We are pleased to call for participation in the third “Italian Way to Pop” one-day symposium, to be held October 23, 2017 at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. We invite proposals for contributions that are focused on music, cinema and television in Italy in the period of the youth movements (1960-1979).
The symposium will be introduced by an invited talk of Miguel Mera, City, University of London, about the methodological challenges for historical research in multimedia environments, and by two invited speeches about comparative national case studies, Spain and France, respectively by Teresa Fraile, Universidad de Extremadura, and Olivier Julien, Université Paris-Sorbonne.
Extended call
In the light of the information that has emerged in the inter-disciplinary debate surrounding the chronological redefinition of the relationship between the production chain of the audiovisual media industry and the music business, the pivotal role played by popular music especially emerges with particular clarity in Italian media production of the Sixties and the Seventies.The field of music production may be understood as the vanguard of the modernisation of the national cultural production and consumption, fosteringnot only new models of artistic collaboration (group as a collective creative entity, the close relationship with technology, the multiple skills required for professional working within industries, etc.), but also changing patterns in the social use of recorded sound and other media gave rise to new types of audience experiences. The aim of the event is to set the ground for a more systematic approach to the historical and theoretical framework which sets out, in particular, from questions relating to the sound artefact and its socio-technological dimension, the transformation of the soundscape, the change in the status of musicians, and media performance.
The scope of this workshop embraces a crucial period in the development of audiovisual media in Italy, namely the years from the end of the economic boom to the end of the social turmoil started in the wake of ’68. The period witnessed the pluralisation of popular culture as it became increasingly segmented in complex ways according to factors such as age, genre and social status, a phenomenon which led to a broadening of the horizons, places and modalities of use of cultural products. The more overtly political dimensions of the media output of the period came into play, with particular emphasis on the modes of popularisation and commodification of the countercultural and avant-garde trends typical of the era.
We are looking for contributions that can address topics such as:
- research into the industrial relationships between the different sectors of Italian media production in those years, through the cataloguing and close examination of the technological standards, legislation and contractual conditions connecting the various industrial actors;
- different formats used and on the sales, distribution and marketing strategies;
- the intertwined contribution and the multifarious expertises of the professionals who worked in the various sectors of media productions
at the time; - the study and analysis of the audiovisual production of the period, reconstructing the intricate network of genres and authorial paths so as to reach an understanding of the configuration of styles that mark the period concerned;
- the presence of parallel circuits of production, distribution and reception in the music and audiovisual fields, connected to the process of generification of media markets.
We would like to receive 300 words proposal and a brief bio for 20-minute presentations related to one or more of the topics listed above. Please send the submission to the attention of the organizing committee of the workshop (italianway2pop@gmail.com), before the deadline of July 31, 2017.
