CFP: Edited Volume on “Reinventing Presence: Museums and Emerging Technologies”

This edited volume, with the working title “Reinventing Presence: Museums and Emerging Technologies,” will examine theoretical approaches and case studies that explore how this “presence culture” can also be applied both in museum spaces and virtual experiences, where visitors engage with objects and virtual exhibitions in real time, multisensory, and embodied ways and what role technology can play in this. Although the introduction of technology has been criticized for disturbing this sense of presence in museum spaces, it has also been praised for offering new, immersive and embodied experiences. Experiences that have the potential to reinvent presence.

The papers can be theoretical in nature or/and explore specific case studies. The editors encourage proposals that critically discuss specific uses of emerging technologies inside and outside museums and other cultural sites for enhancing presence as well as relevant evaluation studies. They particularly encourage the submission of proposals with interdisciplinary perspectives and different approaches and understandings of ‘presence’, coming from diverse fields such as museum studies, heritage management, technology and digital humanities, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. They also encourage the submission of case studies that come from diverse geographical locations. 

The volume will be edited by Dr. Maria Shehade (CYENS Centre of Excellence) and Dr. Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert (Cyprus University of Technology/ CYENS Centre of Excellence) and will be published by a well-known academic publisher. To submit a chapter proposal, please send a 500-word abstract (including references) and a short bio for each author (up to 70 words each) to [email protected] by September 15, 2021. The selected authors will be expected to deliver a full paper (length: 6000- 8000 words) by February 14, 2022. To learn more, visit Reinventing Presence.