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 LGBTI &#38; QUEER ARTS, CULTURES, ACTIVISMS CONFERENCE (Metz, France) Conference dates: 11th and 12th June 2020.CfP Deadline: 28th February 15th March.InFrance, a few years after the law authorizing same-sex marriage,LGBTQ associations are now facing new struggles, fighting for accessto assisted procreation or the creation of a communal archive center.Drawing on these dynamics, this conference aims at interrogating thebonds between LGBTQ forms of arts, cultures and activisms. We lookforward to opening a space for academics and grassroots activists,whether they be engaged in institutional collectives or not, toexchange, reflect and dialogue. LGBTQ-related topics appear to beoften overlooked in French research networks. We aim to make it morevisible and richer, and make it dialogue with local, national andinternational networks of academics and activists. “Culture”,here, has to be understood in its sociological sense, that is as anaccrual of objects, practices, and features related to a definedsocial group. We will address both arts (theatre, cinema, music, finearts, etc.) and festive, associative, activist, media fields thatcome along the existence of LGBTIand queer communities. Our perspective on politics and activism isn’tlimited to legalist and assimilationist movements, that strictly aimto juridically make LGBTQ rights evolve. We wish to explore any formof LGBTQ resistance or visibility, may they develop in a legal frameor in an alternative context. Indeed,while the terms “Queer” and “LGBT” are sometimes used assynonyms, some queer activists also claim for their distinctiontoward institutional politics, milieux and associations, that theydesignate as “assimilationist”. In the field of arts and culture,the Queercore music movement has embodied this distinction, as itdeveloped in the United States in the 1990s and originated the “Don’tbe Gay” manifesto, originally published in the punk hardcorefanzine Maximum Rock’n’Roll. Campis anotherform of expression that has served the definitionofLGBTIQrepresentationand itspolitical dimension. Described as a form of gay aesthetic that dealswith humor and self-mockery, camp, as it appears in the theatre pieceAngelsin America writtenby Kushner, is described by Harvey (1998) as: “asign of gay resistance and solidarity in the face of a whole array ofthreats to the gay individual and his community, from AIDS to thediscriminations and hypocrisies of the dominant culture. In Kushner’stext, camp is invested with a political charge predicated upon anirreducible and subversive gay difference." Wewill therefore have to understand these terms in their multiplesenses, but, moreover, we will have to address the differences, thecommon points, the limits, and the tensions and confrontations of theartistic and cultural practices they designate. Previousresearch on LGBT and queer movements have used various terms tounderpin their thoughts –each corresponding to an academic field.Duyvendak’s(1994) research falls within new social movements sociology. Hedistinguishes two main types of LGBTQ movements, each drawing ontheir own motivations and understanding of identity. “Instrumentalmovements” proceed to a strong distinction between their means andobjectives. They act in order to get authority or an adversary toreact. Meanwhile, identity movements (subcultural orcounter-cultural) intertwine goals and activities: “the process ofindentity making is a collective good and the guiding thread of theiraction.” Alongside with Duyvendak, Filieule (1998) distinguishes,within the world of LGBTQ associations of the early 1980s, an“activist tendency” and a “subcultural tendency”.Nevertheless these categories aren’t strictly enemies, andmovements might borrow just as well from one as from the other(Duyvendak, Op. Cit.). We might thus as well look at theirrelationship. GeographerGordon Brent Ingram developed in 1997 the concept of “Queerscape”as he works on public space. Queerscape is "(...)not only a landscape (as based on the Flemish root schap) with sexualminorities. A queerscape is also an aspect of the landscape, a socialoverlay, where the interplays between assertion and marginalizationof sexualities are in constant flux and the space for sexualminorities is decentered in terms of increasingly supportingstigmatized activities and identities. Queerscapes embody processesthat counter those that directly harm, discount, isolate, ghettoize,and assimilate. A queerscape is, therefore, a cumulative kind ofspatial unit, a