The Channel proudly presents…
POETICS OF THE PERIPHERY
An undergraduate symposium at McGill University
The theme invites inquiry into the peripheral realms of art—be they visual, literary or performed.
MARGINAL IMAGERY: Quests into the borders of media and the edges of representation. How does marginalization manifest physically or figuratively? How do ambiguity and fragmentation function in creative gestures? How do artists mobilize the periphery as a space of resistance, tension, or transformation?
NEGLECTED NARRATIVES: Analyses attending to the politics of obscurity. What works, voices, or forms have been excluded or overlooked, and why?
THE AESTHETICS OF THE ABSTRUSE: Explorations of the esoteric, the invisible, and that which is shrouded in mystery. How can the enigmatic reframe knowledge and perception?
Submissions should be between 2,000 and 3,000 words (excluding citations), though longer papers will be considered. We invite papers concerning art history, communications studies, English literature, theatre, and cultural studies to be submitted through the link above in docx. format. Submissions welcome from undergraduate students at Canadian institutions with thoughtful research in these disciplines.
Papers should be formatted according to the Chicago-17 or MLA-9 Manuals of Style.
The symposium will take place in-person in Montreal on February 21st, 2026, so please only submit if you are able to be available on the day.
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If there are ghosts to raise,
What shall I call,
Out of hell’s murky haze,
Heaven’s blue pall?
Raise my loved long-lost boy
To lead me to his joy. –
There are no ghosts to raise;
Out of death lead no ways;
Vain is the call
Thomas Lovell Beddoes,“Dream-Pedlary,” 29-37.
Image:
Caspar David Friedrich, The Monk by the Sea, 1808-10. Oil on canvas. 110 cm × 171.5 cm. Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.