Thresholds 42: Human [ Call for Submissions ]

call for submissions
due: April 30, 2013

thresholds 42: Human prompts us to consider the past and present changing notion of ‘the human’ with regards to its physical, virtual, and psychological habitat.

In the last decade innovations within cognitive imaging, computer interfaces, communication technologies, surrogate natures, sensory mediators, and global tracking have reshaped our understanding of the Self. This shift can be seen, on one hand, as a revolution of sensibilities while, on the other hand, still pushing towards an enlightenment-based, rationalist perspective of the human as a neurobiological mechanism.   No matter which way this ‘human’ is being reshaped, does it not also reshape ‘the humanities’ as well as our understanding of ‘humanity’?  Have we indeed formed new gateways of artistic and architectural possibility or have we forced ourselves into a deterministic and mechanistic view of both occupants and design?  Humans are different than machines, after all, but how has the human/machine duality been rethought in our current age? How does art, architecture and film envision, critique, or challenge this ‘new human’?

We are looking for scholarly papers that address this topic through a historical, sociological, or an anthropological lens.  We are also interested in art and architectural projects that explore these issues.

thresholds is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal that aims to publish only original material.  Text should be in American English, limited to 3,000 words, and formatted in accordance with The Chicago Manual of Style.  Images should be included separately at 72 dpi—print quality images will be requested upon acceptance into thresholds.  Author must have permission for all images.  Submissions should include a cover letter with author’s name, affiliation, telephone number and email address, and a brief bio.  All submissions should be sent in digital format, with text as MS Word or RTF files and images as uncompressed TIFF files.

Please email submissions by April 30, 2013
[email protected]

For correspondence and inquiries:

Tyler Stevermer, Editor
thresholds, MIT Architecture
77 Massachusetts Ave, Room 7-337
Cambridge, MA 02139
[email protected]

http://thresholds.mit.edu/