M/C Journal ‘Place’

The ways in which artists, musicians, filmmakers and other creative practitioners perceive, navigate and represent ‘place’ in their work is complex and multifaceted. Further, place-based conditions also influence the ways in which creative activity occurs in particular locales, raising questions regarding the role of history, economics, attitudes towards and perceptions of particular forms of arts and culture, shared social and creative contexts, and the geographical location of places, in shaping and fostering creativity. While the relationship between place and creative practice is now widely recognised across the social sciences, it remains poorly conceptualised at the level of specific forms of artistic and creative practices and creative industries. The aim of this issue is to therefore bring together scholarship from across a range of disciplines that is concerned with the relationship between place, broadly defined, and creativity, also broadly defined.

We invite submissions centred on, but not limited to, the following areas of enquiry:

• How factors related to place effect the performance of a wide range of creative practices, including the materiality, history, and cultural and societal aspects of particular locales.
• How place is represented and reflected in music, literature, film, and across a wide range of other creative products and outputs, across a range of spatial scales.
• How artists simultaneously navigate both ‘real’ and virtual ‘places’ in their work.
• How creative practice is both situated in, and networked across, particular locales.
• How mapping creative activity can help better understand situated, place-specific creative practices, clusters and networks.
• The formation of creative communities of artists, musicians, film makers, and other creatives with and beyond particular places.
• Biographies of individuals and historical accounts of creative scenes that emphasise the role of place in fostering and shaping creativity.

We welcome both empirically-grounded as well theoretically-led contributions, but all articles should seek to draw clear links between place-based social, economic and material conditions and creative practice, creative industries and communities, and creative products.

Submissions

Prospective contributors should email an abstract of 100-250 words and a brief biography to the issue editors at [email protected]. Abstracts should include the article title and should describe your research question, approach, and argument. Biographies should be about three sentences (maximum 75 words) and should include your institutional affiliation and research interests. Approved contributions will then be invited with an April 2016 deadline in order to undergo the full peer-review process.

• Article deadline: 22 Apr. 2016
• Release date: 22 June 2016
• Editors: Christina Ballico and Allan Watson

Please submit articles through the M/C Journal site. Send any enquiries to [email protected].

Please note we require the above mentioned abstract and biography in the initial instance, with approved contributions then invited with an April 2016 deadline. Articles should be 3000 words (plus bibliography). All articles will be refereed and must adhere to MLA style (6th edition).