Virtual Exhibition: Black Monuments Matter – A Virtual Exhibition of Sub-Saharan Architecture

Please visit the exhibition website for more information via the link below:

https://black-monuments-matter.zamaniproject.org

Organisers: Professor Stephane Pradines and Professor (emeritus) Dr. Heinz Rüther 
The Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and the Zamani Project at the University of Cape Town are pleased to present the online exhibition “Black Monuments Matter”. 

Black Monuments Matter recognises and highlights African contributions to world history by exhibiting World Heritage Monuments and architectural treasures from Sub-Saharan Africa. 

In doing so, this exhibition sweeps away ideas based on racist theories and hopes to contribute to both awareness of African identity and pride of African Heritage. The exhibition is inspired by the “Black History Month” in the United Kingdom. 

Black monuments matter and Black cultures matter. Sites and monuments are physical representations of histories, heritage, and developments in society. This exhibition aims to display the diversity and richness of African cultures as part of world history through the study of African Monuments; bringing awareness and pride of African roots and contributions to other cultures. 

African cultures suffered extensively from slavery from the 16th to the 19th Century, and during the acceleration of European colonisation through the 19th and early 20th Century. Black Monuments Matter aspires to create links to living African heritage by making it visible, assessable, and known to as many people as possible. 

In general, we would like to raise awareness of and respect towards Black cultures and Africa’s past to a larger audience. At the Aga Khan University, the University of Cape Town and the Zamani Project, we believe in the relevance and knowledge of cultures, and the importance of education towards its understanding and appreciation. 

Through an approach founded on the latest knowledge and technology, this online exhibition offers visitors an opportunity to learn more about the glorious monuments and sites of African heritage and black cultures across Sub Saharan Africa. 

The African continent has numerous sites and monuments of historic and cultural importance, and our exhibition showcases some of its diversity and richness. From the Pyramids of Sudan, the Great Mosque of Timbuktu, to the Swahili cities of East Africa, each site is presented in a virtual room and is introduced by short texts written by African scholars. 

Many of Africa’s monuments are protected by UNESCO and have been given world heritage status. They are also protected and supported by national heritage authorities and by the support of international organisations such as the World Monument Fund and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. 

Our hope is that visitors to this exhibition will recognise and support the work of national and international organisations committed to the support of African heritage. 

All the documentation presented in the exhibition are the result of many years of dedicated work by the Zamani team from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.  

Commentary on the Exhibition:

Dodé Houéhounha, African World Heritage Specialist 
Bryan Koffi Opoby, Junior African World Heritage Specialist

Patiently but surely, we make our way. As protests spread across the globe against systemic racism, police brutality, and injustice, 2020 turned out to be an exceptional year to reflect on what can be done to empower Black lives. This desire to correct an outdated and racially targeted system applies to many different areas such as education systems, employment opportunities, health care, and also, to the history and richness of the African continent. 

In “Black Monuments Matter”, as in the expression “Black Lives Matter”, it is the philosophical precision that counts. “To matter” is of course about the importance of social recognition, but what stands out in these words is surely the refusal of discrimination and the desire for equality. The desire of a community to rediscover, make known, and have its history and heritage recognised. It is this dynamic that currently drives the African heritage sector. 

Indeed, African experts are today multiplying actions in order to preserve and promote a heritage that is unfortunately endangered. Over the last few years, many actions have been carried out with the aim of continuously improving the conservation and management of African World Heritage sites. There are numerous examples testifying to the successes of recent years. 

The creation in 2006 of the African World Heritage Fund, whose objective is to provide financial and technical support for the effective conservation and protection of cultural and natural heritage, is one such example. This is also reflected in the growing involvement of motivated young people, in the increased participation of schools, and the growing number of training courses accessible in the heritage field. We should also note the increase in international funding collaborations, particularly in terms of capacity building workshops for site managers and, above all, in assistance provided to strengthen nomination files for the inscription of sites on the World Heritage List. These actions, taken collaboratively by a wide range of heritage actors, bear witness to the current dynamic. 

In this virtual exhibition, you will be guided through some of Africa’s World Heritage sites. The Old Towns of Djenné, inscribed in 1988 are an exceptional witness to the pre-Islamic civilizations of the inland Delta of the Niger, and an outstanding example of an architectural group of buildings that illustrate a significant historic period. The Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela represent a unique artistic achievement, in size and the variety and boldness of their forms. It is also an exceptional testimony to the medieval and post-medieval civilization of Ethiopia. As for the Asante Traditional Buildings, they are the last remaining testimony of the unique architectural style of the great Asante Kingdom. 
The diversity of the sites that are here presented is a reflection of the diversity of African heritage. With this exhibition, you will discover the richness and variety of a heritage that transcends time, ages and eras. 

In this exceptional context of health crisis, where these sites of exceptional value are now hardly accessible, it is this form of digital initiative that keeps our heritage alive. The use of new technologies to promote our incredible heritage and allow us to make it accessible to as many people as possible. It is only this way, by multiplying actions for its promotion and accessibility, that we will succeed in showing, raising awareness and educating people about the wealth of African history and heritage. This is a task that requires a lot of initiative yet, patiently but surely, we will make our way.

Funding: Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, Deadline – November 1st 2020


For over a century, the American Academy in Rome has awarded the Rome Prize to support innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities. Each year, the prize is awarded to about thirty artists and scholars who represent the highest standard of excellence and who are in the early or middle stages of their careers.

