We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the Performativity(ies) of Memory(ies) Interdisciplinary Conference 2026, which will take place on 22–23 October 2026 at the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal.
We warmly invite researchers, artists, and practitioners to submit proposals engaging with the complex and evolving intersections between performativity, memory, and contemporary cultural production, across artistic, theoretical, and interdisciplinary frameworks.
Conceptual Framework
Since the seminal formulation of performativity in the work of J. L. Austin, the concept has become central across multiple disciplines, including linguistics, philosophy, performance studies, gender studies, literature, media studies, and the arts. Performativity has progressively expanded into a key analytical and creative framework for understanding how identities, meanings, and social realities are produced and negotiated.
Concurrently, memory studies have developed a rich theoretical and methodological landscape for understanding how individual and collective memories are constructed, transmitted, embodied, and transformed. Foundational concepts such as collective memory (Halbwachs), lieux de mémoire (Nora), memory-habit (Connerton), embodied memory (Taylor), memory theatres (Banu), and memory as performative act (Schneider) have contributed to a growing recognition of memory as an active, situated, and processual phenomenon.
In contemporary artistic and cultural practices, these two fields increasingly intersect. Memory is no longer understood as a fixed repository of the past but as a dynamic, performative, and relational process. Artistic practices, particularly those engaged in research contexts, activate memory through embodied, material, digital, and intermedial forms, producing new “effects of presence” and modes of engagement between artists, audiences, and archives.
The conference also considers how technological mediation and digital environments reshape memory practices, enabling new forms of intermediality, ephemerality, and distributed authorship.
Conference Aims
The Performativity(ies) of Memory(ies) Interdisciplinary Conference aims to:
. Foster interdisciplinary dialogue between the arts, humanities, and social sciences;
. Bring together academic research and artistic practice in the field of memory studies and performativity;
. Explore memory as a creative, political, and performative act;
. Investigate contemporary transformations of memory through digital and technological media;
. Promote critical reflection on memory, identity, and collective experience in contemporary societies.
Thematic Axes
We welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:
. Shared memory, collective experience, and knowledge transmission
. Participatory methodologies and testimonial practices
. Community-based memory and political identity(ies)
. (Auto)biography, life writing, and transtemporality
. Processes of re-enactment, re-creation, and re-contextualization
. Narrative, identity, and memory construction
. Artificial intelligence, digital archives, and technological memory
. From “stock memory” to “flux memory”
. Memory, affect, and the irruption of the Real
. Embodied, performative, and situated archives
. Intermediality, ephemerality, and materiality in artistic research
. Memory, testimony, and artistic documentation
Submission Guidelines
Abstract submissions must include:
. Title of presentation
. Abstract (250–500 words)
. 3–5 keywords
. Blind submission (no author identification)
. Optional references (maximum 5, APA 7th edition)
. Language: English
Submissions must be made through the conference submission platform (details available on the website).
Important Dates
. Abstract submission deadline: 15 July 2026
. Conference dates: 22–23 October 2026
Keynote Speakers
We are honoured to welcome the following keynote speakers:
. Ali Matthews (University of Salford, United Kingdom)
. Paloma G. Diaz (Open University of Catalonia, Spain)
. Domingos Loureiro (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto)
Organising Institutions
The conference is organised by the School of Education of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, in collaboration with the Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture (ID+) and the Polytechnic University of Cávado and Ave.
Contact & Information
Conference website: https://pmic2026.wordpress.com/
Submissions: https://pmic2026.wordpress.com/submissions/
Email: pmic@ese.ipvc.pt
Venue
The conference will take place in Viana do Castelo, a coastal city in northern Portugal known for its strong cultural identity, historical heritage, and vibrant artistic and academic environment. The city offers excellent conditions for international academic gatherings, combining natural landscape, architectural heritage, and cultural infrastructures.
We warmly invite the academic and artistic community to join us in this interdisciplinary exploration of memory and performativity.
We look forward to receiving your contributions!
