Singing and dating potential?

Manchester auditions will be held 13 April; please contact them directly if you're up for it...!

MMP Grad Programme: Facts, Figures and Phone Hacking (28/3)

Facts, Figures and Phone Hacking: Ethical Problems in the British Press

Dr Carole O’Reilly, Senior Lecturer in Media & Cultural Studies, School of Media, Music and Performance, University of Salford

This talk will examine the long-standing problem of ethics among British journalists. It takes as its starting point a 1938 report into the British Press, which mirrors many of the concerns of the current Leveson Inquiry.

Ethical problems relate not solely to social, cultural and political changes in the wider society but also to fundamental changes in the structure and profession of journalism itself. An emphasis on ill-defined ethical frameworks may be masking the real and more pressing dilemma for British journalists – how to ensure the future viability of their occupation in a digital era.

3.10 - 4pm. Weds 28th March. 2nd floor lecture theatre, Adelphi House.

"The Smiths Project"

Message from Salford's Professor Tony Whyton

Project Leader, Rhythm Changes: Jazz Cultures and European Identities

We had a meeting of the Rhythm Changes project team in Lancaster last week, involving a number of international partners. As part of the three day event, Salford PhD student Nick Katuszonek presented a fantastic performance of his practice-based work at The Storey, one of the main arts venues in Lancaster. ‘The Smiths Project’, forms part of a wider study that explores the boundaries of genre and national stereotyping in jazz. If you would like to see a snippet of this, click on the following link: http://www.rhythmchanges.net/?p=1842

If you want to know more about the Lancaster event and the ongoing work of Rhythm Changes, check out our newly-revamped website www.rhythmchanges.net

SMMP Creative Hive Live Event at MediaCityUK 29 May 2012

Creative Hive and The School of Media, Music and Performance, MediaCityUK play host to an exciting creative digital collaboration event using state of the art technology on 29 May 2012, 2pm - 9pm.

Creative Hive Live will form the launch event for Salford University’s School of Media, Music and Performance final year shows, but will draw on the best talent of the University, other Universities and the best creative talent of the North-West of England.

Founder of Creative Hive, Alex Fenton explains, “Creative Hive is an organization based at the University whose goal is to provide real world opportunities and connections between people in education and industry. Creative Hive allows people to showcase their work digitally at www.creativehive.org and in person at physical events.” Alex continued, “We are really happy to be able to stage our latest event at this world class facility in MediaCityUK.”

Creative Hive Live will consist of interactive displays, storytelling, performances, installations, live events and more. The event will be an opportunity to make new contacts and learn from new mixed disciplinary collaborations. There will also be creative speed networking sessions using interactive touch tables allowing creative people to display and discuss their work using the latest technology.

Event curator Angela Tait said, “After the success of our previous events, we are excited about the possibilities that MediaCity brings. One of the primary aims of Creative Hive is to promote cross disciplinary cooperation within the creative industries and so we are particularly looking forward to welcoming collaborative enterprises in this fabulous digital showcase.”

The event will also provide employment opportunities for students and graduates to experience engaging work in this innovative new space. It is a chance to meet new people and potential employers over a glass of fine wine or to sit back and enjoy the event as it unfolds. For creatives, employers and industry the event will provide access to see some of the best emerging talent in the region in this exciting new space at MediaCity located in close proximity to the BBC and ITV.

Professionals and people from industry will tell their stories, promote their work and speak directly to potential new employees or placement candidates. The event is open to anyone to attend or submit an idea for inclusion in the event. The call for submissions and event registration for Creative Hive Live is now open. The event will be free of charge if you register soon at: http://www.creativehive.org/live/. The call for submissions closes on 26 March at 10am.

Hatherley on Pulp

Our thanks to Owen Hatherley (pictured here with Salford's Dr Michael Goddard) for his talk "Britpop vs Class Consciousness - the case of Pulp": artistic apprenticeships on the dole, structuralist influences on the early videos, the murky politics of Britpop, and anticipations of the Simon Cowell-isation of pop...

Manchester exhibition on The Smiths

The Gospel According To... (part 1)

16.03.12 - 04.05.12
Open Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm
Preview: 15 March 6-8pm

The Holden Gallery are pleased to present The Gospel According To... (part 1), a new exhibition conceived in collaboration with CUBE's Creative Director Jane Anderson. Through a range of media this show will explore connections between The Smiths (one of the most critically acclaimed and influential bands in British history) and the work of major contemporary European artists. Full info here. BBC coverage here.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to officially open University of Salford's MediaCityUK facility on Friday 23 March

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh will officially open the University’s MediaCityUK facility on Friday 23 March – greeted by invited dignitaries and around one hundred specially invited University colleagues and students. Further information here.

The Distribution and Exhibition of Chinese and Asian Cinema in the UK

A Chinese Film Forum UK Symposium 28th – 29th March 2012
Cornerhouse, Manchester

Day 1: Wednesday 28th March 

12.00 Registration

12.45 – 1.00 Welcome and Opening Address 
1.00 – 2.00 Keynote Lecture
‘In absentia: marketing the Asian film author’
Dr Valentina Vitali, Reader in Film Studies, University of East London
Supported by the Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures [RICC], the University of Manchester

2.15 – 3.00 Practitioners’ Panel I

‘Asian cinema and the UK arthouse market’
Jason Wood, Director of Programming, Curzon Cinemas

3.00–3.15 Coffee

3.15–4.00 ‘Issues concerning the distribution, exhibition and reception of “Pan-Asian” Cinema both within Asia and in the UK’
Roy Stafford, independent scholar

