Wissenschaftliche Konferenzen und Tagungen

23-25 September 2021 | Saarland University | Saarbrücken (Germany) 

International and Interdisciplinary Conference held by the Research Centre ‘European Dream-Cultures’, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

Animal dreams — dreams of animals, by animals, and inspired by animals — have concerned poets, mythographers, fabulists, dramatists, painters, musicians, choreographers, filmmakers, and writers of short fictions. Animal dreams have, in fact, become embodiments of the traversal of genres by thinkers, scientists, and writers whose fictions have been inspired by the possibilities of myth, fable, allegory, hybridity, monstrosity, and symbolic hallucination. Animal dreams span all the arts, and they also extend into the worlds of philosophy and even the borders of scientific metaphor. Dreams and dream-images of animals transcend cultures and are frequently taken as avatars, portentous spirits, or disguised divinities. Despite the prevalence of animal dreams across a panoply of genres, media, and cultures, the topic has so far been neglected even by those who have pioneered the emerging fields of animal studies and dream studies.

In accordance with the concept of Saarland University’s research centre ‘European Dream-Cultures’, which investigates the literary, aesthetic, media and cultural histories of the dream, this international conference will pursue the subject of ‘Dreams and the Animal Kingdom’ across different genres, cultural epochs, and aesthetic media. We invite proposals for papers (20 minutes plus time for questions and discussion), pre-constituted panels (three papers of 20 minutes each plus time for discussion), or workshops/roundtables (concentrating on more practical aspects such as research methods, creative practice, teaching) from researchers in the disciplines of art, theatre, film, media, music and literary studies, as well as history, philosophy and other related fields. Contributions should investigate cultural or aesthetic representations of dreams of/by mammals, aquatic fauna, insects, birds, serpents, hybrid mythological creatures, as well as fabulous, fantastical, or cryptozoological animals or other denizens of the animal kingdom, broadly conceived. In accordance with our desire to create a growing and collegiate network of dream-researchers, our aim will be to avoid parallel sessions at the conference, so that participants can hear all papers and take part in all discussions of their choosing.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• An author’s particular dreams about one or more animals
• A single image involving a species interpreted variously in different cultural settings
• Thematic approaches to dreams about various fauna
• Representations of dreaming animals
• The presence of animals in dream interpretation manuals
• Media and multimedia sensitivity in artistic visions of animal dreams or dreaming animals
• Dreams involving fabulous or mythic creatures
• Historical or Art Historical consequences related to dreams about animals 

Please submit your proposal as a Word file to traumkulturen@uni-saarland.de no later than 15 January 2021. Please describe your project – in English, German, or French – in an abstract not exceeding 200 words and include a short, topic-appropriate CV. For proposals for panels, workshops, or roundtables, please include such a CV for each panellist/participant. 

Since this international conference is aimed at researchers from different countries and cultures, the official conference language will be English, but papers may be presented in English, German, or French.

We anticipate the inclusion of cultural events in our programme, and plan to organise a sightseeing trip to nearby places of interest. Please note the Dream-Cultures website (http://www.traumkulturen.de/veranstaltungen/konferenzen-co.html) for up-to-date details such as keynote presentations.

Following the conference, we will publish selected contributions in an edited volume.

Internationale Nachwuchstagung des Graduiertenkollegs »Europäische Traumkulturen«

10.-12. Februar 2020, Villa Europa, Saarbrücken

Weitere Infos: hier (English version, version française)

Programm: hier

»A gateway to secret existences«. Dream, Body and Sound in Kaija Saariaho’s music

Internationale Tagung unterstützt vom Graduiertenkolleg »Europäische Traumkulturen«

24.–25. Mai 2019, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 

International Conference

»A gateway to secret existences«. Dream, Body and Sound in Kaija Saariaho’s music

24–25 May 2019 at Saarland University

Keynote Speaker Prof. Dr. Joy Calico (Vanderbilt University)

Clémence’s Waking Dream in Act II of »L’amour de loin«

Round-table discussion with Dr. Camilla Hoitenga

Chamber Concert with Caroline Melzer (Soprano) and Mihaela Tomi (Piano)

»I’m someone who remembers many of my dreams. […] But I don’t write dreamy, floaty music. It’s more to do with dreams as a gateway to secret existences, like death and love, the basic things that we know nothing about« (K. Saariaho).

In the course of the past two decades, Kaija Saariaho has become one of the most prominent personalities on the contemporary music scene: Committed to the tradition of the musical avant-garde, especially of Spectralism, Saariaho’s music nevertheless appeals to a very broad audience, extending far beyond the circle of contemporary music specialists and devotees. Quite remarkably, Saariaho shares a longstanding and multifaceted interest in the topic of dream: Well acquainted with Freud’s psychoanalysis and David Foulke’s cognitive psychology, as well as keeping a dream diary herself, Saariaho finds in dreams and their unique logic a valuable source of inspiration and a device for exploring new compositional procedures.

This international conference, hosted by the DFG-funded Research Training Group »European Dream Cultures«, addresses the presence of dream and its interconnections with the dimension of the body and of sound in Saariaho’s instrumental, vocal and theatrical works. By approaching the subject from disparate perspectives – ranging from Freudian or Lacanian psychoanalysis to gender studies and the cultural history of dream – the conference aims at investigating the anthropological, cultural, theological and philosophical related implications at the core of Saariaho’s music and its longstanding involvement with dreams.

