*With apologies for cross-posting* *Call for Abstracts: Screen Studies in the Age of Extended Reality & Synthetic Media* An international conference to take place at Trinity College Dublin, as part of the Irish Research Council Laureate Award project “From Cinematic Realism to Extended Reality: Reformulating Screen Studies at the Precipice of Hyper-reality” (2022-2026). *Keynote speaker: * Professor Jenna Ng, Head of Creative Technologies and Professor of Digital Media and Culture at the University of York. The world is increasingly grappling with an existential crisis of what constitutes the real. Contemporary “post-truth” societies are mired by so-called fake news and a technological dependence approaching philosopher Jean Baudrillard’s (1981) concept of hyper-reality. Already noting an increased shift towards versions of reality accessed via simulation and replication, he warned of a potential moment where “hyperreality” would become indistinguishable from the reality in which humans exist. More specifically, the rapid deployment of extended reality (XR) technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), as well as the increased use of virtual production practices and machine learning to produce synthetic media including “deepfakes” and “AI films,” present creative challenges for screen production workers and critical challenges for screen studies. As various arts and media scholars have recently highlighted, there is a strong need to consider AR and VR not just as hyped technologies but as media (Bolter, Engberg and MacIntyre 2021; O’Meara and Szita 2023), and for further explorations of the cultural and artistic ramifications of algorithmically generated media in arts and humanities research (De Vries 2019; Chow 2020). These developments are an extension of earlier research into topics like software cinema (Hassapopoulou 2014) and broader questions as to the place of traditional screen media in the digital age (Gaudreault and Marion, 2015). Since early cinema, filmmakers and theorists have been preoccupied with conventions of realism and its reliance on both analogue technologies (camera and film strip) and creative choices. Though extended reality and synthetic screen technologies are largely driven by computing and the tech industries, their design and use build on a much longer history of media technologies and, as such, can intersect meaningfully with existing screen theories and critical approaches to screen aesthetics, narrative and audience consumption (see: Haslem 2019; Denson 2020). This conference will thus consider how approaches from screen studies, media history and cultural studies can guide a more critical and humanistic development of these technologies and their associated media. It aims to address the following questions inter-related topics and questions: *Technologies.* How can screen studies approaches, histories and theories be used to better understand the development of extended reality technologies and synthetic media with respect to their technologic features, narrative properties, and audio-visual aesthetics? *Ethical and Social Impact.* What are the key ethical ramifications of synthetic media technologies being 1) used in the screen industries and via amateur media practices and 2) consumed by individuals as a form of entertainment or recorded document? *Embodiment and Spectatorship.* Acknowledging the proven impact of extended reality media and technologies on consumers’ bodies (e.g. Ross 2020; Crouch and Damjanov, 2021), how can we gain more understanding of this impact using, for example, sensory theories of embodiment and concepts of screen “gaze”? *Inclusivity and Identity Politics.* Acknowledging that the design and use of media technologies are inherently intertwined with identity politics related to gender, race, sexuality and disability, what are the related risks and opportunities associated with emergent forms of XR and synthetic media? *Disciplinary Impact.* To what degree is the discipline and teaching of screen studies being disrupted (forcing a revision of methods and practices) by the mainstreaming of extended reality and deceptive technologies? The conference will feature a Keynote address by *Professor Jenna Ng*, Head of Creative Technologies and Professor of Digital Media and Culture and the University of York. Professor Ng’s work includes “The New Virtuality: A Video Essay on the Disappearing Differences Between Real and Unreal” (2023); the monograph *T**he Post-Screen Through Virtual Reality, Holograms and Light Projections: Where Screen Boundaries Lie* (2021); the edited collection *Understanding Machinima: essays on filmmaking in virtual worlds* (2013), and a forthcoming book on the existential tensions