4.15–5.15 Practitioners’ Panel II

‘The role of specialised festivals and seasons’
Dr Sonali Joshi, Artistic Director, Pan-Asian Film Festival
Sarah Perks, Programme & Engagement Director, Cornerhouse, Manchester

6.00 – 8.00 Screening in conjunction with the Pan-Asian Film Festival, London

11 Flowers / Wo 11 (Wang Xiaoshuai, 2011)

‘An absorbing coming-of-age drama set during the waning stage of China's Cultural Revolution, 11 Flowers takes its place among Wang Xiaoshuai's finest films.’ Variety

We hope to welcome actor Wang Jingchun for a Q&A following the screening

Day 2: Thursday 29th March

10.00 – 10.45 ‘Pirates and Professionals: The Attitudes of Filesharers to Film Distribution Companies’
Dr Virginia Crisp, Middlesex University

10.45 – 11.00 Coffee

11.00 – 12.00 Practitioners’ Panel III
‘Issues in Distribution and Exhibition’
Mark Cosgrove, Head of Programming, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol
Ian Wild, Chief Executive, Showroom & Workstation, Sheffield

12.00 – 1.00 Lunch

1.00 – 2.00 ‘Pink Fans and Subversive Monsters: The Cultification of Japanese Cinema in the UK’
Joe Hickinbottom, University of Exeter
‘NEO Magazine and the Foregrounding of DVD’
Jonathon Wroot, University of East Anglia
2.00 – 2.45 ‘The Uncanny Disruption of British Chinese Cinema: Why British Chinese filmmakers find it hard to get their work distributed’
Rosa Fong, director and producer; and senior lecturer, Edge Hill University
2.45 – 3.15 Closing Remarks: Chinese Film Forum UK

Registration and Fee

The symposium fee includes the cost of refreshments, a buffet lunch on Thursday, 29th March, and admission to the screening of 11 Flowers, Wednesday, 28th March, 6:00pm.
Full £15 / Concs £10
Tickets are available from 9th March via the Cornerhouse box office or website at
http://www.cornerhouse.org/booking-information-prices
*Please note that numbers are strictly limited so early booking is strongly advised.*
For further information about the Chinese Film Forum UK, visit our website at www.cffuk.org
Chinese Film Forum UK events are supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

MMP Grad Programme talks 14 March: Internet PhDs + Pulp

Two talks this Weds in the MMP Grad Programme. Everyone welcome!

Internal speaker: Dr Richard Talbot. 3.10-4.00pm

Opportunities and challenges of an Internet-based PhD submission.

Richard Talbot will discuss the process of a web-based PhD project in Performance Studies. The discussion will consider the process of designing, programming, creating and developing content, content- management systems and the user interface. This paper will touch on some challenges with performance documentation and reflection in the context of PhD viva and final submission criteria. He will draw primarily on his own PhD by practice-as-research The Clown Who Lost His Memory: Multiple Faces of the Clown in Practice & Theory (University of Roehampton, 2008). See www.ninaandfrederick.co.uk/pollard

External Speaker: Owen Hatherley 4.10 - 5pm.

Owen Hatherley’s recent publications include the widely acclaimed A Guide to the New Ruins of Britain (Verso, 2011) and Militant Modernism and, on Pulp, Uncommon (Zero Books, 2009, 2011), as well as a chapter for Mark E. Smith and The Fall: Art, Music and Politics (ed. Michael Goddard and Benjamin Halligan, Ashgate, 2010). Hatherley is a regular contributor to Building Design, New Statesman and New Humanist and has also written for The Guardian, Icon, Socialist Worker and Socialist Review. He sits on the editorial boards of Archinect and Historical Materialism, and maintains three blogs, Sit down man, you're a bloody tragedy, The Measures Taken and Kino Fist. Owen's Guardian profile

Britpop vs Class Consciousness - the case of Pulp

Though it is doubtful that actual musicians ever saw it that way, the welfare state and British pop music were mutually dependent phenomena, and both died around the same time. This talk will consider how this starts to come to consciousness in the work of Pulp, an arguable final member of the art school pop lineage, who brought to the surface the largely suppressed class politics of the poujadist 90s pop movement known as Britpop.

All sessions: second floor lecture theatre, Adelphi House

Building 3 on page 3 of this map: http://www.salford.ac.uk/travel/campus-map.pdf

(NB: Not Adelphi Building, and beware of Google Maps that confuses the two).

If you need parking, please let Ben Halligan know ahead of time: b.halligan@salford.ac.uk

New Issue of Subjectivity on Collective Becomings / Bifo

** Article by Salford's Dr Michael Goddard ("Cinematic and aesthetic cartographies of subjective mutation"), concerning the work of Bifo, who delivered a talk at Salford in 2010. Journal can be downloaded for free, but only for a month.


New issue of the journal Subjectivity on the work of autonomist media theorist Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi. The issue is freely available for the rest of March.

Subjectivity Volume 5 Issue 1 (April 2012)

Special Issue: Collective Becomings

Edited by Stevphen Shukaitis & Joanna Figiel

http://www.palgrave-journals.com/sub/journal/v5/n1/index.html

Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi is a contemporary writer, autonomist theorist and media activist. He founded the magazine A/traverso (1975-1981), and was part of the staff of Radio Alice, the first pirate radio station in Italy (1976-1978). His work analyzes the role of media and information technology in post-industrial capitalism, in particular drawing from schizoanalysis and aesthetics to investigate processes of subjectification within precarious labor.

