Report on 6th Conference of The International Society for Intermedial Studies (ISIS)

“In Between and Across: New Directions, Mappings and Contact Zones”

Venue: Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) 1-3 September, 2022

Organising committee: Prof Clodagh Brook (TCD), Dr Cecilia Brioni (TCD)

Scientific Council: Dr Adele Bardazzi (TCD), Dr Marco Bellardi (TCD), Prof Clodagh Brook (TCD), Dr Cecilia Brioni (TCD), Dr Eleonora Lima (TCD), Prof Florian Mussgnug (UCL), Dr Emanuela Patti (University of Edinburgh), Prof Giuliana Pieri (RHUL)

The 6th conference of the International Society for Intermedial Studies focused on concepts of ‘inbetweenness’ and ‘moving across’. These two spatial metaphors capture the tension between stasis and fluidity that underlies all intermediality. The need to map these shifting spaces, to chart directions, and to see where, and how, these in-between zones connect to other neighbouring spaces was addressed by many of our delegates.

As intermedial ‘in-betweenness’ becomes a mainstream, rather than marginal, phenomenon, and as academic disciplines themselves have become more fluid, this was an exciting opportunity for international researchers to explore and re-explore this territory together. The conference was structured by 4 main themes which enabled us to return to some very familiar ground, as well as to bring intermedial questioning to less familiar areas of inquiry:

• In-between and across disciplines
• In-between and across geographies, ecologies and cultures
• In-between and across arts
• In-between and across technologies

The conference, with its attention to the geographical and postcolonial terms ‘Mappings and contact zones’, also enabled us to spotlight intermedial theories and practices arising from Modern Languages, drawing on the political, and national, aspects of border crossings.

The conference was attended by over 100 international delegates, with representation from universities in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, and the US.

The first keynote was given by Ravi Sundaram, Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSCS), Delhi (India). Entitled ‘Paper, Intermedia and the Political’, it proved to be a fascinating and wide-ranging discussion of the place of paper in the era of social media platforms: what happens when millions of paper documents circulate as digital screen shots? The lecture explored the place of paper in populist and right-wing nationalist reconfigurations of the political aesthetic.

The second keynote was provided by Nicola Camerlenghi, Associate Professor at Dartmouth College (US). ‘Virtual Presence: Between and Beyond Medieval Artistic Media,’ gave us a marvellous insight into an immersive and navigable diachronic virtual reality model of the Basilica of St Paul in Rome. He stressed the potential of this technology for more robust understanding of cultural artefacts, greater kaleidoscopic thinking, and increased cross-disciplinary fluidity.

The conference was marked by the sudden, tragic loss of Lars Elleström – founder and leader of ISIS and Professor of Comparative Literature at Linnaeus University – who passed in December 2021. Many delegates paid tribute to the intellectual and personal affect that Lars had had on them, and a plenary roundtable and a panel were dedicated to commemorating his life and work. Paying tribute to Lars Elleström in her closing remarks Anne Gjelsvik drew attention to the words ‘new directions’ in the conference title. Anne said that the conference had been a fitting tribute to Lars, and that that the Intermedial Society would not halt, but would proceed after his passing towards new directions. Research internationally would continue to be influenced by his seminal theoretical work.

Our warm thanks go to Bord Fáilte Éireann, who generously sponsored this conference, to Trinity College, and especially SLLCS, for supports, and to Trinity catering for providing excellent sustainable options. We especially thank the Interdisciplinary Italy research group for their very concrete work in shaping the conference, the ISIS board, and all our wonderful attendees and speakers.