Call for Papers
Hear, Think, Act: Jazz Forms of/in/for Life
Monday, June 7, 2021 (via Zoom)
Jazz — the artistic genre born in the cotton fields of twentieth century America that would spark diverse fields of thought, culture and creativity all over the world. Born out of severe social distress and ethnic struggle, Jazz accompanied post-industrial society in nearly all of its dramatic moments, as it adapted to and was absorbed by new and old cultural spaces.
But Jazz should not be limited to its historical context. In fact, in its commitment to concepts such as improvisation, inner truth, dialogue, polyrhythm and social consciousness, Jazz is especially relevant to today’s age of technological automation, social distancing, and cultural polarization.
This conference seeks to reconstruct the artistic, intellectual, and activist elements of Jazz as not only a contemporary method of artistic expression, but also as an innovative methodology for dealing with the many epistemic and social challenges of the 21st century.
The conference seeks to achieve this objective by building an interdisciplinary incubator for “jazz forms in life” — traditional, modal, technological, theoretical, rhythmical, spiritual, ideological and more — and their applications in the fields of design, painting, cinema, sculpture, writing, poetry, music, architecture, philosophy, education, politics and cultural criticism.
Relevant topics include:
- Analytical concepts — improvisation; collaboration; modality; tone cluster; microtonality; polyrhythms; “swing.”
- Historical perspectives — historical figures; the evolution of jazz and its genres (Blues, Swing, Bebop, Fusion, Free Jazz, World Jazz) and their manifestations in literature, cinema, and the visual arts; jazz education; jazz in the Academia.
- Identity and society — jazz, culture, and community; race, ethnicity, gender, politics and globalization; jazz in interpersonal/intercultural communication.
- In addition, we invite musicians, writers, and visual artists to participate in the production of Jazz Progressions, a unique, intermedia collage of Jazz inspired creativity. See enclosed description.
More topics and suggestions are welcome.
Please submit proposals (max. 250 words), including a short biography and institutional affiliation, as a Word document to: info@Jazz.school-of-life.org by Sunday, May 16.
Organizers:
Dr. Aviv Livnat, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem
Dr. Edan Raviv, Assistant Director, NYU Tel Aviv
Dr. Yoav Friedman, Research & Innovation Authority, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem
info@Jazz.school-of-life.org by Sunday, May 16