In short, this event brings together practitioners and theoreticians of the humanities, arts and sciences to extol or berate, to discuss, explore and explain shortness in all its spatial and temporal manifestations.
Shortness tackles topics ranging from aphorisms, txt msgs and short attention spans to nanophilology, sampling, ephemeral relationships, punch lines, short narratives and other short-lived entities and phenomena (insects and fashion).
The short conference is followed by a long dinner in Tate Modern's East Room. Dinner guests will be entertained by short speeches and the whole event is supplemented by short films, performances and various interventions.
Conference speakers: Paul D. Miller aka Dj Spooky, Lia Perjovschi, Sadie Plant and Tom Shakespeare. Dinner speeches and interventions by Jonathan Allen, Colleen Becker, Matthew Steven Carlos, Steven Connor, Natasha Degen, Mikhail Karikis, Alice McCabe, Jon Meyer, Anna Marie Roos, Sarah Sparkes, Clare Wigfall, James Wilkes, Julia Wilson and Niki Woods. The compère for the dinner will be Nicholas Parsons.
Organised by Tate Modern Public Programmes in collaboration with Irini Marinaki and Konstantinos Stefanis (London Consortium) and Ricarda Vidal (Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies)
In collaboration with The London Consortium and with additional support from LCACE