IX Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Semiótica Visual - Venecia, 2010

International Association for Visual Semiotics
Association internationale de sémiotique visuelle
Asociación internacional de semiótica visual

Rhetoric of the Visible.
Strategies of the Image between Signification and Communication
IX Conference of the dell’AISV-IASV
VENICE 13-16 april 2010

Call for papers
Max 500 words / English-Italian-French-Spanish / Deadline: December 15

The 9th Conference of the International Association of Visual Semiotics (IAVS), to be held in Venice at the Iuav University , from the 13th to the 16th of April 2010, will take as its theme the rhetoric of the visible. The aim of the meeting is to explore the knowledges, the methods and the techniques through which the image deploys its argumentation and asks consent for the meaning it articulates.

All cultures use various forms of figurative investment to manipulate and to transform an entire range of contents, procedures and motifs. Images – paintings, diagrams, installations, films, pictures, sculptures, artefacts – are never mere embellishments. They are fields of manoeuvre for 'the other', grounds for strategic conducts for challenges, accord and conflicts among actants.

Our reference here is Perelman and Olbrecht-Tyteca's approach which rejected the use of logic and grammar. The latter tended to confine rhetoric within limits related to truth and to the distinction between figurative and literal meaning.

The re-integration of rhetoric within the theory of text and discourse and the restitution to tropes of their linguistic and semantic ground has made it possible to extend the enquiry to different substances of the expression and media, thus raising the epistemological question of the pertinence of rhetorical concepts in entirely new areas (Groupe μ).

It is on these bases that we intend to propose a reflection upon the rhetoric of – and rhetoric within – the visible, which will further explore the point made by Roland Barthes: from its very inception, rhetoric is a social gestus, vox populi. As Barthes has shown, rhetoric introduces systems of force, it does not indicate the natural. It is the virtualisation of a sort of armed struggle that articulates meaning and endows it with a performative aspect; that establishes an internal pragmatics of communication. In Paolo Fabbri's words, rhetoric is an 'eristica del senso'', an exercise in the redefinition of the way our worlds are viewed and constructed.

What means does semiotics have – and what further means can it draw upon – in order to refine its analysis of the image as the articulation of discursive strategies? How, in the visual dimension, it is possible to distinguish between the art of argumentation (either via inference or narrative/figurative structures) and rhetorical figures? How does it evaluate the presence (and power) of such rhetoric in scientific, political, historical and religious activities? What light can it throw upon the manipulation of beliefs, upon the practices whereby cultures recognise value or engage in derision? The submissions to the conference will explore the potential and the limits of semiotics in accounting for rhetoric.

We suggest that they should take into account:
- an epistemological level
- a theoretical level
- a methodological level
and that they adopt an empirical approach; as a starting-point and a basis of verification, they should focus upon actual visual articulations, advanced both as examples and as objects of analysis.

At the epistemological level, it is important to explore the relation between semiotics and rhetoric, with regard to: i) the position that rhetoric occupies within a theory of semiotics; ii) the role that rhetoric plays in semiosis and communication.

i) With respect to the visible and case studies thereof, one should consider what applications there might be for the definition of rhetoric as a "connotative" semiotics, which organises and 're-motivates' existing signs (Hjelmslev). In any case, it is impossible to maintain a clear distinction between semiotics and rhetoric because, in pointing out rhetoric's "agonistic heart", what is at stake is binarism, the main a priori epistemological principle of structural semiotics, from Saussure to Jakobson and Lévi-Strauss. Binarism is indeed the constituent way in observing phenomena (Fabbri e Montanari). Meaning is grasped through difference, negatively – and this applies at all levels of the construction of signification. Such binarism is active from the deep opposition between values, which exist in reciprocal relations of contradiction, implication and contrariety, to their narrative deployment, which explicits what is at stake and articulates the clash of programs, actants and modalities, up to thematic and figurative investments on the discursive level, on which these oppositions find a stage. The polemic-contractual model is present at all levels of the "generative trajectory of meaning". And it is also present in the sphere of communication, in order to account for the fiduciary, unquiet and unstable character of such a sphere (Greimas).

ii) From this point of view, rhetoric is the level at which "the art of argumentation" reveals its abilities to create tension between forces (Bertin). It emerges as the interaction of conflicts and contracts of value at the narrative level; thence it becomes the stratum of the enunciative act proper, of semiosis in the making (upon the condition that it replace the neutral motions of emission and reception with competent subjects acting according to different modalities). The exploration of rhetoric give back to semiotics the "just-thisness" of the act of semiosis. It is by focusing upon the varying praxis of enunciation – the delineating instance of discourse (Fontanille) – that one also sees emerge the functions operating within the image and the dispositifs specific to the image.

