After the Promises of Monsters deadline

Thank you to all, who sent in abstracts for the Promises of Monsters publication! We’re quite overwhelmed (in the best possible way!) with and grateful for the interest in the publication, and from the look of the abstracts we’ve received so far, this will be a fantastic special issue of Somatechnics!

We aim to get back to you with our decisions in November.

We have now replied to all who have sent us abstracts. If you have not heard from us, your submission might have been swallowed by the web-void. In that case, please contact us at promisesofmonsters at gmail dot com.

Halloween greetings,

The Monster Network

 

 

Væsner. Episode 7: Google II

Google II

Posted on July 30, 2016

I Googled ’Gatekeepers’ Union’, but they don’t seem to have a website. The only thing I found was a mention of gatekeepers on allefagforeninger.dk, which lists all Danish unions. The suggestions they had for gatekeepers did not include the Gatekeepers’ Union, though, only the usual ones like 3F, Krifa, MA, etc.

As a gatekeeper, you will usually be working as a guard or in the areas of security and surveillance. Similar jobs include store detective, doorkeeper and night porter.

These are all jobs I’ve never had. Unless of course they mean ‘gatekeeper’ as a metaphor. A figure of speech.

Concepts really should organize.

 

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We bring episodes of the blog-series Væsner every week. For previous episodes, follow the tag ‘væsner’. Join the Monster Network on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.

‘Væsner’ is written by Anne Nielsen. You can follow the True & Accurate Accounts of her experiences with Copenhagen Gate Services, strange weather and dancing shadows on her blog and on Twitter.

 

 

Interview: Candle Cove, creepypasta and Channel Zero

On the 11th of October, Syfy’s creepypasta-inspired TV-series Channel Zero premieres. Atlas Obscura has interviewed Line Henriksen, one of the founding members of the Monster Network, about the creepypasta story Candle Cove that inspired the TV-series. You can read the article here.

Candle Cove: how a creepypasta grew from story to legend to television show https://t.co/mWgPvMI7S7

— Atlas Obscura (@atlasobscura) October 7, 2016

 

 

‘Why Monster Studies Now?’ – Symposium programme

Monday 31 October 12:15-15:00 PM in collaboration with Centre for Gender Research (CGR), University of Oslo

Programme

12:15 – 12:20: Welcome
12:20 – 13:20: What is Monster Studies and why (do we) do it? Presentations and discussion by the Monster Network
13:20 – 13:45: Break
13:45 – 14:15: Presentation by artist Liv Bugge
14:15 – 15:00: Why Monster Studies now? Roundtable discussion with the Monster Network and Erika Kvistad

Væsner. Episode 5: A Call + Episode 6: The Gatekeepers’ Union

 

A Call

Posted on July 29, 2016

“Hi, yes, my name is Anne Nielsen. I’m calling because I’ve just got back after having been out of town for about a week, and I can see that I’ve got a letter from you. Or I’ve got a letter. Which might be from you. Well, it’s from a union, anyway. Can you perhaps check if you’ve sent me any letters recently? No, I’m not a member, that’s what the letter’s about – that I need to re-register with the Union, quick? … Yeah, well, that’s the thing – it says Gatekeeper’s Union, but you’re the only union I’ve ever been a member of, so I thought that perhaps it was a sub-division or … No? Okay, alright. Do you know about any Gatekeepers’ Unions? Alright, okay, thanks anyway.”

“By the way, is it stormy where you are just now …?”

 

The Gatekeepers’ Union

Posted on July 30, 2016

I’ve received a letter from the Union. Not the Union I used to be a member of – I know, because I phoned them – but the Gatekeepers’ Union. It says:

Dear Gatekeeper 75803002,

You have recently been contacted by Copenhagen Gate Services concerning the reopening of the Gate of Amager. Before returning to your duties, we strongly recommend that you renew your membership of the Gatekeepers’ Union. In these times of crisis, the Inter-D roads in general & the inroads & outroads of Copenhagen & its harbours in particular are under much pressure. This means that the tasks of Gatekeepers continue to expand & we do our utmost to make sure that you can perform your duties with little to no risks to health, life and sanity.

Enclosed is a membership-application form and a return envelope. Please fill out & send us your membership-application as soon as possible.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With the best intentions,

T. Pultervold

Counsellor

The Gatekeepers’ Union

Printing press number: 75- 04380- 37285899659-0 – Toben Pultervold – 9

I don’t know what a ‘printing press number’ is, and the address on the return envelope makes little sense:

Understreet, Belowwater

hush, hush

say it again

Att. T. Pultervold

No idea.

 

 

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We bring episodes of the blog-series Væsner every week. For previous episodes, follow the tag ‘væsner’. Join the Monster Network on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.

‘Væsner’ is written by Anne Nielsen. You can follow the True & Accurate Accounts of her experiences with Copenhagen Gate Services, strange weather and dancing shadows on her blog and on Twitter.

 

 

Ask the Editors! (About the conference publication ‘Promises of Monsters’)

The abstract deadline for the conference publication ‘Promises of Monsters’ is closing in, and some of the editors have rallied together to shamelessly steal a bunch of questions (and sometimes even answers) that they can ask themselves in order to shed some light on the upcoming issue. If you have questions that are not answered here, you’re always welcome to contact us at promisesofmonsters at gmail dot com, and if you’d like to read the full call for abstracts, you can find it here.

Before moving on to the actual questions, we’d like to stress that even though this is an issue based on the conference Promises of Monsters, which took place in Stavanger in April, this issue is open to all submissions, also from scholars and artists who didn’t participate in the conference.

The abstract deadline is the 17^th of October.

And now to the stolen Q&A!

Ask the Editors!

 

Why monster studies?

Donna McCormack: Monster studies opens up the possibility of exploring a whole array of themes, topic, theories, representations, art, histories and more. It crosses disciplines; it’s serious, funny and scary; and it is deeply theoretical, ethical and political. It is the monster’s capacity to address what is often ignored or just in the sidelines, or at the centre of our thoughts as the most hated, despicable or enticing of beings that I find appealing. It seeks to grapple with how formations of exclusion, violence and surveillance work, and therefore pays attention to embodiment as central to our being in the world with others.

Why does the issue invite both art and academic contributions?