CFP: ‘Troubling Desires: Queer and Trans Approaches to Medieval Art’, Congress of the Swiss Association of Art Historians, deadline 12 September 2025.

The 6th Swiss Congress for Art History will be held in Geneva from 7 to 9 September 2026. Organized jointly by the Swiss Association of Art Historians (VKKS | ASHHA | ASSSA) and the Division of Art History at the University of Geneva, the congress is aimed at art historians, art researchers and experts from all fields (including both practice and theory), and all institutions. 

Find out more about the congress here. 

Papers are invited for this session which aims to foster exchanges between those who work on gender and sexuality in the field of medieval art history. It is premised on the idea that the tools required to study premodern sexuality and gender in and as related to the visual arts are not necessarily those that have been so central to modern and contemporary histories of these topics. As such, this session aims to present a series of case studies that offer new approaches to works of art and explore medieval configurations of sexuality and gender that are distinct from and complementary to contemporary studies in this field.

Deadline is 12 September 2025.

You are invited to submit proposals for 20-minute papers. Acceptance decisions will be made by the conveners of the individual sessions, supervised by the advisory board of the 6th Swiss Congress for Art History.

We welcome contributions in German, English, French, and Italian, in the hope of assembling multilingual sessions that reflect the topical and institutional diversity of the field and foster young academics.

Please send an abstract (1 page, max. 3ʹ000 characters) and a short curriculum vitae including institutional affiliation and contact details to the relevant session conveners by 12 September 2025.

Please also CC the Congress Bureau of the 6th Swiss Congress for Art History in Geneva at vkks2026@unige.ch. All speakers will receive a contribution to their travel and accommodation costs and will be exempt from the congress registration fee.

Congress Direction: Régine Bonnefoit (VKKS / Université de Neuchâtel); Frédéric Elsig, Marie Theres Stauffer, and Giovanna Zapperi (Université de Genève).

Congress Organization: The scientific assistants of the Division of Art History at the University of Geneva; Catherine Nuber (VKKS). 

Advisory Board: Jan Behrendt, Marie-Eve Celio-Scheurer, and Milan Garcin (Musée d’art et d’histoire, Genève); Régine Bonnefoit (VKKS / Université de Neuchâtel); Lionel Bovier (Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Genève); Babina Chaillot-Calame (Service cantonal des monuments historiques du Canton de Genève); Frédéric Elsig, Marie Theres Stauffer, and Giovanna Zapperi (Université de Genève); Joanna Haefeli and Lada Umstätter (HEAD – Genève, Haute école d’art et de design); Urte Krass (Universität Bern).