Call for Papers

The 10th European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts Conference invited proposals for streams and papers addressing the conference theme: Control. The conference took place in Stockholm, June 14–17, 2016.

Scholars and practitioners from across literature, science, and the arts were encouraged to submit work exploring the political dimensions of control — the mechanisms that influence, direct, or restrict people, organisms, processes, and systems.

Accepted streams were announced on the Streams page as they were confirmed. For any inquiries, the conference team could be reached at info@control2016.com.

Home page: control2016.com

The European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts brings together scholars and practitioners from across disciplines to examine how creative and scientific knowledge intersect. The conference theme of control invites critical reflection on the systems and structures that shape human experience, from technological regulation to biological processes and artistic expression. By fostering dialogue between fields often kept separate, the society encourages new ways of thinking about the forces that govern our world. Participants explore how narratives, visual culture, and scientific discourse each contribute to our understanding of control, whether as a mechanism of power, a creative constraint, or a natural phenomenon.

The study of control in literature and the arts reveals how creative works both reflect and challenge the regulatory impulses of their time. Novels, films, and performances often dramatize the tension between individual agency and external forces, whether social, political, or technological. Similarly, scientific inquiry into control spans from cybernetic feedback loops to ecological systems and neural regulation. The intersection of these perspectives offers rich territory for interdisciplinary research, where artistic imagination and empirical investigation can inform one another. Scholars presenting at the conference examine how different media and methodologies grapple with the concept of control across historical and contemporary contexts.

Stockholm provides a fitting backdrop for discussions of control, as a city shaped by both natural geography and deliberate urban planning. The conference venue in Sweden's capital hosts participants from around the world who share an interest in the relationship between literature, science, and the arts. Attendees engage with keynote presentations, panel discussions, and exhibitions that probe the multiple meanings of control in contemporary society. From digital surveillance to genetic engineering, from narrative structure to musical composition, the conference streams address the many ways control manifests in human culture. These conversations contribute to an ongoing dialogue about how we understand, resist, and reimagine the forces that shape our lives.