set of places, a plane of subjectivities constitutinga collectivity, which involve multiple alliances of lesbians, gaymen, bisexuals, and transsexuals and which support a variety ofactivities, transactions, and functions. At least for some time tocome, a queerscape nearly always overlaps with and is surrounded bysocial groups where heterosexuality is the 'norm.' Like thelandscape, the queerscape is a cultural construct that provides aterritorial basis for considering opportunities for and persistentdisparities in access to public space and various respective servicesand amenities, as well as options for personal and collectiveexpression." (Ingram, 1997). Fromthere on, the concept has also been adapted to film studies (forexample, see Gras-Velazquez, 2012; Keshti, 2009; Leung, 2001; Kim,2017; Marchetti, 2017), to popular music studies (Clifford-Napoleone,2015, 2016), or media studies (Schwartz, 2016). Allof these references come with a myriad of topics and events, welllikely to be analyzed. We encourage you to follow three streams ofresearch. For each of them, we mention examples of topics and fieldyour research might look at. Nonetheless, this list has no vocationto be exhaustive nor mandatory. Wealso wish to receive propositions of contributions addressing andquestioning the intersection of different identity groups and theirrespective struggles (for more information on the concept ofintersectionality, refer to Crenshaw, 1989 or Hill Collins, 2016). Wewill give a particular attention to papers that investigate howqueerness interacts with race or class, as it was for exampleanalysed by Victor Ukaegbu (2007) during his researches on the blackqueer theatre from post- war Britain, or in Andreana Clay’s (2007)work on Me'Shell Ndegeocello’s career as a bisexual black hip-hopartist and her influence on a whole generation of queer feminists ofcolor. -Bridging LGBTQ arts, cultures and politics.Weaim to address institutional politics and official artistic frames(museum, national theaters, cinema theaters), as well as alternativefields (squats, amateur practices, informal activist groups). On theone hand, we draw our references from Skadi Loist’s (2015) PhDthesis on LGBT/Q film festivals, Xavier Lemoine’s (2001) works onUSA queer theatre, or Robert Mills’ (2008) theories on the “queermuseum”. On the other hand, we wish to recall that LGBT and Queermovements also developed within subcultural and alternative spaces.Philipp Meinert (2018) therefore relates the history of LGBTQ punks,Amber R. Clifford-Napoleone (2015), Florian Heesch and Niall Scott(2016) look, in the same way, at metal musics. Not to limit ourinvestigations to music, we might as well study the “Queer streetart movements”.Moreover, similar dynamics have also beenobserved in sports: from the institutional side of the Gay Games, tothe alternative field with collective such as “Unity QueerSkateboarding” that gathers queer people around the skateboardingscene. We,for example, wish to receive submissions that address the circulationof these practices between an underground or subcultural paradigm anda mainstream or institutional culture. Finally, submissions mightalso look at consumer activism. These last few years, fans of a TVshow or a license have rallied together to “save” cultural objectstarring LGBTQ characters of intrigues, whose production called it aday. The most notorious case is, of course, Sense8,the Netflix TV show, but others, such as OneDay At A Time,have known a similar story. Not to mention the HarryPotter case,and the big question around Dumbledore’s homosexuality that hasgenerated a lot of debates and controversy. -The histories of LGBTQ struggles and their up-to-dateness.Cinema,television, theatre... From Philadelphia(Demme,1993) to 120BPM(Campillo,2017), the history of LGBTQ struggles has been largely represented.We could also mention Milk(VanSant, 2008), Pride(Warchus,2014), or even Angelsin America (firstas a theatre piece – Kushner, 1991 -, and then as a TV show –Nichols, 2003). How did some art works, creations, happenings happento form the heritage of a LGBTQ culture? Looking beyond the objectsthemselves, their exhibition circumstances, or on the contrary theirconcealment, emphasize visibility-related issues. To what extent,have some artists or stakeholders of LGBTQ history been hidden(post-mortem included)? What compensation strategies have laterarisen? This should also lead to interrogate the strength ofnormativity within queer spaces, as noticed Carmen H. Logie andMarie-Jolie Rwigema (2014) during