"Quart. Quarterly of Art History Institute at the University of Wroclaw"
Medieval Wroclaw – Visual Arts and Architecture – call for papers for the 69th issue of “Quart”

Deadline for submission of papers: 10 June 2023
Printing of the issue: September 2023
Guest editor: dr hab. Romuald Kaczmarek, prof. UWr.

Wrocław (Wratislavia, Breslau), founded in the middle of the 13th century, developed in the late Middle Ages into the largest and most important city in Silesia. However, long before it was granted town rights, it played a central cultural and artistic role in the region due to its status as a ducal and episcopal residence. There were several churches built in the Romanesque period. Some, such as the Premonstratensian monastery church, survived until the beginning of early modern times, while of others merely fragments have remained. The "golden episco-pate" era of the 14th century and the most late medieval period from the 15th to the early 16th centuries brought an unusually dynamic growth of the city's architectural fabric in terms of both sacred and secular buildings. Their interiors and façades received rich sculptural and painted decorations. The commissioners came from different social and cultural backgrounds – the clergy (bishops, abbots, canons, parish clergy, etc.) and the burghers ( city council, guilds, families). Situated on the Via Regia trading route, the city was naturally linked to the western European area and connected to its eastern regions. Political ties (from 1335 it be-longed to the King of Bohemia) and family migrations (southern Germany, Toruń, Krakow and others) also contributed to its multiculturalism. The subject of medieval art and architec-ture in Wrocław has been covered in recent years in monographs, post-conference volumes and exhibition catalogues, for example: J. Adamski, Gotycka architektura sakralna na Śląsku w latach 1200-1420 [Gothic sacral architecture in Silesia between 1200-1420], Kraków 2017; A. Patała, Pod znakiem świętego Sebalda. Rola Norymbergi w kształtowaniu późnogotyckiego malarstwa tablicowego na Śląsku [Under the Sign of Saint Sebald. The role of Nuremberg in the formation of late Gothic panel painting in Silesia], Wrocław 2018; Katedra wrocławska na przestrzeni tysiąclecia, [Wrocław Cathedral through the millennium], Ed. R. Kaczmarek, D. Galewski, Wrocław 2018; Migracje. Sztuka późnogotycka na Śląsku, [Migrations. Late Gothic Art in Silesia], Ed. A. Patała, Wrocław 2018. However, it is a research area where discoveries can constantly be made and past findings re-evaluated.
We expect texts that would present issues such as:

• artists, workshops, works created in or arriving/imported to Wrocław;
• export of works created in Wrocław;
• artistic phenomena and works in an analytical/monographic/issue-baded approach;
• iconographic analyses of the works in a broad sense, especially if their content results from or is connected with the Wrocław context.

We are open to papers whose subject matter or approach could not be included in the above-mentioned categories, but which will fit into the main theme of the issue.
Papers (from 20,000 to 40,000 characters in Polish or English, with up to 10 illustrations) should be submitted in format specified in the guidelines (to be downloaded from the web-site: https://quart.uni.wroc.pl/guidelines-for-the-authors) before June, 10th, 2023, to the ad-dress: quart@uwr.edu.pl.
The editors reserve the right to select given papers. All the submitted papers will be subject to a double-blind review, in line with COPE guidelines.

“Quart” is a regularly published quarterly journal by the Institute of Art History of the Univer-sity of Wroclaw. It is indexed in ERIH+, CEJSH and BazHum databases. It was awarded a grant under the “Support for 500 Scientific Journals” Programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It is included in the list of scientific journals of the Ministry of Educa-tion and Science as of 1.12.2022 with 70 points.
The current number can be purchased in EMPiK chain stores. Archival issues are available in libraries and in a digitalized form in Polona website: https://polona.pl/search/?query=quart.

 

"Quart. Quarterly of Art History Institute at the University of Wroclaw"
Interface aesthetics in digital games – call for papers for the 70th issue of “Quart”

Deadline for submission of papers: 10 September 2023
Printing of the issue: Dezember 2023
Guest editor: dr Joanna Pigulak

The proposition included in the title above expresses an invitation to reflect on the specificity of the design, use and experience of interfaces in video-games. In this view, interfaces are considered as multifunctional system devices and software elements that serve to communicate between the player and the system –conveying information about gameplay specifics and providing tools to reconfigure individual game elements. In order for interfaces to serve the above functions, they need to be properly designed and made available to the player. The audiovisual design of the interfaces proves to be particularly important. The visual appearance of interfaces –their design –stimulates the user's immersion experience, contributes to the dynamics and fluidity of gameplay and, consequently, to the reception and perception of the game, conveys information about the creative process and the designer's intentions. Interfaces –due to their diversity and originality –are of high aesthetic value. They are not only sense-making elements, tools with a high degree of functionality, but reach the art object status because of the way they are designed. Furthermore, interfaces in digital games are among the most dynamically developing, resulting in the creation of many of their types and kinds. They can occupy a large part of the navigable space of a game, or aim for almost complete transparency; they undergo stylisation and mediatisation, and function as diegetic or non-diegetic signs. The artistic potential of interfaces, which lies in their constant changeability and the openness of their creators to experimentation, makes them seem worth subjecting to inclusive, inter-and transdisciplinary reflection. In view of the above, I would like to propose a discussion on the aesthetics of interfaces, taking into account the following themes and motifs (however, these are only proposals, which certainly do not exhaust the diversity and complexity of the issue):

• typologies of graphical user interfaces;
• digital game interface architecture: leading interaction models;
• text as interface –the aesthetics of textual interfaces (diaries, memoirs, tutorials and walkthroughs);
• styling in interface design (painting interfaces, book interfaces, comic book interfaces, etc.);
• the intermediality of interfaces –film/ TV series/internet interfaces in games;
• diegetic space of the game as an interface;
• interfaces as a plot device;
• diegetic and non-diegetic interfaces in the context of user immersion/emersion;
• the realism of interfaces;
• the interface as a source of aesthetic experience –comedy, tragedy, grotesque, pastiche etc;
• interfaces versus literary genetics –the specificity of interfaces in genre games;
• the interface as a communication tool between the creator and the viewer;
• designing interfaces –the creative process;
• designing interfaces –leading interaction models;
• interfaces in a diachronic perspective: development and evolution;
• retro-interfaces;
• the human as interface;
• types and functions of auditory and voice interfaces;
• interface versus game ontology: issues of space-time;
• interface games;
• virtual camera as an interface;
• space mapping: map interfaces;
• photo mode interface –features, capabilities and development prospects;
• aesthetic text transformations via the interface: overlays, filters and special game-play modes;
• case studies of graphical user interfaces in selected games.

Papers (from 20,000 to 40,000 characters in Polish or English, with up to 10 illustrations) should be submitted in format specified in the guidelines (to be downloaded from the website: https://quart.uni.wroc.pl/guidelines-for-the-authors) before September, 10th, 2023, to the address: quart@uwr.edu.pl.
The editors reserve the right to select given papers. All the submitted papers will be subject to a double-blind review, in line with COPE guidelines.

“Quart” is a regularly published quarterly journal by the Institute of Art History of the University of Wroclaw. It is indexed in ERIH+, CEJSH and BazHum databases. It was awarded a grant under the “Support for 500 Scientific Journals” Programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. It is included in the list of scientific journals of the Ministry of Education and Science as of 1.12.2022 with 70 points.
The current number can be purchased in EMPiK chain stores. Archival issues are available in libraries and in a digitalized form in Polona website: https://polona.pl/search/?query=quart.