At a theoretical level, it will be essential to realize if the rhetoric of the visible is to be understood as the search, within images, for the tropes to be found in verbal language or whether it has its own autonomy. Fontanille and the Groupe μ, for example, have formulated rhetorical rules and operations that can be generalised. However, to avoid basing oneself on the rhetoric of/in the verbal, one would accept François Rastier's proposal of a moratorium on metaphors: as Rastier argues, contemporary tropology is by now reduced solely to this figure of speech. The metaphor can only be the object of reflection when seen in relation to other rhetorical figures.

At the methodological level one must discuss the semiotic instruments and models to be used in the description of manifestations of rhetoric. In redrawing canonical narrative schema for the communicative level, for example, Greimas emphasized the modal composition of the agent who communicates, bringing together persuasion (knowledge), seduction (will) temptation (power), intimidation (duty) and provocation (will+power). Within the field of discursive structures an important contribution to the theme of the conference will come from an in-depth reading of the syntax of the plastic and figurative aspects of the image – an area in which the results achieved have yet to be modest. Here again, Barthes is a pertinent example, with his distinction between an "emphasis of accentuation" and "elliptic emphasis"; the latter is characteristic of the "obtuse", a thin layer that blurs the limit between surface and disguise, an insufficiently 'prehensile' rotundity that eludes us through derision and the blunting of edges. Mereology (Bordron) and enumeration – chaotic versus zuegmatic tendencies, of such types as 'congeries', 'accumulation', 'mass' and 'collection' (Geninasca) – will be equally useful instruments of analysis, helping to make the rhetorical mechanisms of the image intelligible. With regard to the semantics of discourse, one will explore the aspect of diagrams, working upon the abstract structures that underlie visual argumentation (Arasse). From the second half of the fifteenth century, the image in the West no longer served to provide props and supports that could serve in the recollection of a story (mnemotechnics), but rather composed that story within itself. As a result, the grid framework was erased and simulacral figures were placed in coordinated movement, with the spectator receiving 'instructions for reading' (rhetoric). Hence the polyptych, a format that makes its appearance in the early fourteenth century, appears as a perfect edifice of memory, with precisely distinct 'places' organised in clear topological order. The altarpiece, on the other hand, is a single layout, its dynamics depending upon the syntagma of the figures, who use their position to create relations and make the event credible, acting to persuade or move the spectator. We hope for diachronic or synchronic investigations of the schema in play here – that is, of the use of figurative rendering for rhetorical ends.

Further questions and issues dealt with in the papers might be:

- the relevance of the various phases of rhetorical discourse: inventio, dispositio, elocutio, memoria and actio. It would be very interesting to understand their place and role in the contemporary rhetoric of visuality – whether syntagmatic (still within a tensional narrative chain) or paradigmatic (abstracted from any program and rendered autotelics). Various installations of contemporary art, for example, draw solely upon the aspect of inventio;

- the transduction between verbal and visual rhetorical figures, seen in terms of a commensurability that may be fruitful. Compare, for example, the studies of apostrophe (Frontisi- Ducroux; Fabbri), pun (Barthes), chiasmus (Floch), tautology (Kosuth), allusion (Jullien), synecdoche (Meyer), ellipsis (Rozik), listing (Geninasca), irony (Groupe μ) metonymy (Bonhomme), syllepsis (Ruprecht)…;

- the enunciative regimen of vision and the forms of surveillance and control that many works employ, exploiting technological innovations;

- impetus for transformation that the rhetoric of images can have on beliefs and knowledge, both through a shift in the field of that which is significant (Lotman) and the change in doxa.

Given some important discussions and publications (Rhétoriques du visible, Protée, 1996; "Semiotica e Retorica generale", Urbino 2002; Argomentare il visibile, Esculapio, Bologna 2008), the time has now arrived to explain the dynamics of visual rhetoric, thus developing upon and enhancing the organon of maxims and rules we apply in semiotics.