their investigations withinlesbian, bisexual and queer women of color’s community in Toronto. Moreover,while the question is older and recurring in the history of FrenchLGBTQ movements, the production of the movie 120BPM,in 2017, quickly became an occasion for Parisian activists to build acollective dedicated to LGBTQ community archives. The group’screation follows years of inter-associative negotiation with Paris’city council, for the purpose of creating a conservation center.Alongside with this dynamic, we aim to look at archives and theirroles in the formation of LGBTQ culture(s). In that sense, we look atarchives as both cultural objects, part of an LGBTQ legacy, and ashistorical sources that inform us on the lifestyles, behaviors andclaims that come along social movements, and their evolution in time.How do present activists look at these sources? To what extent doyounger activists know and have access to these archives? Whathistory of activist, cultural and associative practices do they tellus? -LGBTQ bodies and activist embodiments in arts and culture.InCeque la sida m’a fait (WhatAIDS has done to me),Elisabeth Lebovici describes the consequent space that artists tookin activist groups such as ACT UP. Beyond a singular and affectiveapproach of the archives, she emphasizes the inherent force ofminority representations. The artist’s body, as it highlights theissues and the emergency of political struggles, conveys a form ofindividual emancipation, whose potential remains nonethelesscommunal. Therefore, these practices, that aren’t limited toaesthetics but have to be thought as activist strategies, are rootedin a History of fights (Lebovici, 2017) and testify that the bodystands at a singular place within collective and artisticmobilizations. Following that line, the place of affects, both withinartistic practices and research activities, might be discussed. Moreover,Renaud Bret Vitoz develops an elaborated analyze in his article“Penser le queer avant le queer (XVIe-XVIIe siècles)”(“Theorizing queer before queer (16th-17th centuries)”), andgives us the chance to understand, within art history, a corpus thatwe could qualify as “proto-queer”. Avoiding anachronisms, wecan’t nowadays look at some works without thinking of specificlater-elaborated theories. We wish to address their seminal aspectand understand the issues of their potential rediscoveries andreinterpretations. Finally,the trans-historical quality of Renate Lorenz’s Artqueer, a freak theory,testifies of the plasticity of her research, and her will to explorenew time perspectives on art. The construction of a reflexion onLGBTQ bodies might connect ancient works with contemporary claims.Therefore, we also encourage you to submit works that rely on anemancipatory approach of art history (Lorenz, 2018: 2). We invite graduate students, early career researchers as well as more established scholars from all relevant fields and disciplines to send us their paper proposals by February 28th. Proposals should be no more then 300 words. They should be accompanied by a short biography and sent to both these contacts:- louise.barriere@univ-lorraine.fr- melodie.marull@live.frThe conference will happen on the 11th and 12th June 2020, in Metz – France.An art exhibit will happen alongside with the conference, at the campus gallery, from May the 20th to June the 12th. It will also be part of the “Rainbow Weeks”, the local LGBTIQ Pride Festival.We therefore also wish to receive art pieces proposals (visual and audiovisual pieces, performances, etc.) related to the topics listed in this call for papers.In this case, we invite you to send us:- A description of the piece(s) you would like to exhibit and, if possible, pictures.- A short biography.Theorganizing committee and the art gallery managers will make aselection.Referenceslist Baroque, Fray &#38; Eanelli Tegan (trad) (2016), Vers la plus queer des insurrections, Paris : Libertalia Burk, Tara Jean-Kelly (2015). Let The Record Show: Mapping Queer Art and Activism in New York City, 1986-1995. Thèse de doctorat. Clay, Andreana (2007). Like an Old Soul Record: Black Feminism, Queer Sexuality, and the Hip-Hop Generation. Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism 8(1), 53-73. Duke University Press. Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. (2015). Queerness in heavy metal: Metal Bent. London &#38; New York: Routledge. Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. (2016). Metal, masculinity and the queer subject. In Heavy Metal, Gender and Sexuality (pp. 63-76). Routledge. Clifford-Napoleone, Amber R. (2018). Queering Kansas City Jazz: Gender, Performance, and the History of a Scene. University of Nebraska Press. Duyvendak, Jan Willem (1994), Le poids du politique. Nouveaux mouvements sociaux en France. Paris : L'Harmattan. Fillieule, Olivier (1998). Mobilisation gay en temps de sida. Les études gay et lesbiennes, 81-97. Fillieule, Olivier, &#38; Duyvendak, Jan Willem (1999). Gay and lesbian activism in France: Between integration and community-oriented movements. The global emergence of gay and lesbian politics: National imprints of a worldwide movement, 184-213. Gras-Velázquez, Adrian (2012). Queering and De-queering the Home: Private and Public Space in Contemporary Spanish Cinema. The International Journal of the Humanities, 9, 257-68. Harvey, Keith. (1998). Translating camp talk: Gay identities and cultural transfer. The Translator, 4(2), 295-320.  Ingram, Gordon Brent, Bouthillette, Anne-Marie, &#38; Retter, Yolanda (Eds.). (1997). Queers in space: Communities, public places, sites of resistance. Bay Press. Kheshti, Roshana (2009). Cross‐Dressing and Gender (Tres) Passing: The Transgender Move as a Site of Agential Potential in the New Iranian Cinema. Hypatia, 24(3), 158-177.  Kim, Ungsan (2017). Queer Korean cinema, national others, and making of queer space in Stateless Things (2011). Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema, 9(1), 61-79. Lebovici, Elisabeth (2017), Ce que le sida m'a fait : Arts et activisme à la fin du XXe siècle, JRP Ringier, Éditions Maison Rouge.  Leperlier, François (2006). Claude Cahun, l’exotisme intérieur, Paris : Fayard, 2006. Leung, Helen Hok-sze (2001). Queerscapes in Contemporary Hong Kong Cinema. positions: east asia cultures critique 9(2), 423-447. Duke University Press. Logie Carmen H. &#38; Rwigema Marie-Jolie (2014). “The Normative Idea of Queer is a White Person”: Understanding Perceptions of White Privilege Among Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Women of Color in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 18:2, 174-191. Loist, Skadi (2015), Queer Film Culture: Performative Aspects of LGBT/Q Film Festivals, Thèse de doctorat en philosophie, Université de Hambourg, Allemagne. Lorenz, Renate &#38; Bortolotti, Marie-Mathilde (2018), Art queer: une théorie freak, Paris : B42. Marchetti, Gina (2017). Handover Bodies in a Feminist Frame: Two Hong Kong Women Filmmakers' Perspectives on Sex after 1997. Screen Bodies, 2(2), 1-24. Meinert, Philipp (2018). Homopunk History. Mayence: Ventil Verlag. Plana, Muriel, &#38; Sounac, Frédéric (dir) (2015). Esthétique(s) queer dans la littérature et les arts : sexualités et politiques du trouble. EUD-Editions Universitaires Dijon. Rüegg, Jana (2018). From Content to Context: A Comparative Analysis of the Covers of Translated Versions of Sara Stridsberg's Beckomberga. DiGeSt, Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies , 5(2), 23-44. Schwartz, Andi. (2016). Critical Blogging: Constructing Femmescapes Online. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No.9. Schulman, Sarah. (2018). La Gentrification des esprits, Paris : B42. Summers, Claude (Ed.). (2012). The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater. Cleis Press Start. Ukaegbu, Victor (2007) Grey silhouettes: black queer theatre on the post-war British stage. In: Godiwala, D. (ed.) Alternatives Within the Mainstream II: Queer Theatres in Post-war Britain. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press. pp. 322-338.  Organizingcommittee Louise Barrière (PhD student in Arts, 2L2S – Université de Lorraine) Dr. Mélodie Marull (PhD in Arts, CREM – Université de Lorraine) Scientificcommittee  Dr. Karine Espineira (PhD in Sociology, LEGS – Université Paris 8) Dr. Isabelle Gavillet (Associate Professor in Media Studies, CREM – Université de Lorraine) Dr. Olivier Goetz (Associate Professor in Theatre Studies, 2L2S – Université de Lorraine) Prof. Dr. Claire Lahuerta (Professor in Visual Arts, CREM – Université de Lorraine) Dr. Xavier Lemoine (Associate Professor in American Studies, LISAA – Université Paris-Est Marne-La-Vallée) Prof. Dr. Maria Nengeh Mensah (Professor in Feminist Studies – Université du Québec À Montréal) Prof. Dr. Muriel Plana (Professor in Theatre Studies – LLA CREATIS – Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès) Dr. Massimo Prearo (PhD in Political Studies – EHESS) Dr. Nelly Quemener (Associate Professor in Media Studies, IRMECCEN – Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle)  