Call for proposals
TRACEY Drawing Research Network Conference 9th-10th July 2020
Conveners: Drawing Research Group, Loughborough University

This conference aims to explore the notion of temporal drawing. By ‘temporal drawing’ we suggest that temporality is not only inherent in drawing, both as a process and as a product, but is also its fundamental condition. To draw is to draw inescapably in and of time. If to make a mark is to capture the trace of a gesture, then mark-making reveals the movement of time—of the living present becoming past, and of the past contracting into the present. With this dynamism come repetitions and difference: further marks in anticipation of a present yet to come. Thus a drawing traces and is traced by movements that are intangible syntheses of time, and looking closely and slowly at a drawing becomes an act of contemplation that holds motion beneath its surface. And so, we ask: how can we explore the time of drawing? How does time prompt us to think differently about drawing?

The conference aims to provide a space for discussion, dissemination and the exchange of knowledge and suggests the following as starting points and as possible themes, prompts and provocations:

• How can drawing ‘reveal’ in time?
• Can drawing be timeless?
• Is stillness possible in and through drawing?
• What is the role of pace in the processes of making and looking at drawing?
• How can duration be explored in drawing?
• How can erasure be explored in drawing?

The conveners invite proposals from practitioners, theorists and practitioner-researchers, which respond to the theme in ONE of the three listed formats:

• 20-minute presentation – 250 word abstract detailing the research question and proposed presentation. Please submit a word .docx file labelled as follows: surname.forename.presentation
• 2.5-hour practical workshop – 250 word proposal detailing the research question, format of the workshop and material/space requirements. Please label your file as follows: surname.forename.workshop
• Image or audio/video to be included in a showreel for a digital exhibition to be screened at the conference – up to 3 jpeg images of drawn works (resolution 300dpi) or 1 audio/video submission (codec/resolution negotiated on submission) max running time 5 mins

Please label your file as follows: surname.title of work.exhibition.jpg and include an image list with full details of the drawing including title, media, size, year. For Audio/Video submissions, provide a hyperlink for review and include full details of the submission, display requirements, and running time.

Please include a 50 word biography with your submission and submit to Serena Smith: s.smith9@lboro.ac.uk by Friday 28th February 2020.