11 June 2013
Conference to celebrate words, images, films and performance
An exhibition of unpublished work by renowned photographer Michael Peto and a presentation by Hollywood actor Brian Cox are among the highlights of a prestigious conference being held at the University of Dundee later this month.
The 20th annual Scottish Word and Image Group (SWIG) Conference will be held on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd June at the University's Tower Building and this year takes the theme of 'Film, Theatre, Performance'. The conference will consider the interdisciplinary relationship and crossovers between live performance, film and television, particularly in relation to word and image interactions.
This year's conference is being held in collaboration with Dundee Contemporary Arts as part of a celebration of the life and work of the legendary filmmaker Lindsay Anderson. A special screening of 'In Celebration', the 1975 Anderson-directed production that provided Cox with one of his first roles, will take place. The Dundee-born actor will talk about working with Anderson following the screening at DCA on Saturday 22nd at 6pm, and members of the public are invited to the event.
An exhibition of photographs of film and theatre productions from the University's Peto collection will be unveiled the week before the conference, and will run until 10th August.
Speakers from across the UK, as well as staff and students from Dundee, will deliver talks on various issues relating to the relationship between film, theatre, performance, words and images. These include talks about theatre adaptation during the Golden Age of Hollywood, Disney's Goofy, rarely seen letters by George Bernard Shaw, and Laurence Olivier's "lost" script for a film of Macbeth.
SWIG Secretary Dr Chris Murray, co-organiser of this year's conference, said Word & Image Studies is one of the most innovative academic fields to emerge in recent years.
"The interaction between verbal and written language and visual or symbolic forms is one of the most important features of everyday human activity, touching almost every aspect of communication.
"Consequently, word and image studies attract attention from a diverse range of disciplines, including art history, philosophy, literature, critical theory, linguistics, media studies, drama and film studies, cultural history, psychology and sociology.
"We are well-placed to take advantage of the intersection of these disciplines in Dundee, and are putting this into practice with innovative new postgraduate degrees in Comics Studies, Theatre Studies, Creative Writing, Film Studies, and a new Master of Fine Arts programme, which all a drawn on the connections between the literary, visual, cinematic and theatrical.
Co-Organiser Dr Brian Hoyle said "We are delighted to have put together such a packed programme for this year's conference, and are very grateful to Brian Cox for taking the time to support us by attending the screening of 'In Celebration and talking about his experiences of working with Lindsay Anderson.
"In addition, we are excited to be unveiling never-before-seen photographs by Michael Peto held in the University's collection and to be welcoming colleagues from across the UK to discuss all aspects of film, theatre and performance."
SWIG Co-ordinator Dr Keith Williams "This year's conference is another perfect opportunity to continue showcasing the cutting edge inter-disciplinary work being done at the University, as well as promoting the rich literary, dramatic, cinematic and popular cultural history of the city, which includes the Rep, DCA, illustrated publications, comics, animation and games design.
"SWIG is bringing considerable intellectual and economic rewards to the region and raising the profile of Dundee's bid to become UK City of Culture."
SWIG was formed in 1994 and has established itself as a home for academics and artists who seek to promote word and image enquiries in analysis and criticism. Since 2004 the group has been based at Dundee.
SWIG will next year host the Triennial Conference of the International Association of Word and Image Studies / Association Internationale pour Étude des Rapports entre Texte et Image (IAWIS/AIERTI), the first time this prestigious international conference will be held in the UK. Some 250 delegates are expected to descend upon Dundee for the week-long conference.
For more information see the SWIG website: www.scottishwordimage.org.
For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
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