The conference will be complemented by a chamber concert with Saariaho’s dream-related songs and by a round table discussion with Camilla Hoitenga, Saariaho’s longstanding flute interpreter.

The conference will take place at Saarland University from May 24–25, 2019. The conference language is English.

The symposium is free to attend but registration is required no later than May 1st, 2019 (mauro.bertola@uni-saarland.de).

»Träume von Geburt und Tod« | »Dreams of Birth and Death«

Internationale Tagung des Graduiertenkollegs »Europäische Traumkulturen«

21.–23. März 2018, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 

Vom 21. bis 23. März 2018 fand die Internationale Tagung des Graduiertenkollegs »Europäische Traumkulturen« mit dem Titel »Träume von Geburt und Tod. Traumdarstellungen körperlicher Grenzerfahrungen in Literatur, bildender Kunst, Musik und Film« an der Universität des Saarlandes statt. Mit 22 Vorträgen und einer Keynote über Richard Wagners vielschichtiges Verhältnis zum Thema Traum von Prof. Dr. John Deathridge, Emeritus des King’s College London und weltweit führendem Wagner-Spezialist, hat die Tagung rund 50 WissenschaftlerInnen aus Deutschland, England, Frankreich, der Schweiz und den USA zusammengebracht, um über das überzeitliche Phänomen des geträumten Geborenwerdens und Sterbens, seine Wissensdiskurse und künstlerische Realisierungen nachzudenken.

Das breite thematische und mediale Spektrum der einzelnen Vorträge machte die ununterbrochene Relevanz von Geburts- und Sterbeträumen seit dem Mittelalter bis in die unmittelbare Gegenwart hinein ersichtlich: Bei Geburt und Tod handelt es sich um die beiden existenziellen (Grenz-)Erfahrungen an den Rändern des menschlichen Lebens, deren gesellschaftliche, religiöse oder genderspezifische Implikationen künstlerisch wie philosophisch auf vielfältige Weise ausgelotet wurden.

Am Ende des ersten Konferenztages fand in der Aula auch ein Liederabend statt, welcher das Konferenzthema musikalisch ausgestaltete: Reuben Willcox (Bariton) und Corinna Korff-Willcox (Klavier) haben mit großem Erfolg Lieder über das Träumen von unterschiedlichen Komponisten aus verschiedenen europäischen Ländern zu Gehör gebracht.

Die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse der Tagung werden in Buchform publiziert.

International Conference hosted by the DFG-funded Research Training Group »European Dream- Cultures« (GRK 2021)

Dreams of Birth and Death. Liminal Bodily Experiences in Dreams: Literature, the Fine Arts, Music and Film  

21 - 23 March 2018 at Saarland University

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Dr. John Deathridge (King’s College London): Wagnertraum(a): 421 recorded dreams of a composer from Germany

Birth and death are situated at or beyond the borders of life; as such, they occur too early or too late to be perceived and recorded as authentic experiences. However, dreams – fictionalized, imagined, and performed – can open up experiential spaces for these extreme physical transitions.

The mysterious elements of dreams – their disregard for the physical laws of time and space, and for cultural models of identity, coherence and logic, are magnified in dreams of the beginning and end of life. Simultaneously, the artistic depiction of such experience is particularly challenging: memories and stories of dreams have to find ways and means to transform that which is »elsewhere« and unimaginable into something palpable and conveyable. From the antiquity to the present day we can find representations of dreams – whether in literary texts, paintings, music or in film – that focus on the limitations and boundaries of human life.

Bearing in mind the goal of pursuing a literary, cultural and media history of dreams and dreaming, the international conference »Dreams of Birth and Death«, hosted by the DFG-funded Research Training Group »European Dream Cultures«, is dedicated to the phenomena of dreamed birth and death, related discourses and artistic realisations.

The conference will take place at Saarland University from March, 21-23, 2018. Conference languages are German, English and French. The symposium is free to attend but registration is required no later than March 1, 2018 (traumkulturen(at)uni-saarland.de).

»Traum und Inspiration« | »Dream and Inspiration«

Internationale Nachwuchstagung des Graduiertenkollegs »Europäische Traumkulturen«

5.–7. Oktober 2016, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 

Vom 5. bis 7. Oktober fand die interdisziplinäre Nachwuchstagung »Traum und Inspiration. Aktuelle Ansätze zu einem Topos in Kunst und Literatur« des Graduiertenkollegs »Europäische Traumkulturen« an der Universität des Saarlandes statt. Insgesamt siebzehn Promovierende und Postdoktoranden aus Deutschland und dem europäischen Ausland stellten Beispiele aus der Kunst-, Literatur-, Medien- und Musikwissenschaft zur Diskussion. Das kreative Potential von Traumerfahrungen für die künstlerische Produktion vom ausgehenden Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart wurde dabei ebenso in den Blick genommen, wie theoretische Positionen, die den Topos mitunter abwertend für regelfremde, phantastische Werke aufgriffen, zu anderen Zeiten aber auch für die Mythenbildung des Künstlergenies nutzbar machten. Für den Abendvortrag konnte Prof. Dr. Andrea Allerkamp (Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder) gewonnen werden, die mit ihrem Beitrag »Ähnlichkeiten entdecken. Für eine Minimalästhetik des Traums« ausgehend von Paul Valéry die Debatten um einen ästhetik-philosophischen Ansatz bereicherte. Mit über fünfzig Teilnehmer_innen war die Veranstaltung erfreulich gut besucht und bot Gelegenheit zum internationalen und fächerübergreifenden Austausch.