2019 National Conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association

The Popular Art, Architecture & Design area is concerned with the aesthetics, the history, and the theory of popular culture in the everyday world of the past, the present, and the future. 

We are considering proposals for sessions organized around a theme, special panels, and/or individual papers. Sessions are scheduled in 1½ hour slots, typically with four papers or speakers per standard session. Presentations should not exceed 15 minutes. Working professionals, scholars, educators, and graduate students from a variety of methodologies including Art History, Fine Art, Museum or Curatorial Studies, Architecture, and Industrial/Interior Design are all encouraged to submit.

It is a broad area indeed, so think creatively! At previous conferences the topics have included, but were certainly not limited to, the following: 

  • World Fairs
  • Neon signs
  • Architecture of Tadao Ando
  • Disneyland
  • Edward Durell Stone
  • Sandy Skoglund and Gregory Crewdson’s visions of suburbia
  • Portrait miniatures
  • Kara Walker’s silhouettes
  • Superman and Art Deco
  • Art of Howard Finster
  • Art Environments
  • Place-Inspired Activism
  • Elizabeth Catlett
  • Norman Rockwell’s lost drawings
  • Cold War American Suburban Imaginary
  • Nineteenth-Century Ephemera: Scrapbooks and Trompe l’Oeil Painting
  • Art Nouveau’s Revival in 1960’s Popular Culture
  • Restoration of Charles Lindbergh’s House
  • Kitchen Design in Glass Houses

Please submit a title and an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short 50-word bio with contact information (name, institutional affiliation, mail and email addresses, and contact telephone number) by October 1, 2018. To submit an abstract, go to http://ncp.pcaaca.org and follow the instructions for creating an account and making your submission. Please note that all submissions must be made through the conference submission site, so do not email your abstract. Instructions for logging in and submitting proposals appear on the home screen of the site and are also available here:http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/instructions.php

Be sure to proofread your name, title, and abstract closely as this text will become part of the program should your proposal be selected.

Key Dates
Keep in mind the following timeline:

  • 1 July Database Opens for Submissions 
  • 1 October Registration Opens 
  • 1 October Deadline for Paper Proposals 
  • 15 November Early Bird Registration Rate Ends 
  • 1 December Preliminary Program Available 
  • 15 December “Drop Dead”: Participants Not Registered Removed from Program 
  • 3 January 2019 Final Program to the Publisher 
  • 17-20 April 2019 Washington, D.C.!

For more conference information, go to http://www.pcaaca.org/national-conference/