EBSN Special Event London Interzone

A three-day convergence of radical theory, sound, and performance that commemorates Genesis P. Orridge’s landmark 1982 The Final Academy, recognizing the ongoing impact of the works of US writer William S. Burroughs and the Beat Generation, with London as a primary historical and contemporary nexus point for the American avant-garde. The event connects Burroughs’ experimental vision with London’s underground culture — transgressing scholarship, art, and performance in an atmosphere of collaboration and interdisciplinarity that explores the history of 1960s multi- and countercultural London, where Burroughs developed his methods in the London art scene, while giving a platform for the continuity of the works of Burroughs and the Beats into the present.

• Lineup will include hand-picked Burroughsian renegades, visionary artists, and scholars, so prepare for all-out sonic attacks and intellectual assaults.

Call For Papers:
The event organizers invite proposals for two roundtable panels that will anchor the London Interzone convergence. This event explores the energising collaborative aesthetic approaches of William S. Burroughs and the Beat Generation, positioning London as the vital nexus for radical theory, sound, and performance.
We are seeking proposals for 10-minute papers for our Friday and Saturday morning roundtable panels – performers are also welcome to submit proposals for the evening event program. Space on these panels is extremely limited. While we welcome scholarly rigor, we are particularly eager to attract submissions from artists and musicians to ensure the event remains a true “Interzone” that blurs the lines between the academe and the avant-garde.

Friday, Sept 4: Is This Machine Recording? (Collaboration & Sonic Art)

This roundtable focuses on creative collaboration and sound. Possible themes include:

• Cut-up techniques in art and music
• Collaborative art
• Sound art and materiality
• Transatlantic connections of the Beat Generation
• Sound art and the ongoing influence of Burroughs on contemporary industrial/experimental music

Saturday, Sept 5: The Magical Universe (Ritual & Performance)

This roundtable focuses on magic, ritual, and performance. Possible themes include:

• Magic, the occult, and primitivism
• Religion, spirituality, Scientology
• Transgressive Beat aesthetics
• Ritual, queerness, and performance

How to Apply

The organising committee will manage the selection process. Please submit a brief abstract (200 words) of your proposed contribution (specifying either the Friday or Saturday panels, or evening events) along with a short bio to [email protected] by 1^st April 2026.
Successful applicants will be informed in 15^th April 2026. Full itinerary to be announced 1^st May 2026. Any queries please contact Ya-Chu Fu ([email protected]).

We invite you to submit proposals on these topics, or on other aspects of the Beat Generation. Individual papers will be limited to 20 minutes. As well as paper presentations, we also invite submissions for panels, roundtables, workshops, artistic performances, or other creative endeavours.

Please submit an abstract (250 words) that clearly outlines your proposal, and a short bio note, to conference administrator Raven See at [email protected] before October 15, 2024. We will respond by the end of December 2024.

For more information, please visit: https://ebsn.eu/,

Organizers: Heike Mlakar, Florian Zappe, Tomasz Stompor, Alexander Greiffenstern

Location: University of Hildesheim, Germany (Department of English Language and Literature)

Located at the geographical heart of Germany and framed by the history of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hildesheim offers a unique blend of academic pursuit and cultural heritage. Just 30 km from Hanover, Hildesheim provides excellent connectivity to larger metropolises such as Hamburg and Berlin. Home to approximately 9,000 students, the University of Hildesheim stands out as one of the country’s more intimate higher education institutions. This smaller scale fosters a welcoming and personal atmosphere, where students are encouraged to form strong bonds with peers and faculty alike.

Call for Papers:

The radical ethos of the Beat movement, whether defined in aesthetic, political, or cultural terms, is deeply rooted in the specific historical situation in which it emerged: the binary-coded world of the Cold War. During this era, the ideological polarization of global politics combined with the domestic imperatives of social and political conformism led—on both sides of the Iron Curtain—to the phenomenon that Herbert Marcuse described as the “one-dimensional society” defined by “a pattern of […] thought and behavior in which ideas, aspirations, and objectives that, by their content, transcend the established universe of discourse and action are either repelled or reduced to terms of this universe.” (Marcuse, One Dimensional Man, p. 14). The tension between dominant materialist values and spiritual seeking was central to Beat thought and literature, revealing a profound resistance to the encroaching uniformity of the age.

Especially in Germany, where the annual conference of the EBSN will take place in 2025, the ideological polarization became manifest as a geopolitical division that sliced the country into two political entities with opposing systems. In reaction to government restrictions and repression by an official state ideology in the East and a hegemonic cultural conservatism in the West, countercultural movements still developed on the fringes of both societies. At the heart of this geopolitical flashpoint, the international dimensions of political and cultural conflict were observable in a crystallized form that took on various other facets around the globe.

While it may be a truism that the emergence of Beat culture in the mid-twentieth century was a reaction to the “one-dimensionality” of the era, it is vital to understand its significance for the radicalism of the phenomenon’s ethos. The Beats’ revitalization and expansion of the old Modernist battle cry “Make it New!” was an assault on the political and cultural foundations of Cold War-era “one-dimensionality” on a global scale. Originating in the United States, their radical approaches to art and life generated similar movements in many other countries, where artists and intellectuals felt stifled by the political climate.

Although the Cold War ended 35 years ago, today’s social divisions follow similarly polarized fault lines, where issues of free speech feel ever-present; discussions of sexuality, critiques of war, and advocacy of human rights seem under threat in ways that mirror past dangers. This invites us to revisit and discuss the unbroken topicality of the radical aesthetico-political approaches of Beat culture in the light of current events.

Topics of interest may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Accommodation options

InterCityhotel Hildesheim (next to the train station, buses 1 and 4 running directly to Buehler Campus where the conference takes place)

Bahnhofsplatz 2, 31134 Hildesheim 

+49 5121 9134 000

[email protected]

Hotel Bürgermeisterkapelle (near Marktplatz)

Rathausstraße 8, 31134 Hildesheim
Tel.: +49 (51 21) 17929-0 

http://www.hotelbuergermeisterkapelle.de/ 

Van der Valk Hotel Hildesheim (located at Markplatz, the center of Hildesheim)

Markt 4, 31134 Hildesheim
Tel.:+49 (5121) 300-600 

https://www.vandervalk.de/en

Hey Lou Hotel Hildesheim (very central location)

Zingel 26, 31134 Hildesheim

+49 (0) 5121 912 870 0

[email protected]

M & A City Hotel Hildesheim (central)

Hindenburgplatz 6, 31134 Hildesheim
Tel.: +49 (51 21) 3 90 81 

Single Room: from 55.00 EUR 

https://www.ma-cityhotel.de/

We invite you to submit proposals on these topics, or on other aspects of the Beat Generation. Individual papers will be limited to 20 minutes. As well as paper presentations, we also invite submissions for panels, roundtables, workshops, artistic performances, or other creative endeavours.

Please submit an abstract (250 words) that clearly outlines your proposal, and a short bio note, to conference administrator Raven See at [email protected] before October 15, 2024. We will respond by the end of December 2024.

For more information, please visit: https://ebsn.eu/,