The Conference is organised by the ISLAV, International Semiotics Laboratory Venice.

AISV Executive Committee
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (President)
José-Luis Caivano (Vice President)
Eduardo Peñuela Cañizal (Vice President)
Pascal Sanson (Vice President)
Alfredo Cid Jurado (Vice President)
Nükhet Güz (Vice President)
Rocco Mangieri (Vice President)
Göran Sonesson (General Secretary)
Michel Costantini (Vice President)

Local Committee
Paolo Fabbri (Coordinator)
Patrizia Magli (LISaV)
Valeria Burgio (LISaV)
Chiara Casarin (LISaV)
Alvise Mattozzi (LISaV)
Tiziana Migliore (LISaV)

Executive Committee
Valeria Burgio (Institutional Relations)
Chiara Casarin (Hospitality)
Alvise Mattozzi (Communication)
Tiziana Migliore (Supervision)
Nadia Scattolin (Web-management)

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES:
* December 15 (2009): Paper proposal deadline (max 500 words);
Please email proposals,en English, Italian, French or Spanish, as a word doc, to aisv10@gmail.com
* January 15 (2009): Communication of the paper proposals accepted/rejected (or to be reviewed) and opening of online registrations;
* February 28 (2010): Registrations deadline (required for all presenters);
* March 10 (2010): Final draft of the organization of each thematic session;
* March 15 (2010): Publication on the website of the final Conference program

VIII Congreso Nacional y III Internacional de Semiótica de la Asociación Argentina de Semiótica

VIII CONGRESO NACIONAL Y III INTERNACIONAL DE SEMIÓTICA DE LA ASOCIACIÓN ARGENTINA DE SEMIÓTICA - PRIMERA CIRCULAR

"CARTOGRAFÍA DE INVESTIGACIONES SEMIÓTICAS"
6, 7 Y 8 DE OCTUBRE DE 2010 - POSADAS - MISIONES - ARGENTINA

La Asociación Argentina de Semiótica se propone con este Congreso convocar a los docentes-investigad ores de los diversos centros, universidades y carreras que han emprendido actividades de investigación y docencia inscriptos en el campo disciplinar de la Semiótica con el fin de configurar una cartografía nacional aproximada del desarrollo y la distribución de trabajos realizados y/o en ejecución.

El principal objetivo centra la convocatoria destinada a grupos o equipos que estén trabajando en diversos temas, campos o espacios socioculturales, en diseños curriculares académicos de grado y postgrado, o bien en otros ámbitos para:
- informar sobre la actividad realizada o en marcha;- intercambiar experiencias, contrastar diseños curriculares y programaciones de investigación y cátedras;
- establecer redes de intercambios y planificaciones conjuntas;
- organizar grupos de trabajo para la publicación de una revista.

Tales finalidades se orientan a estimular las actividades conjuntas, la formación de equipos y el fortalecimiento de una comunidad disciplinar en la que la información y las experiencias logradas circulen entre sus miembros con intercambios fluidos, abiertos y solidarios. Se solicita a los participantes que hagan todo lo posible por presentar exposiciones grupales relatando proyectos de investigación, transferencias, asesorías técnicas, intervenciones educativas y socioculturales.

Al mismo tiempo, se intenta tener presente la memoria disciplinar y sus procesos de desarrollo a través de los testimonios que se solicitarán a cada panelista acerca de sus propias experiencias con la Semiótica (primeros pasos, episodios, publicaciones, luchas académicas, contactos internacionales y nacionales, difusión, organizaciones, etc.), autobiografías intelectuales que en su conjunto configuren un acervo de la disciplina.

Instituciones organizadoras
- Asociación Argentina de Semiótica
- Programa de Semiótica de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales
- Universidad Nacional de Misiones
- Facultad de Artes
- Universidad Nacional de Misiones
- Instituto Superior "Antonio Ruiz de Montoya" - Posadas - Misiones
- Centro de Estudios y Servicios - Posadas - Misiones

Modalidades del diseño
Mesas de exposición
Foros de conversación
Franjas de encuentros
Paneles plenarios

Mesas de exposición
La organización del Congreso propicia la exposición de trabajos grupales (director y equipos) en mesas que se irán compaginando de acuerdo con afinidades temáticas o bien de campos, lenguajes y otros criterios que emerjan de la propia información a recibir. Cada grupo tendrá media hora de exposición y luego se abre la conversación, en total 1 hora por grupo. Se intenta estimular las exposiciones compartidas del grupo de trabajo con la participación efectiva de miembros de diferentes grados de formación, roles y responsabilidades. Este diseño no excluye investigadores individuales que deseen exponer sus trabajos, pero privilegia la modalidad grupal con miras a:
- incentivar la formación de grupos;
- escuchar las voces de diferentes protagonistas del trabajo de investigación;
- intercambiar modalidades de organización y dinámicas de trabajo;
- facilitar la formación de recursos humanos.

