Thursday 15 July 2010

Beyond Text: short research pieces, example 1

Co-organiser Jennifer and I will be adding short snippets of research as brief examples of the incorporation of beyond text material analysis into research. These short investigative and writing exercises aim to show how single objects can illuminate complicated research stories and histories, drawing upon our doctorial studies and experience working with these collections.

We strongly encourage participating Interfaces delegates, or any interested arts postgraduates to contribute to the blog by offering similar short reflection pieces on key ‘beyond texts’ objects which illuminate their own research… please email images and/or short clips supported by around 300 words of brief analysis to myself or Jennifer, (lrs204@ex.ac.uk / jab228@ex.ac.uk) discussing any such materials relevant to your own research interests.

We hope to get the ball rolling here with a few examples!
First up, Jen’s reflective piece on a BDC item…

Lisa

Smoke Signals: 'Olivier Cigarettes' and the marketing of a post-war British star


Packet of Olivier brand cigarettes: BDC Item No.: 74905
Type of Object: miscellaneous item
Material: paper
Language: English
Country of Origin: UK
Manufacturer: Benson & Hedges Ltd., London


In the early 1950s Laurence Olivier’s star image is marked by a tension between two different and apparently irreconcilable understandings of what constitutes British celebrity during the post-war period, a tension that is, in turn, indicative of wider relations between the post-war British and American film industries. Specifically, Olivier is imagined as oscillating between two different modes of stardom: the theatrical and the cinematic. Here, the former is defined as representative of the prestige and heritage of the nation while the latter suggests a Hollywood-influenced commodification of the star image that is seen as incompatible with theatrical (and explicitly British) star discourses.

This packet of Olivier cigarettes (a brand initiated in 1956 after the success of Richard III) enables me to focus and clarify my research by outlining my argument in relation to a contemporary object that directly cites the tensions that I am exploring. The cigarettes are themselves indelibly marked by the conflict that characterises Olivier’s star image in the early 1950s. Representing a saleable commodity that trades on the Olivier name, the cigarette packaging also evokes the national prestige associated with their namesake. Thus, the white and blue suggests the colours of the Royal Navy uniform that Olivier himself had worn during the war, while the golden imprint of the coat of arms explicitly asserts Olivier’s connection to the nation and its heritage as a cipher for “Shakespeare” and knight of the realm. Advertisements for the cigarettes cite key words associated with Olivier’s star image: “cool”, “smooth”, “elegant”, “quality”; but the Hollywood-style commodification that the cigarettes ultimately suggest is imagined as incompatible with Olivier’s status as a national icon. An outraged Lieutenant Colonel CJ Barton-Innes of Kensington wrote to Olivier in 1956, declaring that it is “inconceivable that one who had received the honour of a knighthood from his sovereign could so besmirch the dignity conferred upon him as to sell his name for such an ignominious purpose as to boost a brand of cigarettes”.
Text by Jennifer Barnes, PhD Candidate, University of Exeter, Dept. of English. July 2010.

Monday 12 July 2010

Beyond Text: Bill Douglas Centre artefacts, part 1

The Interfaces event will feature a special workshop session in Exeter's Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture.
To support the event, we will be featuring on the blog some examples of 'beyond text' treasures available for viewing and research in the archive and museum.

First up: optical toys...
The video below shows the peep-show view of the centre's functioning mutoscope, followed by a few close up shots of one of the centre's replica zeotropes (shot rather shoddily on my phone camera--higher quality images will follow!)




For further interactive videos of zeotrope animation, visit the BDC site, linked here:
http://billdouglas.ex.ac.uk/eve/di/69110.htm

More coming soon....
Lisa

Sunday 11 July 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS NOW ACTIVE!

Interfaces: encounters beyond the page / screen / stage
1 Day Postgraduate Research Workshop Event, 29th January 2011
Confirmed Keynote Speaker: Dr Judith Buchanan (University of York)

This innovative multidisciplinary research training event examines questions of mediation and memory in encounters with non-textual archival materials in the arts. By creating dialogues between postgraduates and experienced researchers, and featuring practical sessions with curators and archivists, the research workshop seeks to investigate issues that take the researcher beyond the text in the investigation of objects and artefacts that constitute non-textual interfaces between film, literature and theatre.

Participating speakers and delegates will attend a central workshop event in the University’s Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture and Exeter’s Special Collections, where a hands-on exploration of key filmic and literary non-textual materials will be led by the curators of these archives.

Abstract for 20 minute papers are welcomed on the following core panel themes from postgraduates across the arts disciplines in drama, literature, film and modern languages:

Performativity: transitory forms created by performance and performativity; improvisation and the play script; the body in play; performance and photographs/stills; the critical interpretation of ephemera; the incorporation of non-print ephemera into academic scholarship; mediations between public interest and critical histories surrounding popular artefacts; the function of stage props

Beyond ‘Adaptation’: mediations involved in processes of adaptation across disciplines / media; the creation and sustenance of ‘media memories’ in repeated adaptation

Forms of Engagement: creative forms which overlap across the arts—such as illustrations, sound recordings, and poetic readings; the translation and migration of theatrical, literary and filmic heritages into business practices; non-narrative auto/biographical sites

Production History: the exploration of how plays have been ‘framed’ in discussion, presentation and analysis across their history; exploring the relationship between "text" and "performance"

Digital Cultures: the impact of digitization upon the archival ‘text’; the impact of new digital media upon process of memory / memorial; multimedia practices and presentations

Rethinking archives: how archives destabilize notions of ‘text’ / the search for archival authorial ‘presence’; archival silences; notions of the archive as performance; questions of authority surrounding pre-texts / printed texts; challenges encountered in recreating draft manuscripts; the impact of ‘anecdotal’ archival material

We strongly encourage speakers to present the ‘beyond text’ materials of their research in a multi-media format, bringing evidence of cornerstone non-textual examples—sound clip / manuscript image / artwork etc.

Please submit 300 word abstracts for 20 minute papers to Lisa Stead (lrs204@ex.ac.uk) and Jennifer Barnes (jab228@ex.ac.uk). Suggestions for panels of 3 speakers for any of the given core panel themes are also welcomed. Deadline: October 1st, 2010.

Welcome to Interfaces

Welcome to the supporting blog for the forthcoming Interfaces: encounters beyond the page / screen / stage workshop and exhibition. This blog will feature a variety of materials across the life of the event and beyond. We will be featuring video, photography and podcast recordings from the workshop in January, and materials from the supporting exhibition.