of living in the age of AI. We welcome abstracts for both *research papers* (20 minutes) and *practice-based works* (<30 minutes). A related edited collection is also being planned for the post-conference period. *Topics may include, but are not limited to:* · Aesthetic properties of extended reality or synthetic media, such as the uses of colour, framing, camera work, editing, sound and music. · Narrative properties of extended reality or synthetic media, including interactive/ludic elements and elliptical or non-linear storytelling. · Resulting labour and ethical issues, including the potential displacement of creative workers / performers. · XR models of spectatorship, including inaccessibility of emergent technologies and financial barriers to access. · Approaches to these technologies that intersect with film philosophy / film theory / theories of media convergence. · Historical / media archaeological approaches to XR and synthetic media, including those that relate them to concepts of realism/surrealism. · Critical language / terminology developing around these technologies. · Multisensory aspects of immersive media and their potential to create new forms of embodiment. · Augmented reality trends and distribution channels, including AR filters embedded on dominant social media platforms. · VR distribution channels, including via festivals and galleries. · Collaborations between tech companies and production companies or filmmakers. · Politicised uses of deepfakes / synthetic media and their links to concepts of propaganda and documentary truth or constructed realities. · The wider socio-cultural implications of algorithmically generated media’s heightened ubiquity/visibility. · Ties to parallel developments in other creative realms, including algorithmically generated music, sound, and speech. · Music, sound and immersiveness in XR media. · The flow of influences between these technologies and representations of them in screen media such as cinema and television. · Intersections with identity politics related to gender, race, age and disability. · Intersections with environmental issues, including media obsolescence and sustainable practices for media production and consumption. · Intersections with posthumanism and non-human creation or co-creation. · Intersections with performance, stardom and celebrity culture · Videographic or experimental media works that address the conference themes Please submit ~300 words abstracts and a short bio (~100 words) to jennifer.omeara@tcd.ie and james.mcglynn@tcd.ie by *February 20th*. Note: A limited number of remote papers/practice works can be facilitated. If you would like to present remotely then please signal this when submitting your abstract. Deadline for abstracts: 20th February Applicants notified of acceptance: by March 1st Conference: June 4th–5th The conference is generously supported by the Irish Research Council (grant number: IRCLA/2022/2959) and by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, where it will be held. *Works cited* Baudrillard, J. (1981; 1983). *Simulacra and Simulation*. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e). Bolter, J.D., Engberg, M. and MacIntyre, B. (2021). *Reality Media: Augmented and Virtual Reality*. The MIT Press. Chow, P-S. (2020) “Ghost in the (Hollywood) machine: Emergent applications of artificial intelligence in the film industry.” *NECSUS European Journal of Media Studies*, 9: 193-214. Crouch, D. & Damjanov, K. (2021). “Extreme VR: strategies of sensorial immersion and the intensities of experience.” *The Senses and Society* 16 (3), 308–319. Denson, S. (2020) *Discorrelated Images*. Duke University Press. De Vries, P. (2020) *Algorithmic Anxiety in Contemporary Art: A Kierkegaardian Inquiry into the Imaginary of Possibility*. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. Gaudreault, A. and Marion, P. (2015). *The End of Cinema? A Medium in Crisis in the Digital Age*, translated by Timothy Barnard. NYC: Columbia University Press. Haslem, W. (2019). *From Méliès to New Media: Spectral Projections*. Bristol: Intellect books. Hassapopoulou, M. (2014) “Reconfiguring Film Studies Through Software Cinema and Procedural Spectatorship.” *NECSUS European Journal of Media Studies*, 3:2. 2014. O’Meara, J. and Szita, K. (2023) “AR Cinema: Visual Storytelling and Embodied Experiences with Augmented Reality Filters and Backgrounds.” *PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality* 30: 99–123. Ross, M. (2020). “Virtual Reality’s New Synesthetic Possibilities,” *New Media & Society*, Vol. 21 Issue 3: 297-314. –––––––––––– Dr Jennifer O’Meara Associate Professor in Film Studies, FTCD Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin Dublin 2, Ireland.