Ports or border towns, the confluences of rivers, and the junctions of roads or railways have all attracted and stimulated the development of new forms of art and culture, favouring processes of borrowing and hybridization. Marketplaces, public squares, caf\u00e9s, assembly rooms, and forums, sites of contact and exchange, whether public or private, have sometimes changed the course of history in serving as places to meet and rally around a cause, to exchange and debate ideas, or to invent and renew political and social structures. Crossroads are those places where people, ideas and goods come into contact.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless it is also possible to imagine exchange in terms other than simply geographical or topographical. Intellectual, diplomatic or scientific crossroads do not necessarily come into being at a favourable meeting place; they can take shape from a concept or project which then needs a site to take material form (albeit a utopia or an imaginary homeland). Again, a crossroads may remain immaterial or virtual (a review, an anthology, a network, or an exchange of letters). Finally, texts and cultural artefacts may themselves be seen as sites of convergence where different schools, traditions, ideas, or modes of representation can federate or affront one another. The clashes and conversations among different cultures and arts take place at these sites of convergence.<\/p>\n
The different interpretations of the conference theme range between the two extremes of the material and the immaterial. On the one hand are the tangible places that favour encounters. On the other, are more abstract sites that tend to be shaped by already formulated premises. Nevertheless, this does not mean that the two scenarios are mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n
We invite conference participants to envisage the many senses of the term \u201ccrossroads,\u201d whether physical or not: countries, regions, towns, roads, monuments, sanctuaries, inns, or pilgrimage sites\u00ad, but also books, paintings, installations or performances. New forms of expression, federating ideas, political and cultural negotiations, cosmopolitanism, cross-fertilizations between the arts, and hybridization of forms and genres can be found at such sites of convergence.<\/p>\n
CARREFOURS<\/p>\n
Villes portuaires ou frontali\u00e8res, confluent des grands fleuves, n\u0153uds routiers ou ferroviaires ont accueilli et stimul\u00e9 le\u00a0\u00a0d\u00e9veloppement de nouvelles formes d’art et de culture. Ils ont ainsi favoris\u00e9 des ph\u00e9nom\u00e8nes d’emprunt et de m\u00e9tissage.\u00a0March\u00e9s, places publiques, caf\u00e9s et salles de r\u00e9union, forums, lieux d’\u00e9change et de rendez-vous, publics ou priv\u00e9s,\u00a0ont parfois chang\u00e9 le cours de l’histoire en servant de points de\u00a0\u00a0rencontre et de ralliement\u00a0\u00a0\u00e0 des causes, de lieux d’\u00e9change et de friction dans le d\u00e9bat d’id\u00e9es,\u00a0\u00a0de sites de conflit o\u00f9 se sont tram\u00e9es des formes renouvel\u00e9es du politique et du social.\u00a0Les carrefours sont donc ces endroits o\u00f9 se croisent les peuples, les id\u00e9es et les marchandises.<\/p>\n
Mais il est \u00e9galement possible de concevoir les \u00e9changes\u00a0\u00a0autrement que selon des lignes g\u00e9ographiques ou topographiques. Les carrefours intellectuels, diplomatiques, scientifiques ou artistiques\u00a0\u00a0peuvent s’originer non pas sur un terrain d\u00e9j\u00e0 propice, mais\u00a0\u00a0se constituer \u00e0 partir d’un projet pour chercher ensuite un lieu o\u00f9 se r\u00e9aliser (utopies, patries imaginaires). Et il se peut\u00a0\u00a0encore que le carrefour reste immat\u00e9riel (revues, anthologie, r\u00e9seau, correspondance.)\u00a0\u00a0Enfin, les textes et les objets culturels eux-m\u00eames s’envisagent ais\u00e9ment comme des points de convergences\u00a0\u00a0o\u00f9\u00a0\u00a0les \u00e9coles, les traditions, les\u00a0\u00a0id\u00e9es et les modes de repr\u00e9sentations se f\u00e9d\u00e8rent ou s’affrontent. A travers eux s’\u00e9tablit le dialogue contrari\u00e9 entre les cultures et les arts.<\/p>\n
Ainsi les diverses acceptions du terme semblent se r\u00e9partir\u00a0\u00a0entre ces deux extr\u00e9mit\u00e9s de la\u00a0\u00a0mat\u00e9rialit\u00e9 et de l’immat\u00e9rialit\u00e9. D’un c\u00f4t\u00e9 les lieux bien tangibles qui se pr\u00eatent \u00e0 la rencontre. De l’autre des formes plus abstraites mais aussi plus construites et pr\u00e9m\u00e9dit\u00e9es d’un r\u00e9seau d’entente. Pourtant cela ne signifie nullement que les deux cas de figure soient exclusifs.<\/p>\n
Nous invitons tous les participants \u00e0 envisager les multiples nuances de ces acceptions: pays, r\u00e9gions, villes, routes, monuments, sanctuaires, auberges, lieu de p\u00e8lerinage….Et que ceux-ci se fondent ou non sur des sites physiques: convergence des expressions, id\u00e9es f\u00e9d\u00e9ratrices, n\u00e9goce et n\u00e9gociations politiques et interculturelles, cosmopolitisme, croisements entre les arts, hybridation des formes et des genres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ports or border towns, the confluences of rivers, and the junctions of roads or railways have all attracted and stimulated the development of new forms of art and culture, favouring processes of borrowing and hybridization. Marketplaces, public squares, caf\u00e9s, assembly … Continue reading