This issue of Subjectivity, which is the first major engagement with Bifo’s work in English, focuses on the themes of collective becomings, whether manifest in the eruption of new political movements, within the workings of the economy, or in the artistic sphere. It is not just a collection of essays that take Bifo’s ideas as their starting point, but rather a collection of essays that all start from the conjuncture of Bifo’s ideas, the issues and conditions raised by them, with forms of collective becomings in the present.

The purpose then is not to consider Bifo’s work in isolation, but rather to develop it as a tool, one that is explored through continued usage and application. This conjunctive approach is the most productive and valuable feature of Bifo’s writing, and autonomist analysis more generally: its ability to act as a kind of crossroads for bringing together different forms of political analysis and social theory, to act as a bridge between them.

#digcult12: Theory, Context and the Internet

13-14 June, 2012
University of Salford, MediaCity:UK
Registration details will be provided shortly: http://www.digcult.org/

Organizers
Ben Light and Marie Griffiths, University of Salford
Siân Lincoln, Liverpool John Moores University
Steve Sawyer, Syracuse University

Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Terri Senft, New York University, USA.
Everything I Ever Wanted to Know about Micro-celebrity, I Learned from the Camgirls

Professor James Newman, Bath Spa University, UK.
Dead games: the National Videogame Archive and the preservation of play
Conference Theme

In a world of virtual communication and social media, it can be argued that we face challenges regarding the theorization and contextualisation of Internet mediated activity. The desire to generate new knowledge coupled with the hyperbole and ‘upgrade me’ mindset that so often surrounds the Internet means that often new theoretical approaches are introduced as a way to understand current uses and meanings where perhaps they are not necessary. In terms of context, contemporary experiences can sometimes be decoupled from prior experiences, resulting in rhetoric of ‘the new’. The outcome of this can be an emphasis on discontinuity for example as demonstrated in discourses regarding the pre-Web 2.0 era. Web 2.0 is conceptualised as new, contextualised in a simplistic fashion and claims are made regarding the necessity of new theory to understand such a ‘revolutionary new world’. While clearly, societal change and socio-technical change are occurring variously across the planet (although the two may not necessarily be linked) continuity is also present – empirically and theoretically. There is therefore, a need to consider the history of Internet mediated arrangements and, to continue an interrogation of the abilities of extant theory to respond to and facilitate understandings of contemporary situations.

We call for contributions that do 2 things:

• One, engage with an aspect of Internet mediated activity and historically contextualise it
• Two, engage with/generate theoretical approaches in a reflexive fashion.

Themes that papers might address include (but are not limited to:
Dating, Commerce, Gaming, Politics, Play, Social networking, Privacy management, Sex work, Home working, Entertainment, Celebrity, Music production and consumption, Pornography, the intensification of work and Work-life balance, mediated youth cultures, learn/educate, health and well-being, travel/tourism, search information and media consumption, blurring boundaries between work and non-work times and places.

Following from the previous workshops, we see this conference as an outlet for digital media, ICT and technology related research which may not readily sit within conventional disciplinary areas.

We seek extended abstracts of up to 1000 words (excluding references) that engage with theory, context and the internet. We also welcome panel proposals incorporating three presentations. These should comprise 3 x 1000 word abstracts and an outline of the purpose of the panel of no more than 750 words.

We are hoping to see fully polished papers this year and as related to the conference theme. However, we will also consider research in progress/poster sessions for work that is more generally related to digital culture or which might be in earlier stages of development. Our desire for more focussed and complete work is two-fold. First, in engaging the structure as above, we hope to generate a more intensive and reflexive discussion about the Internet than might be possible with more fragmented approaches. Second, we intend the conference to be the starting point for an edited collection of papers in the area and contributors will be invited to submit to a wider call.

This follows in the tradition of previous conferences – for example, a special issue of the journal Information Technology and People entitled ‘Digital Culture: New Forms of Living and Organising , based partly on based on the 2010 workshop published in January 2011 (please see http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0959-3845)

Abstracts should be submitted to Siân Lincoln at s.lincoln@ljmu.ac.uk by 6 April 2012. Please also email Siân if you require any further information at this stage.

4 x PhD studentships, University of Manchester

The Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester, announces 4 PhD studentships - two in peacebuilding and two in any discipline. While these are primarily orientated to the social sciences, HCRI would welcome applications from students interested in the relations between the arts and humanitarianism.

More information at:

http://www.hcri.ac.uk/study/phd/index.htm#Studentships

Our thanks to Dr Sian Barber

Our thanks to Dr Sian Barber for her fantastic talk on the BBFC during the 1970s: it's fascinating to get this dispatch from the frontlines in term of the history of the organisation, as it is now being written, and the many myths that Sian dispelled in relation to -- as her book terms it -- "the decade that taste forgot"!

MMP Grad Programme talks, Weds 29 Feb

Internal session: Professor Seamus Simpson

Public Service Journalism and Converging Media Systems
Concepts and practices of public service have been an integral part of the evolution of communication media systems for decades in Europe and beyond. However, the process of media convergence has called forth an examination of the place of public service in communications. Ideas of public service have been an important part of the development of journalism and have too come under increasing pressure in the era of media convergence. This session will commence with an exploration of some of the key ideas that have shaped articulations of public service in media systems and journalism. It will then go on to explore some of the challenges and opportunities for public service journalism which have arisen from the development convergent media platforms and services. It will conclude by exploring the extent to which public service journalism is relevant today in our diverse-yet-converging, highly commercialised, digital multi-media systems.

External Speaker: Dr Sian Barber

Sian Barber is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. She completed her PhD at the University of Portsmouth as part of the AHRC-funded 1970s project and has published on British cinema and cinema going. She has recently completed a book on the British Board of Film Censors in the 1970s which draws heavily on unused archive material. Her other research interests include cultural history in an online environment and the challenges posed by websites and the internet to methods of research. She is currently working on the EUscreen project which aims to provide online access to Europe’s television heritage.

Reading the BBFC archive: Film Censorship in the 1970s
This seminar will draw upon work recently undertaken at the British Board of Film Classification to explore film censorship in Britain in the 1970s. My examination of over 250 files offers new evidence about the operation and implementation of active film censorship in this period. Yet what can these individual files tell us about standards of permission and popular taste in a given period? And how can this material be used to further debates about film and censorship?

The BBFC files provide a wealth of unused material which reveals the operation, history and development of a crucial and often secretive part of the British film industry which deserves critical attention. Yet the BBFC itself is uncertain how best to present its material to researchers and is concerned about the way in which such material may be used and how it reflects upon them as an organisation. This talk will consider the ethical and practical issues of ‘reading’ this archive and how these challenges can be addressed to provide new insights into British film censorship, both historic and modern.

Times for All Sessions:

3.10 – 4pm:     Internal Speaker

4.15 - 5.10:      External Speaker

5.30:                King’s Arms for refreshments

All sessions: second floor lecture theatre, Adelphi House

Building 3 on page 3 of this map: http://www.salford.ac.uk/travel/campus-map.pdf

(NB: Not Adelphi Building, and beware of Google Maps that confuses the two).

University of Salford Nations & Regions Media Conference 2012

12 & 13 March 2012, Media City & The Lowry, Salford Quays

Exploring media production, policy and opportunity throughout the UK

Keynotes:

JEREMY HUNT MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media & Sport; ADAM CROZIER, Chief Executive ITV; GEORGE ENTWISTLE, Director BBC Vision.

Confirmed Speakers:

Beryl Vertue, Tony Wood, David Davies, Barbara Slater, Moz Dee, Niall Sloane, David Wheeldon, Diane Coyle, Tom Gutteridge, Alex Connock, Gillian Reynolds, Mark Chapman, Pete Wishart MP, Nigel Smith, Phill Clark, Sunandan Wallia. Conference Chair Steve Hewlett.

Sessions:

· A VERY BRITISH DRAMA: With British TV exports now a £1.4bn business, the incentive to create the next hit drama has never been greater. We explore the snakes and ladders of making great international drama.

· STRUCTURED REALITY – THE INSIDE STORY: We peer past the fake tans, six packs and vajazzles to find out exactly how structured reality is produced.

· INDEPENDENT TELEVISION?: With the question of Scottish independence soaring up the political agenda we ask the SNP’s Westminster spokesperson for Culture, Media & Sport what independence would mean for the UK’s radio and television sectors.

· A QUESTION OF SPORT: Our ‘who’s who’ of sports media panel explores how well are consumers served by the current sports media landscape.

· WATCHING THE RADIO: Is radio visualisation the key to keeping radio relevant amongst a mass of digital media? We explore the oldest of broadcast media’s newest trick.

· DIANE COYLE: The Vice Chairman of the BBC Trust in conversation with Steve Hewlett.

· IF I WERE JEREMY HUNT: What would you do if you were the person in charge of broadcasting in the UK? Three industry professionals tell us what they would do if they were the Secretary of State.

Plus BBC ACADEMY WORKSHOPS exploring 3D, HD, and pitching - FREE and EXCLUSIVE to our delegates. Places are strictly limited and are going very quickly – don’t miss out on this great chance to access an afternoon of fabulous free training from the BBC!

Register Now: www.nationsandregionsmedia.org

Twitter: @nationsregions

Salford PGRs: free to attend, but email Maxine McKeever by 6/3 to register: m.mckeever@salford.ac.uk

Radical Footage: Film and Dissent event, Nottingham

Radical Footage: Film and Dissent

FREE EVENT: Friday 9^th March 2012 – 11am – 7pm

The Space, Nottingham Contemporary

Experimental film has played a significant role in contesting the political status quo from Lenin's early C20 declaration that cinema was the most revolutionary artform to DIY footage of the Arab Spring and anti-capitalist occupations. Locally and globally, film is being used to provoke, agitate, ask questions and generate new politicized communities.

A selection of short radical films and commentaries - around the themes of anti-capitalism, protest, conflict and uprising - will explore the medium’s potential to contribute to social-political change. The day’s debate will be initiated by Oliver Ressler’s introduction to his films including What Would it Mean to Win? and What is Democracy? which you can watch here: http://www.ressler.at/what_is_democracy_film/

The programme includes shorts by Gary Anderson, Benj Gerdes, Neil Gray, Sacha Kahir, James Rowlins, Alexis Milne, Jordan McKenzie, Jessica Mautner, Fabienne Gautier, Irina Botea, Jacopo Natoli, Nisha Duggal. Discussions will be led by Esther Leslie (Birkbeck University of London), Martin O’Shaughnessy (Nottingham Trent University) and Gary Anderson (Liverpool Hope University/Free University of Liverpool).

Schedule Registration 10.30 for 11am start with Oliver Ressler followed by panel discussion. 1pm break for lunch (NC is near lots of city centre eateries) Film programme and discussion continues through to 6pm, socialising, networking and drinks at bar through to 7pm

To book a place visit the Nottingham Contemporary website: http://ncradicalaesthetics.eventbrite.com/?ebtv=C

RadicalAesthetics-RadicalArt project is based at Loughborough University School of the Arts. Visit the RaRa website at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/sota/research/groups/politicised/rara.html For further information contact RaRa organisers: Jane Tormey: J.Tormey@lboro.ac.uk Gillian Whiteley: G.Whiteley@lboro.ac.uk

"In Human Performance" event, MediaCity

Message from Mary Oliver:

As part of the "AS YET IMPOSSIBLE: in human performance" research project I am really excited to let you know that Professor Kevin Warwick of Reading University will be giving a talk on his research on 15th March 2012 at the Digital Performance Lab, Media City Campus.

Kevin is notoriously known as the scientist who used himself to test neural implants with which he was able to undertake functions such as opening doors and communicating with his wife through brain function alone. The possible application of such technology when realised is clear; its immediate impact will be to assist those who suffer from neural illnesses, but the wider implications for design, creative applications, human to technology interactivity are as yet untapped.

Kevin is an inspiring futurist and as such this will be a not to be missed opportunity to hear what the as yet impossible future holds for us. Please could you pass this information on to anyone you think may be interested.

Places are limited so please book early to ensure a seat http://kevinwarwicklecture.eventbrite.co.uk

I hope you can make it.

Mary Oliver
Reader Digital Performance

Memorial event for Dave Sanjek

Message sent on behalf of Prof Erik Knudsen:

In order to formally mark the sad passing of our distinguished colleague Professor David Sanjek, we will be holding a memorial event on Thursday 23^rd February 2012 from 11:00 until 2:00pm at the Innovation Forum 


Car Parking : Car Parking is free at the Innovation Forum and operated via an intercom and barrier system.


We are very pleased that David's two brothers, Rick and Roger, will be in attendance, as well as the Vice Chancellor. I'm keen that we show our full appreciation of David's time with us and hope that you may find time to attend.

Could you notify Marrianne Garbutt of your intention to attend as soon as possible: m.garbutt@salford.ac.uk

The shape of the proceedings will be forthcoming in due course.

Our thanks to Prof Mark Wheeler...

... for his fantastic talk ----- the politics of celebrities, and the celebritisation of politics, the waning Obama effect, Hugh Grant as the exception to Lenin's notion of the "useful idiot", Angelina Jolie's community service with the UN, and the political stratagems of Geri Halliwell....

link here to Mark's "Hollywood: Politics and Society"

Grad Prog talk: 15/2: The Democratic worth of Celebrity Politics in an era of Late Modernity

External Speaker: Professor Mark Wheeler

Mark Wheeler is Professor of Political Communications at London Metropolitan University. Publications include Politics and the Mass Media (Oxford: Blackwells, 1997), European Television Industries (with Petros Iosifidis and Jeanette Steemers) (London, British Film Institute, 2005) and Hollywood: Politics and Society (London: British Film Institute, 2006).

The Democratic worth of Celebrity Politics in an era of Late Modernity

As there has been an exponential increase in celebrity political interventions a debate has emerged about the worth of celebrity and democracy. In post-democratic societies, Henrik Bang and John Keanes’ respective constructs of Everyday Makers and Monitory Democracy have placed an emphasis on the importance of ‘involvement’, ‘voice’ and ‘output’ in terms of political representation, and provide an ideological framework through which to capture the value of celebrity politicians. Subsequently, it may be argued that Barack Obama utilised a form of ‘liquid’ celebrity in his 2008 United States (US) Presidential campaign to reconnect with a disenfranchised American electorate. However, this article contends that it remains necessary to consider how far celebrity politicians have ‘inputed’ aggregated forms of ‘agency’ to affect political outcomes. From these differing perspectives, it seeks to define a normative position concerning the worth of celebrity politics in an era of late modernity.

Adelphi House, second floor lecture theatre, Weds 15/2, 4.15-5pm. All welcome!

D&G event

Manchester Metropolitan University
Department of English
And
Department of History, Politics and Philosophy
In association with The Institute of Humanities and Social Science Research (IHSSR)
present a two-day workshop on the philosophy and aesthetics of
Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari
The Engine House (International Anthony Burgess Foundation)

Saturday 23rd March – Sunday 24th March 2012

Day One: (Saturday 23rd March) – Aesthetics, Politics, Ethics.
09.30am – registration and complimentary refreshments
10.00am – Dr Felicity Colman (Manchester Metropolitan University): The Image of Thought: Affective Politics.
11.30am – break
11.45am – Dr David Martin-Jones (St. Andrews): Five hundred years of cine-history: Deleuze and Quijano.
1.15pm – Lunch break
2.15pm – Dr Patricia MaCormack (Anglia Ruskin): The Ethics of Inhuman Art.
3.45pm – 4.00pm – break
4.00pm – Dr Jac Saorsa (Cardiff) : Beyond Logic: Deleuze, the Artist and Creative Practice.
5.30 – Finish
6.00pm – Conference dinner – Zouk Bar and Grill (a wonderful curry and wine or beer will cost about £20 on the night)
Day Two (Sunday 24th March) – Deleuze and Time
09.30am – Registration and complimentary refreshments
10.00am – Pete Wolfendale (Warwick): Ariadne’s Thread: Temporality and Modality in Deleuze’s Metaphysics
11.30am – break
11.45am – Kelvin Clayton (Staffordshire): Deleuze, time & the emergence of the self’ *provisional title
1.15pm – Lunch break
2.15pm – James Williams (Dundee): Deleuze’s answer to McTaggart: series and disjunctive syntheses
3.45pm – 4.00pm- break
4.00pm – Nathan Widder (Royal Holloway): Deleuze on Bergsonian Duration and Nietzsche’s Eternal Return
5.30 – Finish
To register attenndance or ask any questions please email Helen Darby – h.da...@mmu.ac.uk

BBC Radio 5 Live: Victoria Derbyshire Show – Unemployment Debate

On Wednesday 15th February Victoria will be holding an audience debate in Salford looking at unemployment and asking where jobs of the future are being created. The programme will also be shown on the BBC News Channel.

If you would like the opportunity to come and put your views forward or simply listen to the live debate please call 01299 829299 as soon as possible or email alisonfuller21@btinternet.com giving your name and telephone number and we will contact you.

The debate takes place at 5 live's home at The Studios, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays, Salford, N50 2EQ with employers that are recruiting at the moment, a Government Minister and a Labour spokesperson, it will be unique opportunity for people to raise your concerns with the people who are trying to do something about it.

Admission is limited so apply for your place as soon as possible. Full directions and a map will be supplied when the email ticket is issued.

Audience members should arrive at 8am the programme starts at 10.00 a.m. finishing at 12 noon.

Our thanks to Prof Stacey

Our thanks to Jackie Stacey for her fascinating deconstruction of Haneke --- where film form engenders ethical framings of the everyday, and art articulates the inarticulate of political discourse....

Next time:
"Accordian Resonance", and
"The Democratic worth of Celebrity Politics in an era of Late Modernity"

Interfaith Dialogue Group, 13/2 7.30pm - 9.00pm

The Right Reverend Nick Baines, Bishop of Bradford, know as the 'blogging bishop', and Judith Hayman, journalist with the Jewish Chronicle, will be making their way to MediaCityUk for The Anchor's quarterly Interfaith Dialogue Group to join Bishop Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton.

 

Salford Interfaith Network successful launch in Spetember 2011 at Salford University's new building on MediaCityUK brough a whole new wave of life to interfaith work in Salford, and the Dialogue group is just one of the events supported by it.

Every quarter, two leading faith community representatives are interviewed by a local faith leader, followed by an open floor for questions as well as time to meet the speakers over refreshments.

In September we were lucky enough to have Aziz Rashid, Head of News for BBC North, and Tommy Nagra, Head of Television for BBC Religion and Ethics who gave a wonderful account of how they see faith and the media interacting from a 'secular' news perspective in contrast from within a specialised faith department.

This month we hope to hear how two people of faith interact with the wider media as well as a specialised faith-based newspaper.

Venue

MediaCityUK
Broadway
Salford
M50 2EQ

Lancaster University, Department of Sociology Intellectual Party 2012

Lancaster Sociology research students would like to invite other PhD students to our annual Intellectual Party in the summer of 2012.

The event will be held on 2-3 July and is a great opportunity to present your work at Lancaster in a friendly and supportive environment. The Intellectual Party offers you the chance to collaborate with other research students, to participate in practical workshops, and to have a lot of fun in the process! There will also be plenty of opportunity to meet and engage with some of the University’s well-known researchers.

This year we are inviting people to submit abstracts in relation to a series of themed Salons and more mysterious Secret Gardens. We are also planning a special gallery of ideas about crises. The Party will culminate in a spectacular finale but the action need not end there. If you wish to stay an extra day, you are welcome to join us on a sociological expedition to the world-famous Lake District.  

Our Intellectual Party is more than just another conference - it combines academic challenge with plenty of fun!

If you are interested in joining us, and presenting a paper on your research, please visit

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/sociology/summerconference/index.php

All subjects are welcome, so long as they can be linked to sociology. The deadline for submissions in 14th March. The registration fee for non-Lancaster students is £65. This includes refreshments, dinner and lunches during the two day conference. If you wish to attend the trip to the Lake District, a further cost will be incurred.

If you have any queries please contact Angela Loxham (loxham@exchange.lancs.ac.uk).

Looking forward to hearing from you,

The Summer Conference Committee

Sexuality in sport debate kicks off LGBT History Month at MediaCityUK

Leading figures from the worlds of sport and media will debate the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues in sports journalism when the University of Salford launches its annual celebration of LGBT History Month on Thursday 2 February at its MediaCityUK building.

Guests taking part in Sports Media and Sexuality: A Panel Discussion will include basketball star Jon Amaechi, who grew up in Stockport and was the first NBA player to come out; former BBC commentator and sports reporter Bob Ballard; Sarah Williams, Equality & Diversity Manager for the Rugby Football League; Claire Harvey, Paralympian sitting volleyball player; Chris Noble MBE, Director at Sheffield Eagles RLFC; and Dave Randles, sports journalist and University of Salford lecturer.

They will tackle subjects such as the portrayal of LGBT sportspeople in the media, whether sporting organisations are taking the issue of homophobia seriously enough, and the effect of professional athletes coming out on participation in grassroots sport.

The event will mark the start of a programme of LGBT History Month events being hosted by the University throughout February.

On The Fringes, a storytelling workshop led by writer Michelle Green, will take place on Tuesday 7 February, giving attendees the opportunity to explore untold stories with a focus on the experience of being on the fringe of mainstream LGBT discourse.

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation will host a pub quiz at Bar Yours in the University Students’ Union building on Friday 17 February and celebrations will come to a close on Wednesday 29 February with a unique performance by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus, which has toured internationally and won the Silver Medal in the 2009 World OutGames in Copenhagen.

Professor Martin Hall, University of Salford Vice-Chancellor, said: “This is a great celebration of talent, and we’re proud to be associated with LGBT History Month for the third consecutive year.”

The events are open to the public and for more information, including details on times and venues and how to register, visit

http://www.equality.salford.ac.uk/page/lgbt_2012

Salford Postgrad Conference 2012: Call for Papers!

All postgraduate researchers are invited to take part in the University of Salford’s Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC).

This year’s conference is taking place on Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31st May 2012. It’s free to attend and a great way of developing presentation skills, sharing ideas, publicising your research to new audiences, getting feedback, and meeting researchers from other disciplines and universities.

We are inviting 250-word abstracts for a range of presentation formats. Please see the website for more details about SPARC and how to apply www.salford.ac.uk/research/sparc

The closing date for abstracts is Friday 16 March 2012

Any queries, please contact us on sparc@salford.ac.uk

We look forward to hearing from you!

Victoria (on behalf of the SPARC team)

(Dr Victoria Sheppard)

Grad Prog talk, 1/Feb

External speaker:

Prof Jackie Stacey

Professor Stacey’s academic background is an interdisciplinary one, combining European Studies (Sussex), Women’s Studies (Kent) and Cultural Studies (Birmingham). She currently works at the University of Manchester, specializing in feminist cultural theory and its bearing upon questions of political transformation. As well as being a co-editor of two journals, Screen and Feminist Theory, her publications include Star Gazing: Female Spectators and Hollywood Cinema (1994) and Teratologies: A Cultural Study of Cancer (1997) and (as co-author with Sarah Franklin and Celia Lury) Global Nature, Global Culture (2000). She has also co-edited a number of books, including Romance Revisited with Lynne Pearce (1995), Screen Histories: A Screen Reader with Annette Kuhn (1998), Thinking Through the Skin with Sara Ahmed (2001) and Queer Screens with Sarah Street (2007).

The Uneasy Cosmopolitans of Code Unknown
Across the humanities and social sciences we are currently witnessing a move towards a renewed cosmopolitanism. In these debates, cosmopolitan ideals blend a liberal notion of ‘openness to others’ with a sense of 'worldliness' that might welcome the flow of diversity and proximity to the unfamiliar. This talk questions the celebratory tone of this renewed cosmopolitanism through a reading of Code Unknown (Michael Haneke, 2000). If the promise of the cosmopolitan project is to be found in the notion of what we might call a more ‘open sociality’, then this talk explores how Code Unknown turns the processes of spectatorship into the ethical testing ground for such a vision.

Second floor lecture theatre, Adelphi House, 4.15-5.15pm.

Building 3 on page 3 of this map: http://www.salford.ac.uk/travel/campus-map.pdf

(NB: Not Adelphi Building, and beware of Google Maps that confuses the two).

Salford studentships in the humanities, MA/PhD, for Sept 2012

Info here - spread the word!

Salford celebrates LGBT History Month 2012

The University’s annual celebration of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) History Month begins on Thursday, 2 February, with a special launch event.

Staff are invited to join leading figures from the world of sport and media for a discussion on the representation of LGBT issues in contemporary sports journalism.

The guests taking part in Sports Media and Sexuality: A Panel Discussion will include basketball star Jon Amaechi, who was the first NBA player to come out; former BBC commentator and sports reporter Bob Ballard; Sarah Williams, Equality & Diversity Manager for Rugby Football League; Claire Harvey, Paralympian sitting volleyball player; Chris Noble MBE, Director Sheffield Eagles, and Dave Randles, sports journalist and Salford lecturer.

The event, which heralds the start of a programme of LGBT History Month activities at the University, takes place at the MediaCityUK campus, from 6.15pm until 8.30pm.

It will be preceded by Take Action: Make Schools Safer – a workshop for teachers, aimed at helping schools to challenge homophobic bullying, support all their young people and promote understanding across communities.

A diverse range of other activities will be happening throughout the month, including music, training sessions, a pub quiz and writing workshops.

On The Fringes, a storytelling workshop led by writer Michelle Green, will take place on Tuesday, 7 February, 12pm-2pm. It will be a unique opportunity to explore untold stories with a focus on the experience of being on the fringe of mainstream LGBT discourse.

The Lesbian and Gay Foundation will host a pub quiz at Bar Yours on Friday, 17 February, 5.30pm-7pm. From sport and entertainment to politics and history, see how much you know about the achievements and contributions made by leading LGBT figures.

On Thursday, 21 February, TREC will deliver a Transgender Equality Training session, in University House, between 2pm and 4pm.

The sessions have been developed to increase awareness and understanding of the trans-diversity strand. They provide best practice guidance and legal information through presentations, group exercised and real-life scenarios.

The LGBT History Month celebrations will come to a close on Wednesday, 29 February, with a unique performance by the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Chorus. The choir has toured internationally and won the Silver Medal in the 2009 World OutGames, in Copenhagen.

LGBT Staff Network Co-chair Holly Cruise said: “The University’s LGBT Staff Network welcomes colleagues, students and the public to help celebrate the achievements of our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, and to explore what more we can do for members of the LGBT community, and their families, friends and colleagues.

“LGBT History Month is an inclusive event and we look forward to seeing a wide range of people at the various events.”

For more information on the events, including details on times and venues, please visit http://www.equality.salford.ac.uk/page/lgbt_2012.

De-Nastification

Our thanks to Dr Xavier Mendik (seen here with Greg Bevan) for his fantastic talk on "Cannibal Holocaust", and for screening his new documentary on the making and reclaiming of the film.







Xavier's definitive Cult Film Reader (which includes an essay by our own Prof David Sanjek) is available here.

