As experimental film practice is still the most prevalent in (yet not confined to) western Europe, North America and Britain, the special issue of Papers on Language and Literature aims to highlight the work of filmmakers working on the margins of the avant-garde, including those using traditional (8 mm or 16 mm) and new (hybrid) media formats, and the ways they (re)address the questions of landscape, travel and the other’s gaze. Although certain avant-garde films, including those made by Vertov, Bolotowsky, Kubelka, Winkler, Lehman, Welsby, Snow, Fischinger, Dutta, Rashidi, Takahiko, Frampton, Brakhage and others, have received some attention from researchers, there exists a number of underrepresented works, which use landscape and travelogue forms to challenge the hegemonic master narratives and undermine the image of majority groups and interests, continuously breaking the taboos and censorship of the mainstream (film) culture. Likewise, this special issue will hopefully extend the use of some recent revisionist theories, which have moved beyond structuralist-formalist thinking to incorporate intermediality and heterogeneity (Branden), spectatorship and (gendered) body politics (Lambert-Beatty), corporeal turn in avant-garde film (Osterweil), expanded cinema practices (Sutton), materialism (Walley) or personal registers (Kase), to the study of landscape and travelogue films, many of which clearly de-center formalist strategies.  

To fill this gap, the proposed special issue of Papers on Language and Literature seeks contributions that discuss works of both renowned and less known experimental filmmakers, particularly those working on the periphery of the avant-garde film practice, which revision the representation of landscape and travel through the other’s gaze. We particularly welcome proposals, which analyze avant-garde and experimental films and videos in the larger international and comparative context that transcends a solely national perspective.

Submission details:  Please send a paper proposal of approx 250-300 words and CV (including the list of publications) to the editor, Dr. Kornelia Boczkowska, at [email protected]. The deadline for abstract submissions is December 1, 2019. Accepted contributors will be expected to submit the complete articles of 5,000-6,000 words (including endnotes) by March 1, 2020.

Papers on Language and Literature is published quarterly at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It is indexed in Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, Periodicals Index Online, Art Abstracts, Art Source, Humanities Abstracts, Art Index, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, DIALNET.