Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University International Congress on Medieval Studies, 11-13 May 2023
Session. Political reuse of Medieval sculpture: Family strategies and (re)construction of the past (https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call#special)
Organizers: Laura Cavazzini, Clario Di Fabio, Paola Vitolo
The iconic value of sculpture, combined with the fact that it can readily be adapted to new contexts, makes it susceptible to be reused, reenforcing new social, political and cultural messages. The session aims to analyse cases of reuse, repurposing and recarving of Medieval sculpture in the Modern Time (15th-18th centuries) inspired by the need to communicate new cultural and political messages of high symbolic value. Papers will investigate strategies of visualization of political and social claims from the part of families and royal courts, within more general processes of creation and/or consolidation of dynastic memories and powers.
The session is part of the activities of the MemId (= Memory and Identity. Reuse, rework and rearrangement of the Medieval sculpture in the Modern Age, between historical research and new technologies: https://memid.it/) project funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research, which is conducting in various regions of Italy a systematic and in-depth study of the topic, with a team of young researchers. The session will be an opportunity to discuss the topic with a wide range of international scholars of different geographical and cultural areas.
The session will be held online.
Please submit abstracts no later than 15 September ONLY through the ICMS Confex site: icms.confex.com/icms/2023/cfp.cgi
See the congress web page for information about registration fees: https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration
Please direct all questions or concerns to paola.vitolo@unina.it
Medieval Art Research 