Fairy-Tale trouble and the art of fluidity: gender, genre, media

​The two-day conference 'Fairy-Tale Trouble and the Art of Fluidity: Gender, Genre, Media' aims to spark a flow of ideas among early-career researchers, postgraduate students and senior scholars with interdisciplinary interests in fairy-tale studies, gender studies, media studies and visual arts.

​This event seeks to explore the streams of fairy-tale re-imaginings across languages, cultures and media, with a focus on unusual and innovative re-interpretations that challenge fixed conceptions of gender and genre, thus inviting us to rethink the fairy tale as an intrinsically fluid form of art. How does the fairy tale as a fluid artistic form trouble rigid understandings of gender and genre? How do contemporary writers, film and theatre directors, artists and activists incorporate fairy tales into their works to destabilise fixed categories?

​The conference will feature an in-person keynote lecture by Prof. Vanessa Joosen (University of Antwerp). The Alison Richard Building will host an in-person pop-up exhibition of Emma Dante’s fairy tales, illustrated by Maria Cristina Costa. Emma Dante and Maria Cristina Costa will also take part in an online interview.