[Leonardo/ISAST Network] Final call for submissions: LESS REMOTE: The Futures of Space Exploration

[Leonardo/ISAST]

Final Call for Submissions

LESS REMOTE: The Futures of Space Exploration
An Arts & Humanities Symposium at the International
Astronautical Congress, Glasgow 2008

30 September - 1 October 2008
2008 International Astronautical Congress, SEC, Glasgow, Scotland

Abstract Submission Deadline: 11 March 2008
(approx. 300 words and short bio)

http://www.lessremote.org

This symposium will offer a forum in which specialists from many 
disciplines are invited to consider the future of space exploration in 
the context of our current understanding of social, economic and 
technological imperatives. The symposium runs in parallel with the 
International Astronautical Congress 2008, one of the largest space 
exploration meetings in the world, taking place this year in Glasgow. 
Entrance to the symposium (free to presenters of selected papers) also 
includes entrance to keynote lectures of the IAC and to its exhibition 
(for more information on the 2008 IAC, please visit 
http://www.iac2008.ac.uk).

One of the aims of this symposium is to foster a dialogue and exchange 
between the cultural and space communities. Practitioners, scholars and 
postgraduates in any relevant discipline -- including the arts, cultural 
studies, history, philosophy, anthropology, religion, law, sociology, 
communications as well as science and engineering -- are invited to 
submit abstracts that explore the following strands:

Cultures and Space

This strand will address the interrelationship between intercultural, as 
well as interdisciplinary, ideas of the cosmos and the nature of space 
exploration. It invites contributions that highlight the multiplicity of 
cosmologies, worldviews and utopias surrounding the idea and practice of 
(human) space travel today and in history. Speakers in this strand are 
invited to present their visions for a culturally distributed discussion 
of the diversity and range of opportunities for the future of space 
exploration.

The Introspective Urge

This strand will focus on humanity's self-image as a determining 
constituent in the cultural and social constructions of space science. 
It will explore the relationship between the changing sense of self that 
has driven the arts and the sciences for the past four centuries, 
relative to the engagement with space exploration. It will consider the 
impact of changes to human self image - for example as a consequence of 
ubiquitous global communications, the collapse of disciplinary 
boundaries, surveillance, robotics and remote sensing, etc -- on the 
future of space science.

Leaving a Trace

Human space exploration has already left archaeological traces of our 
curiosity in the local solar system. Residues of radio noise and 
scientific fallout: are these to be regarded as statements of ownership, 
technological necessity or plain irresponsibility? At the same time, 
artistic objects, sounds, light compositions -- as imprints of 
humanity's creative activity - expand the orbits of outreach and 
communication. How we regard these traces will impact on the future of 
space exploration. In this strand, we invite ethical and technical 
debates in relation to technology and the arts, as well as speculative 
conclusions on the impact of our views on the possible future of space 
science.

Living in Space

In this strand we invite considerations of the continuity between the 
needs of humans on earth and the possible demands of future 
'spacefarers' in remote and often hostile environments. We will debate 
the impact of the technological necessities for the colonisation of 
space on the human spacefarer as cultural and social being.  This strand 
will open key questions by examining, in particular, the relationship 
between the effect of the arts and the nature of the technological and 
human needs of space exploration both as a scientific project and a 
popular concern.

Organised by Flis Holland and The Arts Catalyst, in association with 
Leonardo and OLATS. Co-sponsored by IAA Commission VI.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

An abstract (300 words max) and a short bio (200 words max) must be 
submitted by 11 March 2008, via email to abstracts at lessremote.org

A poster session will also take place during the symposium. Please 
indicate on your application if a poster presentation is acceptable.

Submissions accepted and presented at the conference will be published 
in the IAC conference proceedings.

Conference website: http://www.lessremote.org

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