Call for Papers
The 2015 Eaton Science Fiction Conference
Designing the Past, Designing the Future
October 16-17, 2015 Riverside Marriott Hotel Riverside, California
This conference will examine the relationship of speculative genres—science fiction, fantasy, horror, and Utopian literature and other media—to the concept of "design." How have creative practitioners crafted the "looks" of their past, future, or alternative worlds? How have these looks been influenced by contemporaneous design practices and philosophies? How might the various discourses of "design"—from engineering to advertising to architecture—be perceived as science-fictional in themselves? We invite paper and panel proposals that address (but are not limited to) the following topics:
Images of Engineers and Engineering in SF Design Practices in SF Film and Television Expositions and World's Fairs SF and the Built Environment Streamlining in Pulp-Era Design Architectural Utopias
The Look of Videogames and other Virtual Spaces
Retrofuturism, Steampunk, and Creative Anachronism
SF Design in an Era of Media Convergence Philosophies of Design as SF Theories
The conference will coincide with a number of related events and exhibitions at Riverside. There will be a film screening and several panels focusing on Latin American speculative texts, and we particularly encourage more submissions on this topic. The conference will also be preceded, on the afternoon of October 15, by the fifth Science Fiction Studies Symposium on the topic of "Retrofuturism," with speakers Arthur B. Evans, Rachel Haywood Ferreira, and Pawel Frelik. Keynote speakers and special guests will be announced as they are confirmed on a conference website currently in preparation.
Conference sessions will be held at the centrally located Riverside Marriott Hotel, with rooms at a reduced rate ($109). For more about the hotel, see their website at <http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-information/ travel/ralmc-riverside-marriott>. Rooms are limited and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Abstracts of 500 words (for papers of 20 minutes in length) should be submitted by March 1, 2015. We also welcome panel proposals gathering three papers on a cohesive topic. Send electronic submissions should be sent to Sherryl Vint (sherryl.vint@ucr.edu) with the subject heading: EATON CONFERENCE PROPOSAL. Please include a brief bio with your abstract and indicate whether your presentation will require A/V. Participants will be informed by April 1, 2015 if their proposals have been accepted.