Breaking and bending the standard mould of a symposium, ‘Beyond Form: An Experiment in the Art and Practice of Trying’ will bring together varied voices to create dialogue about the world of hybrid and experimental forms.

This one-day event will bring together writers, artists, academics, performers and makers from all disciplines to explore ways in which we can experiment in form (text, media, language, art, dance and technology).

Through workshops, performances, presentations and conversations, Beyond Form seeks to respond to the following questions:

  • Do we bend genre or does it bend us?
  • How do we move beyond form and what happens when we arrive there?
  • What does it mean to arrive in new forms?
  • How does the art and practice of ‘trying’ create new spaces for artistic expression?
  • What is the future, present and past of hybrid and experimental forms?

Symposium organisers welcome proposals for presentations (20 minutes) and/or performances (10-15 minutes) responding to the symposium title, the points of departure or anything that is pertinent to the conversation. Work that crosses genres, boundaries and disciplines; that interrogates what happens beyond form is specifically sought. There will be exhibition space at the day of the symposium and proposals and/or visual art that responds to any of the themes mentioned are also welcomed.  

Proposals in the form of an abstract and bio should be submitted by the 15th of January 2020. Abstracts should not exceed a 300-word limit and bios should be no more than 100 words long.

Possible Points of Departure:

Hybrid Memoir/Auto-Theory

Between Theory and Praxis

Mixed Media Storytelling

Art and Technology

Experimental Translations

Embodied Forms

Hybrid Theory

Experimental Poetics

Creative and Critical Boundaries

Art and Text/Asemic Writing and Art Brut

Experimental Teaching and Learning

Poetics and Storytelling

The Hybrid Self

The Politics of Experimental and Hybrid Forms

Performance Art

Collaborative Practice

Performance-driven Writing

Submission deadline for abstracts: January 15th 2020

All submissions will be responded to by February 1st

The symposium will take place in May 2020 (exact date tbc)

Email: beyondformsymposium@gmail.com


First published: 18 December 2019