks articles for publication in its Fall 2015/Spring 2016 special double issue on projection. Still projections are pervasive in today’s environment. However, studies of projected images remain largely dominated by the cinematographic model. In a different way, this special issue considers the history of projection independently from the teleological perspective in which film studies have tended to situate it, relating it to other narratives and highlighting practices and uses that are less frequently addressed. The aim is to fill a historiographical and theoretical gap in the study of the projected image.

This special issue follows on the international symposium The Enlightened Image: History and Uses of Projection in which projection was considered mainly as an optical device. The publication intends to further this discussion by emphasizing aspects of cultural history so as to reveal the paradigmatic nature of projection. Special attention will be paid to issues of reception, that is, to the uses of projection, the ways in which it has been conceived and represented, as well as to the metaphorical uses of the term “projection.” From geometry to science fiction and alchemy, the many meanings of projection extend beyond the notion of an optical device while at the same time add to our understanding of the latter.
We are particularly interested in submissions that address the issue of projection in an extra-European context and/or in the period prior to the eighteenth century. Possible topics include:

  • The historical relationship between optical projection and alchemical projection. It is important to recall that Giambattista della Porta’s foundational work in the projection of images took place in a cultural context that was still heavily influenced by alchemy. Similarly, it is worth quoting the definition of the word projection provided by the first edition of the dictionary of the French Academy (1694): “It is hardly used at all except in the expression Poudre de projection, meaning a powder with which chemists claim they can change metal into gold.”
  • Projection and projecting as they appear in science fiction, specifically the temporal aspect of projection.
  • The political aspects of projecting. Projections constitute genuinely public events in which models of image-sharing are constituted and issues tied to the social and political role of images come to the fore whether the context be educational or propaganda. The fact that the technology involved in producing slideshows is relatively less sophisticated than that required by cinema has also at times made this form a medium for social and artistic protest in the context of repressive political regimes. 
  • The role of projection in art historiography. Projection is an essential medium for the teaching of art history. Addressing this aspect allows for critical thinking about how art history has been taught in the past and how it is being taught today and, more fundamentally, about how art history has constituted itself as a discipline. 
  • Projection as a psychoanalytical concept for understanding psychological phenomena.

Abstracts of proposals (up to 300 words) in English or French should be sent to Simon Thibodeau intermedialites[at]gmail.com

  • 1. Intermédialités/Intermediality is a biannual internationally renowned peer-reviewed journal. It publishes articles both in French and English.