Los grupos de investigación muy numerosos que deseen presentar sus actividades en dos o más exposiciones en subgrupos para abarcar los diversos aspectos encarados por sus equipos de trabajo, podrán hacerlo siempre que las exposiciones no repitan temas o aspectos expuestos por otros miembros.

Cada grupo consignará los datos siguientes:
- Título de la investigación
- Director e integrantes del equipo completo.
- Institución.
- Expositor, nombre y apellido. Rol y/o categoría en el equipo de investigación.
- Título de la exposición.
- Resumen.
- Dirección electrónica.

Foros de conversación
Esta modalidad plantea la posibilidad de intercambio de informaciones, planificaciones y experiencias en distintos ámbitos y niveles de trabajo en el campo disciplinar de SEMIÓTICA de acuerdo con las convocatorias que se detallan a continuación:
- FORO DE CÁTEDRAS
- FORO DE TESISTA DE GRADO Y POSTGRADO
- FORO DE EXTENSIÓN Y TRANSFERENCIASFRANJAS DE ENCUENTROS

Se destinará una franja de tiempo para propiciar ENCUENTROS entre participantes grupales o individuales que tengan interés en compartir conversaciones, contactos personales e intercambiar información focalizada.

Paneles plenarios
Se planificarán PANELES PLENARIOS con la invitación a docentes-investigadores de gran trayectoria y propiciadores de la introducción de la Semiótica en nuestro país.
- Oscar Steimberg
- Susana Romano Sued
- Teresa Mozejco
- Pampa Arán
- Leonor Arfuch
- María Teresa Dalmasso
- Juan Magariños
- Oscar Traversa
- Rosa María Ravera
- Eliseo Verón
- Lucrecia Escudero
- Claudio Guerri
- Elvira Arnoux

Presentación de ponencias
Las ponencias son individuales presentadas en el marco de una investigación en curso (individual o en equipo).
Extensión de las ponencias: 7 páginas A 4, más la bibliografía. Consignar exclusivamente la bibliografía mencionada en el texto. Doble espacio (2 pts.), Times New Roman 12.
Fecha para presentar el resumen: 30 de abril de 2010.
Fecha para enviar la ponencia y pago de inscripción: 16 de agosto de 2010.
Las fichas de inscripción, resúmenes y ponencias deberán enviarse a aas.ponencias@hotmail.com

Aranceles (*)
Expositores:
- Docentes investigadores argentinos: hasta el 16/08/10 $250, luego de esa fecha $300.
- Docentes investigadores del Mercosur: U$S 100
- Docentes investigadores de otros países: U$S 150
- Alumnos investigadores: hasta el 16/08/10 $150, luego $200
Asistentes $100
Estudiantes universitarios asistentes $50

(*) Todos aquellos que hayan efectivizado el pago de la cuota societaria 2009 antes del 30 de marzo de 2010 percibirán un descuento de $100.

Depósitos

Los depósitos o transferencias pueden realizarse a través de

- Banco Credicoop
Caja de ahorro en pesos
Número de cuenta: 22917746
Denominación cuenta: Fernández Froilán (DNI 27.446.553 - CUIT/CUIL: 20274465531)
CBU cuenta: 1910229855122900177467

- Correo Argentino
Giro postal plus o telegráfico a nombre de:
Carmen de las Mercedes Santander
DNI 13.281.098
Domicilio: Berón de Astrada 3132
3300 – Posadas – Misiones

- Western Union
Giro postal plus o telegráfico a nombre de:
Carmen de las Mercedes Santander
DNI 13.281.098
Domicilio: Berón de Astrada 3132
3300 – Posadas – Misiones

La organización solicita que en todos los casos se le comunique mediante correo eletrónico el número de giro y la fecha del envío.