Papers are invited for Rivalry in the Arts: The Inaugural International Conference in Paragone Studies, to be held in the beautiful arts district of Flint Michigan, USA, from July 20th-21st, 2012.  The conference’s purpose is to support the scholarly investigation of inter-arts rivalry in all areas and media, and to highlight the benefits of a paragonising methodology in studies of the humanities.   The conference will feature the examination of the paragone, or rivalry in artistic practice and its related fields.  All disciplines relevant to inter-arts rivalry will be supported, such as art history and visual culture, aesthetic theory, literary theory and comparative literature, philosophy, critical theory, visual communications, cultural studies, and musicology, amongst others.  Papers addressing pedagogical concerns relating to how student, commercial or theoretical competition impacts teaching of the arts will also be considered.  The inaugural event will kick off a regular series in paragone studies conferences.
Rivalry may be interpreted in the broadest terms from all eras of history and global contexts.  For instance, scholars may consider rivalries between individual artists, patrons of the arts, or nationalistic competition, hierarchies of the senses or media in aesthetic theory, arts-related organisations, debates over the superiority of one art versus another, ut pictura poesis and word/image studies, etc.
The conference will also include two round-table sessions featuring artists representing different media, (such as multi-media, graphic design, animation, painting, sculpture, performance, conceptual art, music, literature, theatre, interior design, architecture, television, film, etc.).  Featured artists in the round tables will debate the merits of their art forms, whether from a theoretical, practical, pedagogical, commercial, or other standpoint.  The first round table, titled Ongoing Debates on the Merits of the Arts, will be dedicated to Benedetto Varchi, who sponsored one of the first public debates regarding the relative merits of the arts in Renaissance Italy, when he invited the luminaries of his day to defend their respective art forms.
To apply: Complete the ‘application to present a paper’, or ‘application to be featured in a round table’ form located on the conference website, and e-mail it, along with a c.v. to paragonestudies@gmail.com by April 15, 2012.  Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words.
To access the forms and other conference information see http://blogs.umflint.edu/paragonestudies/