Call for Papers, No. 31, September 2023
The Editorial Board of AM Journal of Art and Media Studies is inviting all potential contributors to send their proposals for issue No. 31/September 2023.
AM Journal is structured in four sections: Main Topic, Beyond the Main Topic, Artist Portfolio, and Book Reviews. Only the first section, which is also the central one, is predefined by the main topic of the issue.
The main topic of issue No. 31/September 2023 is The concept of ‘influence’ in art and aesthetics.
The question of influence in art and aesthetics can have both positive and negative aspects. It can facilitate certain particulars in the discourse on artistic production, but can also challenge aesthetic judgement. On the one hand, we can establish connections between artists and/or artworks through the investigation of one influencing the other. On the other hand, however, this could also imply that the later artist’s oeuvre or artwork’s quality is not entirely singular but depends on, or even ‘owes’ something to, the earlier.
There are also other segments in the notion of influence’. We can, for example, scrutinize numerous details and factors that have an ‘impact’ and even ‘interference’ in the actual perception and appreciation of artworks. How do these obstruct and hinder, or – to the contrary – help the aesthetic effect and efficiency of the exhibited pieces? It can thus again be a positive or negative influence. For example, bad lighting of sculptures, awful framing of paintings or technical glitches in the screening of video works are obvious examples for the negative effect. But how about positive influences, like ones coming from bold curatorial concepts? These can bring out more, sometimes much more, of a work than what even the artist may have thought before. How does this – otherwise positive – effect relate to the original aesthetic and artistic qualities of the actual piece? Is it possible and is it needed at all to establish an ‘objective’ and neutral way of presentation? Is there an ‘ideal’ mode of an exhibition?
Further aspects in the examination could also include the analyses of the possible modifications and even of distortion coming from, for example, the art market, from the shifting accents in the classical infrastructure of art and from the novel technologies that can all influence the making, exhibiting, ‘consuming’ and evaluating art. How can large-scale art events, biennials, powerful galleries, and collectors influence the canon of art? How do digitalization, AR, and VR modify the modes of connecting to and through art? What influence are they and will they be playing in the art world? What challenges do these pose to our classical concepts of the work of art?
The thematic section of AM Journal of Art and Media Studies aims at investigating these and similar questions. Therefore, different types of texts are equally welcome, e.g., analyses of actual case studies, broader, theoretical investigations, and even practical recommendations based on, for example, personal artistic, critical, or curatorial experience.
Potential contributors are invited to submit their abstracts of 300 words and short bios (about 150 words) by January 31, 2023. Full articles of 3,000–5,000 words, formatted according to the Journal's guidelines, will be requested by March 31, 2023. All articles will undergo double-blind peer review. The issue is scheduled to be published in September 2023. Please email your abstracts and inquiries to the journal email address: amjournal@outlook.com. Thank you!
Guest Issue Editor
Dr. habil. Zoltán Somhegyi
Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary
