Monthly Archives: October 2015

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Birkbeck Peltz Gallery Internship: Closing Date 19 October 2015

Birkbeck’s Peltz Gallery, hosted at the School of Arts, is a flexible exhibition space for digital and material displays, small-scale performances, lectures and meetings. The space allows a constellation of research and creative activities to happen at the heart of the building.  Over the two years since it was opened, the Peltz has hosted a wide range of exhibitions based on the research interests and public engagement activities of academics and other staff at Birkbeck. Over the coming year, the range of exhibitions, and associated public events, is due to expand with plans for an artist-in-residence scheme. This provides a valuable opportunity for Birkbeck PhD students to gain valuable experience in curating and event management processes.

We are delighted to offer PhD students at Birkbeck the opportunity to develop their experience of working in a gallery.  We wish to appoint one intern per academic term during this academic year to work closely with the Peltz Director Annie Coombes, Dr Wendy Earle (Impact development officer), Peltz committee members as appropriate, and the Gallery Administrator and Media Technician. In particular, the interns would be involved in:

  • Supporting the curation and organisation of exhibitions at the Peltz
  • The organisation, promotion and hosting of academic and cultural events, symposia, workshops, screenings and master classes, including the artist-in-residence scheme.
  • To coordinate documentation and recording of events, audience surveys and follow up, social media practices and development, to participate in and contribute to Peltz Committee meetings and liaise across the Schools and College on behalf of the Gallery.

We urgently need to recruit an intern for the current term to start as soon as possible. The position involves a total 40 hours work paid at £15.55/hr.

The essential components of this role are:

  • Event co-ordination and promotion to target audiences (using online resources and social media)
  • Help with promotion, installation and deinstalling exhibitions in the Peltz
  • Manage design and print of event publications
  • Promotion of exhibition through social and other media
  • Monitor numbers and feedback
  • Draft evaluation report

Please note that the job requires hands on assistance and willingness to troubleshoot

Knowledge and experience required:

We are looking for a Birkbeck PhD student with some experience of

  • working in a gallery and curating exhibitions – including installation and de-installation
  • liaising between individuals in different organisations and within different departments
  • scheduling and managing schedules

Interested individuals should send an expression of interest (for this term only) together with CV to w.earle@bbk.ac.uk by 6pm, Monday October 19.

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CFP: Crossing borders: The Spanish Civil War and transnational mobilisation- Deadline 30 November 2015

CALL FOR PAPERS

Crossing borders: The Spanish Civil War and transnational mobilisation

Thursday, 30 June – Friday, 1 July 2016

Venue: Birkbeck College, University of London, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX

Marking 80 years since the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, this two-day international conference will explore the origins and experiences of transnational mobilisation during the conflict and the immediate post-war period. It will bring together researchers working on military, medical, humanitarian and cultural aspects of mobilisation both inside and outside Spain.

The Spanish Civil War mobilised large sections of civilian populations, including political and humanitarian organisations. The war gave rise to a wide range of transnational collaborations, in some cases building on existing networks but in others serving as a springboard for new initiatives. Much of the existing historiography has explored the diplomatic dimension of the conflict and international military intervention on both sides. This conference aims to offer new perspectives by focusing on informal networks, border crossings, transmissions of ideas and cultural responses to these forms of mobilisation within Spain.

We invite proposals for papers on any topic relating to military, political, medical, humanitarian or cultural mobilisation during the conflict and the immediate post-war years. Potential themes include, but are not limited to:

  • Different forms and experiences of transnational mobilisation in all areas of Spain.
  • Geographical, ideological and cultural borders and border-crossing, between Spain and its neighbours, across the Spanish peninsular divided by war, and between Spanish regions.
  • Networks, organisations and relationships that facilitated transnational mobilisation, and how they adapted to, or were affected by, the conflict and the consolidation of the Franco regime.
  • Transnational life trajectories affected by the civil war.
  • Spanish responses to transnational mobilisation and encounters with foreign participants.
  • Communication and (mis)understanding in transnational encounters.
  • Transnational mobilisation as a subject in culture and propaganda in Spain during the civil war and the post-war period.
  • Power and unequal power relations in transnational mobilisation.
  • The legacy of transnational mobilisation after the end of the war, including the post-war trajectories of individuals involved, the impact on future conflicts, and its effect on future patterns of migration and exchange.
  • The memory of transnational mobilisation in the post-war era, both inside and outside Spain.

The conference will take place on 30 June and 1 July 2016 at Birkbeck College in London. The deadline for proposals is 30 November 2015. Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be sent to crossingbordersconference2016@gmail.com, together with a brief biography (50 words). Decisions will be made by 31 December 2015. For more information, see crossingbordersconference2016.wordpress.com.

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Man Booker Talk: Ali Smith 16 November 2015

Man Booker Talk:

‘How to be both’ with Ali Smith – 16 November 2015, 18.00 – 19.00, Friends House
All Birkbeck students are invited to book now to attend the 2015 Man Booker talk with author Ali Smith,  led by Birkbeck’s Professor Russell Cellyn Jones.

Each year, a Man Booker prize nominee comes to Birkbeck to deliver a talk and take part in a question and answer session. All students are invited to collect a free copy of the book (from the Birkbeck library from Wednesday 7th October) to read in advance of the event. This year, author Ali Smith will join us to discuss ‘How to be both’ (Shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker prize).

Whilst this is a free event, booking is still essential.

https://mbbbk15.eventbrite.co.uk

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Artist and Empire: New Dynamics 1790 to the present day – 24-26 November

Artist and Empire: New Dynamics International conference

Artist and Empire: New Dynamics 1790 to the present day

Tate Britain, Clore Auditorium

24 – 26 November 2015

We are pleased to announce that Tate is holding a major conference in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London and Culture at King’s College London, to mark the opening of the exhibition Artist and Empire. Scholars, curators and artists from around Britain and the world will consider art created under the conditions of the British Empire, its aftermath, and its future in museum and gallery displays. Scholarship has expanded over the last two decades across a span of disciplines and locations. This conference takes the historic opportunity of the exhibition, featuring diverse artists from the sixteenth century to the present day, to bring together people to meet and share the latest research being developed around this subject. The papers, roundtables and audience discussions will consider the cosmopolitan character of objects and images, and the way geographical, cultural and chronological dislocations have in many instances obscured, changed or suppressed their history, significance and aesthetics. We will also explore how approaches to contemporary art, archives, curation and collecting can help develop new ways to look at them now.

  • 24 November – Exhibition preview and Keynote Lecture
  • 25 November, Day One – Artist & Empire: The Long Nineteenth Century
  • 26 November, Day Two – Artist & Empire: Curating in a Transnational Context

For further information please contact the conference administrator, Jessica Knights, at jessica.knights@tate.org.uk

Artist and Empire: New Dynamics is convened by Tate, Birkbeck and Culture at King’s College London. The conference has been generously supported by Culture at King’s College London, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Birkbeck School of Arts, The British Association of Victorian Studies, The Association of Art Historians, Creative Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts. ’Parallel Perspectives: Curating in London’s transnational contexts’ is a Culture at King’s College London project in collaboration with the British Library, Tate and V&A Museum.

Full program details will be announced shortly. Book now to secure your place: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/conference/artist-and-empire-new-dynamics

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David Vilaseca Memorial Lecture: 10 November 2015

Tuesday 10 November 2015

David Vilaseca Memorial Lecture

From ‘Lives at the Limit’: histories against the grain – an unfinished dialogue with David

Speaker: Prof. Helen Graham (Royal Holloway)

Time: 6pm.

Place: Royal Holloway University of London, Picture Gallery

Professor Helen Graham discusses her forthcoming book Lives at the Limit. Its subject is Europe’s dark 20th century, explored through a set of signal lives which pass through the war in Spain (1936-39) and are transformed by it. The book’s themes of displacement and difference allow a reflection on how history can be other than a homogenising discourse or instrument of state or nation. By excavating real lives to reveal their own – and the century’s – complexity and multiplicity, history counters retrospective ideological tellings which shut down the past.

The lecture will be followed by a reception. Please see attached poster for details.

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Brecht in Translation Workshop: 17 October and 14 November

Brecht in Translation Workshop

This autumn, Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre Fellow, Phoebe von Held, will run a double-session workshop on her new translation project, Jae Fleischhacker, a dramatic fragment by Bertolt Brecht, dealing with Chicago’s wheat exchange market at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is the first translation of this fragment into English.

  • Saturday 17 October, 10am – 1pm, Birkbeck University of London, Keynes Library
  • Saturday 14 November, 10am – 1pm, Birkbeck University of London, Keynes Library

The purpose of the workshops is to invite feedback and exchange on the translation. We will read newly translated scenes, focussing on particular passages where the linguistic style of Brecht presents particular challenges to the translator. The workshop is primarily addressed to English native speakers (German is an added benefit) and anybody who is interested in theatre, writing, literature and translation. The maximum number of participants in each session is 10. Participants can sign up for one of the dates, or for both.

To enrol, please send a brief letter of interest and description of your background to:phoebevonheld@googlemail.com

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Migrating Texts: Friday 13 November 2015

Migrating Texts: Subtitling | Translation | Adaptation

Friday 13 November 2015: Room 243, Senate House

Kindly supported by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership

We are very pleased to announce that registration for Migrating Texts is now open via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/migrating-texts-subtitling-translation-adaptation-tickets-18903424652

By bringing together leading academics with representatives of the creative and cultural industries, Migrating Texts provides participants with a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and explore possibilities for collaboration between these two, often falsely separated, worlds. The event will showcase the possibilities open to researchers with both language skills and knowledge of texts, whether you want to increase your impact and public engagement, or are looking for alternatives to an academic career.

For full details of the programme and the speakers, please visit migratingtexts.wordpress.com

We look forward to seeing you at Senate House!

The Migrating Texts Team (Carla, Katie and Kit)

Email: migratingtexts@gmail.com
Twitter: @migratingtexts
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/migratingtexts

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Birkbeck Contemporary Poetics Research Centre – Welcome

The Birkbeck Contemporary Poetics Research Centre is a forum for student writers and poets interested in innovative kinds of poetry and poetics across all periods – as well as those interested in the field wanting to discuss and hear more – we run seminars and host readings by internationally known poets throughout the year, sponsor Veer Books, and have a long history of experiment in the form of online journals, festivals and other ventures. We’d like to encourage you to come along to events, and would be happy to put you on our email circulation if you’d like to be notified too. Have a look at our website on http://www.bbk.ac.uk/cprc/ for a sense of what we do – we are currently migrating and refreshing the site. In the meantime we have a public page here on facebook which will carry all news including a reading by renowned US poet Robert Grenier on the 20 October: just search for CPRC and join.

More specifically – and imminently – we are also involved in an outstanding annual collaboration with the Guildhall School of Music: VOICEWORKS. A small group of selected Birkbeck poets work closely with composing students and classically trained singers to write songs, which will be performed at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in May. This collaboration has been the beginning of ongoing projects, publications and commissions for many of those involved, and you can see how it works on our website: http://www.voiceworks.org.uk/ Voiceworks is now entering its tenth anniversary year.

To take part you will need to have Tuesday evenings 6-8 available for a number of weeks in the autumn term from  3 November when the early input is most structured (including workshops and seminars with staff), plus some timetabled meetings to share work in the Spring, but can increasingly pace your work to suit the needs of your project and your time  – the final song is performed in May. You need to be committed to exploring what collaborative work might bring.

If you’d like to be considered for this, we would need a portfolio of poems or prose poems/writings with a brief note about your interest – up to ten poems, no fewer than four – to be emailed to me on c.watts@bbk.ac.uk.

The final deadline for submissions is 22 October – but we’d like them as soon as possible… we’ll let you know quickly if you have a place for this year. The first meeting takes place at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Silk St, near the Barbican, on Tuesday 3 November.

Voiceworks is an exceptional programme, and the opportunities leading from it have proved exciting for those collaborating. It is selective, so the number following the programme will be small, and comprised of doctoral students and a small group of MAs, no more than 8 poets in total. MAs can take the programme for credit as an option, or for pleasure.

Hope to see you at Poetics Centre events over the year – we will keep you posted.

 

Carol Watts

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Robert Grenier: Tuesday 20 October 2015

Robert Grenier @ BBK (Tuesday, 20 October 2015)

Reading and display of visual work

The CPRC Birkbeck welcomes Robert Grenier

‘One of the most influential poets of his generation, Grenier has, over the past forty years, pushed poetry into constantly new frontiers of practice and utterance. Over the past decade, Grenier has created handwritten poems that cross the upper limit of inscription to be both writing and drawing.’ from Grenier’s PennSound author page 

Tuesday 20 October 2015

7-9 pm, Room B29, Birkbeck University of London, Malet Street

Click here for a map link for Birkbeck

All welcome – free entry

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Globe Education Research Internships: Deadline 14/19 October 2015

Globe Education Research Internships

Birkbeck University of London and Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe are happy to invite postgraduate students working in a historical or literary field in the early modern period at Birkbeck to apply for a research internship at Globe Education in autumn/winter 2015-16 (probably running November-January inclusive).

Students taking early MAs (MA Medieval, MA Renaissance) and MPhil and Phd students working in the early periods are invited to apply for two research internship placements to participate in dramaturgical research for the upcoming Sam Wanamaker Playhouse seasons. The placements commence Monday 2 November 2015 and end Friday 29 January 2016. The successful candidates will be working on a postgraduate degree and have some prior research experience and be familiar with early modern texts.

Research interns aid all departments at Shakespeare’s Globe by providing research document and short answers to any queries that arise. The research intern’s responsibilities include:

  • Attending the company lecture for each production
  • Dramaturgy and background research on aspects of early modern culture
  • Conducting and transcribing the end of season interviews
  • Answering general queries, Facebook and Twitter discussion questions
  • Supporting the librarian and archivist
  • Assisting at Globe Education events

The placements are of a period of up to THREE months and not less than TWO months. You will need to commit to 8 hours a week to be spent on site at the Globe, during the day Monday to Friday.

As indicated, students at MA, MPhil and PhD level may apply. In applying, please supply:

  1. 250 words outlining (a) your special area of research and how it relates to early modern theatre culture; (b) how the placement will benefit your academic study; (c) how it will develop your career skills.
  2. Full CV
  3. Name of 1 academic referee

Candidates will be interviewed and if suitable candidates are found the placement(s) will begin on 2 November.

The placements are unpaid and we cannot pay travel expenses. Successful applicants will receive a Globe staff pass that entitles them to free access to Globe Education events. Holders of Globe staff passes also receive discounts in all Swan catering outlets and the Globe gift-shop.

Submit your application with the information and documents requested above to s.wiseman@bbk.ac.uk marked GLOBE PLACEMENTS in the strapline. Please submit by 12.00pm Wednesday 14 October. Please not that you might be asked to work on these further. Final applications should be sent to Dr Will Tosh at Shakespeare’s Globe (will.t@shakespearesglobe.com) by Monday 19 October

Interviews will take place at the Globe in the w/c Monday 26 October

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