Join Professor Ben Light for his Professorial Inaugural Lecture

Professor Ben Light, Associate Dean of Research and Innovation in the College of Arts and Social Sciences, invites you to attend his Professorial Inaugural Lecture, Contemporary Digital Media, Gender and Sexuality, on Tuesday, 7 February, in room 2.36 from 6.30pm at MediaCityUK.

 

The lecture will draw upon his studies of Internet dating, digital gaming, social networking sites and ‘social media’ to consider the continuing importance of ‘the digital’ with respect to gender and sexuality in everyday life.

His research over the past five years has mainly focused on people’s experiences of living with a variety of digital media – particularly that which is associated with the Internet.

As well as his academic roles, Professor Light is a member of the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies Research Centre and sits on the University’s Digital Cluster Executive.

Professor light is currently working on a book entitled ‘Social Networking Practices and Everyday Lives’ which is due to be published next year by Palgrave.

If you would like to register to attend this event, please click here http://supporters.salford.ac.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=775&srctid=1&erid=447126 or call Paul Butlin on x55114

Digital Curation Centre Roadshow, Salford, 20-21 March

I am very pleased to tell you that Salford has been selected to host the 9th Digital Curation Centre regional roadshow on research data management, which will take place on 20^th and 21^st March. Professor Martin Hall has kindly agreed to give the opening address.

The programme and venue is currently being finalised, with opportunities on Day 1 to showcase related Salford initiatives. If you or your colleagues have a project that you would like to present as a case study, please let me know.

The roadshow is being organised by The Library in conjunction with the DCC, and you can now register to attend the roadshow here:

http://www.dcc.ac.uk/events/data-management-roadshows/dcc-roadshow-salford

MMP Grad Programme talks: Weds 18 Jan

All sessions: second floor lecture theatre, Adelphi House

Building 3 on page 3 of this map: http://www.salford.ac.uk/travel/campus-map.pdf

(NB: Not Adelphi Building, and beware of Google Maps that confuses the two).

Internal Speaker: Mary Oliver (3.10 - 4pm)

Mary Oliver has been a performance artist for almost 30 years working across the fields of theatre, music, fine art and creative technology. For over a decade she has focussed on the creation of digital performance works and has collaborated with animators, film-makers, composers, computer programmers and most recently with a cognitive psychologist on the creation of interactive performance works that often play with the humour of the human-technological interface. Mary is Reader in Performance, Head of the Performance Research Centre and is leading the development of Digital Performance Research at the new Digital Media Performance Lab at MCUK.

“Practice as Research” Seminar
This session will be useful for anyone interested in research methods for creative practitioners. Mary's will use a number of her recent interdisciplinary performance and technology projects as case studies with which to distinguish the differences between practice and practice-as-research. She will focus on planning, writing proposals, execution (specifically working in interdisciplinary teams) documentation and dissemination of PAR

External Speaker: Dr Xavier Mendik (4.15 - 5.10)

Xavier Mendik is Director of the Cine-Excess International Film Festival and DVD label at Brunel University, from where he also runs the Cult Film Archive and research centre. He has written extensively on cult and horror traditions, and some of his publications in this area include The Cult Film Reader (2008), Alternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945 (2004), Shocking Cinema of the Seventies (2002), Underground USA: Filmmaking Beyond the Hollywood Canon (2002) and Dario Argento’s Tenebrae (2000). Xavier has recently completed 100 Cult Films (with Ernest Mathis), to be released in October 2011 as part of the BFI/Palgrave film guide series, and is currently completing a monograph on 1970s Italian cult film. Beyond his academic writing, Xavier has an established profile as a documentary filmmaker and distributor. He was responsible for the 2011 high-definition UK restoration of Dario Argento’s Suspiria for the Nouveaux Pictures / Cine-Excess. Further details of these activities can be found on www.cine-excess.co.uk

The Long Road Back From Hell:

Reclaiming Cannibal Holocaust

A Documentary Screening and Discussion

In 1979, Italian director Ruggero Deodato created Cannibal Holocaust, a film that was to revolutionise and scandalise the nature of realist horror cinema. Deodato’s influential and infamous tale centres on four intrepid documentary filmmakers who go missing in the Amazonian wilderness, leading to fears that they have been butchered by local ‘savages.’  However, when the famous NYU anthropologist Harold Monroe discovers the group’s final filmed diary, a far more shocking tale emerges…

With its complex narrative and innovative use of documentary style techniques, Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust initiated a trailblazing trend of ‘found footage horror’ that continued through to The Blair Witch Project (1999) and beyond. However, the film’s stylishness was overshadowed by it savage imagery, which lead to the movie being banned and heavily censored in many European countries.

In Britain, the film became the most notorious ‘video nasty’ of the early 1980s, and was only subsequently released in the UK in a heavily censored version. However, in 2011, Cine-Excess and Brunel University academics including Xavier Mendik and Professor Julian Petley framed the official BBFC submission of the new HD master of Cannibal Holocaust on behalf of the distributor Shameless Films. This application resulted in a landmark BBFC ruling, which now allows the most complete cut of Cannibal Holocaust to be released across the UK in September 2011.

To tie in with this newly restored, high definition release of the film, Xavier Mendik will be discussing the long road back from hell for one of cinema’s most contentious titles. The seminar includes a screening of his new documentary The Long Road Back From Hell: Reclaiming Cannibal Holocaust, which is included on the new Shameless Films Blu-ray and DVD release of the film. The documentary charts the film’s controversial history, as well as its even more confrontational use of realist techniques, whilst also assessing its socio-cultural context in relation to Italy’s turbulent ‘Years of Lead’.