University of Tasmania, Australia

In June 2004, more than 70 people came together at Cradle Mountain for the Imaging Nature conference to examine representations and framing of nature in art, advertising, news media and tourism marketing. With snow falling outside in the World Heritage Wilderness Area, academic researchers, industry practitioners and policy makers across a range of disciplines including fine arts, park planning, media studies, literary studies and geography considered, among other issues, how natural environments and wilderness had become commodified in the service of the media, tourism and cultural industries. As ecologist Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick said in his conference wrap-up, speakers repeatedly accused wilderness of being inaccurately portrayed as benign, ‘as equivalent to the hunting grounds of the aristocracy, as a wish-fulfilment fantasy’. ‘From my unimaginative perspective it seemed simply a word that described land without human inhabitants of fixed abode and not much different in its appearance than before the European diaspora,’ he said. ‘Little did I suspect the palimpsest of suspect meanings a simple word concealed.’

Eight years later, the Arts and Environment Research Group* at the University of Tasmania will host Imaging Nature II, to be held at the Tarraleah Lodge, a former hydro electricity village on Tasmania’s Central Plateau, from 20 - 22 June 2012. Like its predecessor, this interdisciplinary conference will seek to place nature within the context of cultural, political, technological and social change, and to explore emerging ‘images’ of environment, landscape and place within what is now a rapidly expanding research field.
We welcome papers drawing on a range of disciplinary backgrounds and approaches. In particular, we are interested in contributions that consider representations of contested/feral/hybrid landscapes and environments, and/or explore the question: Is ‘wilderness’ dead?

Invited speakers include:

•  William L. Fox, Director of the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art
•  Jamie Kirkpatrick, Professor of Geography, University of Tasmania
•  Michael Meadows, Professor of Journalism, Griffith University
•  Linda Williams, Associate Professor of Art, Environment and Cultural Studies, RMIT

* The Arts and Environment Research Group was formed in 2011 as an interdisciplinary initiative of the Faculty of Arts. Its leadership team is A/Prof David Stephenson, A/Prof Libby Lester, Dr Elizabeth Leane, Prof Noel Frankham and Prof Marie Sierra.

  
CALL FOR PAPERS - NOW CLOSED

Imaging Nature II - Program (PDF Document 37kb)

Imaging Nature II - Abstracts (PDF Document 173kb)

General Information for Delegates (Word Document 127kb)

REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN - Register Online

PLEASE NOTE: REGISTRATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 9am MONDAY MAY 14

Registration fee (inclusive of accommodation and most meals – see details below)
$550 waged
$400 students/unwaged

What’s included in fee?  

•  Accommodation (see Information for Delegates document)
•  Welcome reception (Wednesday evening)
•  Morning teas
•  Afternoon teas
•  Lunches
•  Dinner Wednesday night and Thursday night
•  Conference dinner drinks Thursday night
•  Transport to and from venue for those who need it (via mini-bus or car pooling. See Information for Delegates Document.)

What’s not included in the fee.

•  Breakfasts (self-cater or the café is open from 8am)
•  Drinks at dinner night 1

Accommodation - Tarraleah
Please note that delegates will share one of 15 three and four bedroom cottages on site at Tarraleah.
See:http://www.tarraleah.com/tarraleah-com-content/cottages
If you have specific people you would like to share with please let us know and we will do our best to arrange for this.
All further queries to Yvette Watt at Yvette.Watt@utas.edu.au

Accommodation – Hobart
Information on accommodation options in Hobart during the conference (MS Word 127KB).
Please note that due to an event at MONA (The Museum of Old and New Art) the week of the conference, accommodation in Hobart is in high demand, particularly around the 19th June. Should you be needed accommodation in Hobart prior to the conference you are encouraged to book promptly.