CfP: The Automated Condition. Manifestations and Narratives in Art, Literature and Culture

This interdisciplinary graduate conference wishes to both connect and cross-pollinate historical case studies on automation with theoretical perspectives on the conditions it produces. Collectively, literature, art, and culture can provide vital points of entry into the interrogation of life in the automated condition, question whether it is truly a fatal form of passivity, and offer a nuanced and holistic understanding of its promises and its possibilities.

This workshop, held in English, is a collaboration between graduate students of the Department of German, Princeton University and the FWF-project “Co-operative Art Techniques” at the Center for Cultural Studies, University of Graz. The first workshop will take place in Princeton on May 12-13, 2021. A second conference is envisioned to take place in Graz in the Winter Semester 2022/2023.

Despite the unpredictability of pandemic conditions, any and all attempts will be made to have an in-personconference in Princeton. Should conditions not allow to go forward due to international travel restrictions in place, a hybrid or online format will be pursued.