CFP: Utopia(s) in Arts and Art Spaces, from 1960s until today (Paris, 5 Feb 27)

This symposium, to be held at the Maison de la Recherche, Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris, on 5 February 2027, examines the extension of the practice of utopia, both as a fictional genre and as a project, within various artistic manifestations and within art spaces themselves, along with the discourses about them. Utopia is considered in its transdisciplinary dimension, methodologically and across the arts concerned, including visual arts, literature, music, and the performing arts. Proposals must focus on works or projects dating from after the 1960s, a decade the organizers identify with a significant renewal of utopia through its penetration into institutional critique and its echoes in the formation of counterculture. Three lines of inquiry are proposed: naming utopia, covering the epistemology of utopian terminology, shared language across fields, and disciplinary differences; utopia as an artistic apparatus presenting an alternative to the world of reference, including the forms of the utopian work and the updating of utopian motifs; and utopian materializations, covering art spaces that are planned, transitory or realized, spatial practices and utopian discourses in the art and architecture of art places, and experimental modes of artistic organization. Proposals from researchers at all career stages, including PhD students, are welcome, as are those from artists and practitioners of utopia. Paper proposals in French or English of no more than 400 words excluding bibliography, accompanied by a short biographical note, are due by 20 October 2026, and applicants will be notified of the outcome by the end of November.

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