The 6th edition of the conference Narrative, Media and Cognition aims to combine narrative, as an artistic and social phenomenon, with the artistic and technical media that convey it and with the cognition that produces it and gives it meaning. The 2021 edition of the conference is hosted by the Theatre and Film School of the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, in Portugal, in association with the WG of the Audiovisual Narratives of AIM – The Moving Image Association in Portugal. It will take place on 14th, 15th and 16th of October 2021, via Zoom.

Upon entering a new decade of the twenty first century the artistic landscape is increasingly hybrid and veering from the norms; a growing blend of forms, contents and genres is taking place. Therefore, it is imperative to reflect on the interrelation of the three main topics of the conference – narrative, media/arts, and cognition – and to contribute with academic theorization that allows for a broadening of reflection upon the nature and role of narrative as the binding element of a new audiovisual praxis. In this sense, the current edition of the conference focuses on the multiple challenges of artistic contemporaneity, seeking to foster a multidisciplinary dialogue.

There will be a publication with selected, peer-reviewed articles issuing from this conference.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Complex, non-linear and fragmentary narrative structures.
  • Self-reflexivity, metalepsis, ekphrasis, embedding.
  • Unreliable narration.
  • Characters and diegetic universes.
  • Time and space in narrative.
  • Scriptwriting techniques.
  • Essay film, webdocumentary.
  • Autobiography, self-portrait, autofiction.
  • Transmedia storytelling.
  • Intermediality: narrative as cutting across different media.
  • Film adaptation.
  • Seriality, complex television series.
  • Narrative and new media.
  • New exhibition and exposition formats, streaming.
  • Interactive narrative.
  • Design, characters and narrative structures in videogames.
  • Narrative as a cognitive structure.
  • Relationship between media and cognition.
  • Narration and altered states of consciousness.
  • Narrative reception and creation mechanisms.

Keynote speakers:

  • Professor Jane Alison – University of Virginia.Author of the book Meander, Spiral, Explode: Design and Pattern in Narrative (2019).
  • Professor Nitzan Ben Shaul – University of Tel-Aviv. Author of the book Cinema of Choice: Optional Thinking and Narrative Movies (2012).
  • Professor Jens Eder – University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. Co-editor of Image Operations. Visual Media and Political Conflict (2017) and Characters in Fictional Worlds: Understanding Imaginary Beings in Literature, Film, and Other Media (2010).
  • Professor Marina Grishakova – University of Tartu. Co-author of The Gesamtkunstwerk as a Synergy of the Arts (Peter Lang, 2020); co-editor of Narrative Complexity: Cognition, Embodiment, Evolution (2019) and Intermediality and Storytelling (2010).
  • Miklós Kiss – University of Groningen. Co-author of the book Impossible Puzzle Films: A Cognitive Approach to Contemporary Complex Cinema (2018).
  • Professor Jason Mittell – Middlebury College. Author of the book Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling. (2015).

Conference languages: English and Portuguese.

The conference is free of charge for selected participants, but registration is required to be able to access the sessions.

Timetable: (2021)

  • April 12: Deadline for proposal submission.
  • May 12: Notification of acceptance.
  • July 7: Deadline for registration (free of charge).
  • October 14-16: Conference dates.

Submission:

We invite each of you to submit a proposal for a 20-minute presentation. Each participant is limited to one talk. Both theoretical and analytical-theoretical approaches are accepted.

The proposal must contain an abstract (500 words max.), 5 keywords, 3 bibliographical references and a short bio of the author (250 words max.). Send to Fátima Chinita (chinita.estc@gmail.com) and Abel Júpiter (estc.conferencia.2021@gmail.com).

Suggested bibliography: available on the conference website: cstonline.netreconfiguracoes.estc.ipl.pt

Organizers:

Fátima Chinita,

PhD. – Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, Theatre and Film School

Guilhermina Castro, PhD.

Catholic University, School of the Arts, CITAR

Jorge Palinhos, PhD.

Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, Theatre and Film School