Call for papers:
Void, Lack and Destruction – Black metal and negativity
International Black Metal Theory Symposium
Organized by Radio Študent, ŠFD Philosophy students Organisation, KUD Anarhiv
The inflation of the cosmos
Receive the world
Larva formed in glorious negativity
Another form readying the destroyer
(Leviathan, Receive the World, Massive Conspiracy Against All Life)
The inflation of the cosmos. In the last decade, the speculative resurrection of non-conceptual negativity on a cosmic scale is taking place.
Receive the world. Blame philosophy, blame science, blame technology, blame politics. As a probably most completed (sonically, aesthetical, metaphysical, political and cryptic) form of negativity, black metal was soon, yet with considerable historical latency, established as a theoretical forefront of such a resurrection. blame black metal. Blame black metal as a form of thinking, which at the same time establish and eliminate the contradiction of contemporary historical conjuncture. Also, blame black metal for its truth of extinction and numerous ontological and political consequences that follow.
Larva formed in glorious negativity. Between the years of 2009 and 2015, several Black Metal Theory Symposiums were conducted, which foregrounded the subterranean world of interconnected forces of theory and black metal, both in the widest possible terms. Our aim is
to resurrect such a glorious and larval (non)connection once again, especially in our regional context of a theoretical tradition that was fully preoccupied with a limited conception of negativity on the one hand and analytical preoccupation with other, more affirmative subcultural tendencies on the other.
Another form readying the destroyer. We also believe – what an inappropriate word – we could create an opportunity to critically reflect on black metal theory, especially in the context of further penetration of black metal in (popular) culture and often contested multifarious nature of black metal, but also to reflect on a wider epistemical, historical and para-institutional conditions for the constitution of black metal theory. Perhaps the time is right for the second wave of black metal theory or perhaps it is time to put black metal theory in oblivion to resurrect in another time and another place.
THE INTERANTIONAL CONFERENCE WILL BE HELD IN LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA, ON APRIL 18TH 2019. Our main goal is to use knowledge of different disciplines to advance the study of specific topics related to black metal and similar phenomena. We also hope to contribute to the further theorization of black metal and development of black metal theory.
The editorial board welcomes particularly (but not exclusively) contributions focusing on aspects of negativity in black metal as well as the following approaches to the theorization of black metal:
Metatheoretical, critical approach towards black metal theory.
– Why black metal theory?
– What is black metal theory? I.e., the (re)conceptualization of black metal theory.
– Is there a theory inherent to black metal or is it only a theory about black metal?
– Unilateral/bilateral relation between theory and black metal.
– What is the relation between black metal theory and (black) metal studies?
– An assessment of black metal theory: Is it consistent? What are its flaws?
– Contextualization: the historical conjuncture of theory/philosophy and black metal.
– Black metal (theory) as an inhuman mode of thinking.
– Black metal as a form of (non)mediation and or (non)communication.
Politics of metal;
– National socialist black metal – a take-over or an inner tendency?
– New right movements and black metal.
– Anti-fa strategies against the far right in metal.
– The metalhead as a militant.
– Black metal as a form of ideology.
– Black metal and nostalgia.
– Black metal and its relation to modernity and civilization.
– Black metal as a xenochronic temporality.
– Black metal and its utopian and dystopian tendencies.
– Black metal as a form of xenopolitics.
Cultural and historiographical approach;
– Wider historical contextualization of black metal.
– Black metal as a subculture.
– Different cultural forms of black metal.
– Aesthetics of black metal.
– Popularity of black metal, i.e., the mainstreaming of black metal.
– Black metal, nature and ecology.
– Black metal and technology.
Black metal, religion and metaphysics
– Black metal, theology and atheology.
– Receptions of different religions in black metal.
– Metal as religion.
– Strategies of desecration.
Musicological approach;
– Analysis of techniques and sonic procedures of black metal and related genres.
– Influences of the development of specific technologies on the evolution of metal music.
Phenomenological approach;
– Phenomenological analysis of the act of listening to metal.
– Black metal as mood and atmosphere.
Black metal in Slovenia;
– Formation, history and local specifics of black metal scene in Slovenia/Yugoslavia/Eastern Europe.
– Black metal in context of socialism/postsocialism.
– Musicological specificities of Slovenian or East European Black metal.
New perspectives and innovative approaches to the conceptualization of black metal and related phenomena.
We invite proposals for panels, round table discussions, and papers addressing the outlined conference theme. Abstracts of under 250 words should be sent to bmt.ljubljana@gmail.com by
10th January 2019 at the latest.
Submissions should include the author’s name, academic qualification, institutional affiliation and position, contact information (address, email).
Scholars who will submit their proposals by this deadline will be notified of their acceptance prior to 15th february 2019. The official languages of the conference is English.
