CFP: Modes of Modernism. Vienna 1900 and Beyond

In 2024, celebrations of the 150th anniversaries of Arnold Schönberg, Karl Kraus and Hugo von Hofmannsthal show the many modes of modernism. Viennese modernism is frequently characterized as an avantgarde movement with an emphasis on innovation and artistic expression that broke fervently with traditional aesthetics. Artistic movements from the mid- to late 1920s such as Neue Sachlichkeit have conversely been framed as a moving away from avantgarde movements and a return to more conventional or realist modes. More recently, however, Gustav Frank and Stefan Scherer have developed the concept of a synthetic modernism for the period from 1925 to the mid-1950s, demonstrating that literary texts of the period combine modernist techniques with a move towards, or back to, plot-driven storytelling. Svetlana Boym exemplifies her notion of ‘off-brand’ modernism, or ‘the off-modern’ with recourse to contemporary culture, thereby collapsing the modern/postmodern paradigm. We propose that the concepts of a ‘synthetic modernism’ and the ‘off-modern’ could fruitfully be applied to early ‘classical’ modernism as well: the fin de siècle and beyond saw an expansion of intermediality and cross-pollination in the fields of music, literature, fine art, arts and crafts, dance, fashion, architecture, journalism and education, thereby destabilising concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’ art.
Contributions for this symposium organised by the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre at the ILCS and the Wirth Institute at the University of Alberta are now invited on intersectional modes of modernism between 1900 and 1945. While one focus will be Austrian modernism, proposals focusing on international modernism and modernism in exile will also be considered.
The symposium is envisaged as an exchange of ideas in a seminar setting. While we would like to hold the event primarily in person, we will consider virtual contributions. An abstract not exceeding 300 words for a 20–30-minute talk and a short speaker biography should be sent to Andrea Capovilla (andrea.capovilla@sas.ac.uk) and Alexander Carpenter (acarpent@ualberta.ca). A limited amount of financial support for early career and independent researchers may be available.
The deadline for offers of papers is 13 January 2025.
Image: Detail from Gustav Kalhammer, Blick vom Cafe Heinrichhof (1911; Met Collection/public domain)
This page was last updated on 16 January 2025