CFP: ‘Boundaries in Medieval Art and Architecture’, The Courtauld 19th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium 2014, deadline 22 November 2013

Event to take place: Saturday 1 February 2014
The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

This colloquium aims to question the assumption that medieval art was governed by categories and boundaries by highlighting the fluidity and flexibility that existed within art and architecture at the time. The colloquium will explore the issue of the creation and articulation of boundaries, and how art ventured to transgress visual, architectural, and cultural divisions. This can include conventions and their adaptations both within one specific medieval culture, such as Islamic or Byzantine, or in a wider, trans-regional context. Participants are invited to interpret boundaries in the wider sense of the word, encompassing geographical locations, artistic media, architectural spaces, or cultural traditions, and to examine their visual and spatial subversion. This theme can be expanded to include questions of in-betweenness and hybridity, where boundaries are kept intact or become blurred without being fully discarded.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

• architectural boundaries and their significance or violation
• geographical and cultural boundaries
• transgression of artistic media
• visual representations of boundaries
• in-betweenness and hybridity
• the visual articulation of liminality and marginality

The Medieval Colloquium offers the opportunity for Research Students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and promote their research. We cannot fund travel for speakers, and therefore students from outside London are encouraged to apply to their institutions for subsidies to attend the colloquium.
Please send proposals for 15 to 20-minute papers of no more than 250 words and a CV to lara.frentrop@courtauld.ac.uk and maria.rossi@courtauld.ac.uk no later than Friday 22 November 2013.