Fellowships are awarded in the following disciplines:

  • Ancient studies
  • Architecture
  • Design: includes graphic, industrial, interior, exhibition, set, costume, and fashion design, urban design, city planning, engineering, and other design fields
  • Historic preservation and conservation
  • Landscape architecture: includes environmental design and planning, landscape/ecological urbanism, landscape history, sustainability and ecological studies, and geography
  • Literature: includes fiction, literary nonfiction, and poetry
  • Medieval studies
  • Modern Italian studies
  • Musical composition
  • Renaissance and early modern studies
  • Visual arts: includes painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, film and video, installation, new media, digital arts, and other visual-arts fields

Each Rome Prize winner is provided with a stipend, meals, a bedroom with private bath, and a private workspace. Those with children under eighteen live in partially subsidized apartments nearby. Winners of half- and full-term fellowships receive stipends of $16,000 and $28,000, respectively.

Rome Prize winners are the core of the Academy’s residential community, which includes Affiliated Fellows, Residents, and Visiting Artists and Scholars.

Owing to the fluctuating dollar/euro exchange rate and the high cost of living in Rome, the stipends offered may not cover all expenses. This is especially true for Rome Prize winners who come to Rome with families. The American Academy in Rome welcomes spouses, companions, and children of Rome Prize winners. However, Fellows with families often incur expenses that exceed the Fellow’s stipend, so those wishing to bring their families are advised to supplement their stipends with additional funds.

Full-term fellowships generally run from early September through the following June. Winners of half-term fellowships may indicate a preference to begin in September or February.

For further information on the Rome Prize, and guidance on applications, please see the link below:

https://www.aarome.org/apply/rome-prize

CFP: ‘What does Animation mean in the Middle Ages? Theoretical and Historical Approaches’ (Bialystok, Poland, September 16 – 19 2021), Deadline April 1 2021

International conference organized by:
A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art – Branch Campus in Bialystok, Poland and University of Bergen, Norway

This conference is concerned with the agency and life of material objects and evolves around the investigation of two interlaced objectives. First, the project will shed light on understudied aspects of medieval visual culture, focusing in particular on the agency of images and material objects. Second, it will provide new cutting-edge theoretical reflections and methodologies concerning the study of material agency and “living images” today. We argue that the cultural use of and interaction with images may be regarded as more than mere historically or culturally specific phenomenon. Rather, it concerns the ontology of images and constitutes a fundamental aspect of our life with images, in the premodern as well as in the contemporary. It is our contention that images are embedded in social interaction and that animation is deeply constitutive of the production of meaning. Animation, we argue, is not only located in the mind of the beholder, but in the epistemology, creation, interaction and materiality of images. Furthermore, we will argue that medieval animation may inform contemporary views on animation and provide us with a more precise vocabulary to capture current phenomena for instance in the digital world. The conference aim to be interdisciplinary and transhistorical in its perspective. The conference targets scholars of visual studies, material studies, study of religions, anthropology, medieval studies and theology. It is also relevant more generally for current discussions about the life and agency of seemingly dead matter.

There are four main topics of the conference:
– Physical animation of art-works and other artefacts (sculptures, reliquaries, paintings etc.)
– Mental “animations” of objects (art-works, and other artefacts)
– Animation in a theatrical context (mystery-plays, liturgical plays and staging’s, puppets and other theatrical use of figures and sculptures) 
– Medieval and Early Modern animation in the 20th Century and contemporary theatrical practices.

The Conference takes as its point of departure the work of the newly organized international research-project: The Living Image (LIMA): On the ontology, agency and personhood of living images and objects – medieval and modern. This project is coordinated from the University of Bergen, Norway, and consists of a group of researchers from Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, and USA, and the work of the international research network: The European Network on the Instruments of Devotion – ENID: https://enid.w.uib.no/

The conference in Bialystok is designed to be a platform for the exchange of opinions, ideas, and historical documentation, as well as the starting point for a publication. We plan to publish a collection of articles offering an interdisciplinary academic survey of the topic of animation in the Middle Ages, and its reception in the 20th Century.

Confirmed key-note speakers: Peter Dent, Ph.D., University of Bristol, GB; Prof. Cynthia Hahn, The City University of New York, USA; Prof. Hans Henrik Lohfert Jørgensen, University of Aarhus, Denmark; Amy Whitehead, Ph. D., Massey University, New Zealand

The language of the conference is English. Each contributor will be given 20 minutes to present his/her paper. Please send abstracts of no longer than 500 words, together with a short CV and personal data at the following email: medievalanimation@gmail.com

Deadline: April 1, 2021.

Conference fee: 25 Euros (15 Euros for Ph.D. students)

Conference organised by:
Kamil Kopania, Ph.D., A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art – Branch Campus in Bialystok, Poland (https://atb.edu.pl/o-wydziale/pedagodzy/dr-kamil-kopania)
Henning Laugerud, Associate Professor, Dr. Art., Department of Linguistic, Literary, and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen, Norway (https://www.uib.no/en/persons/Henning.Laugerud)

Scientific committee:
Henrik von Achen, Professor, Director of the University Museum, University of Bergen, Norway
Kristin Bliksrud Aavitsland, Professor Ph.D., MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway
Barbara Baert, Professor, Ph.D., Art History, Faculty of Arts, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Jørgen Bakke, Associate Professor, Dr. Art., Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies, University of Bergen, Norway
Carla Maria Bino, Professor, Ph.D., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia, Italy
Christophe Chaguinian, Associate Professor, Ph.D., College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, University of North Texas, USA
Peter Dent, Ph.D., Department of History of Art, University of Bristol, Great Britain 
Rob Faesen, Professor Ph.D., Department of History of Church and Theology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Cynthia Hahn, Professor, Ph.D., Medieval Art History, Hunter College, The City University of New York, USA
Hans Henrik Lohfert Jørgensen, Associate Prof., School of Communication and Culture – Art History, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Jon P. Mitchell, Professor, Ph.D., Social Anthropology, University of Sussex, Great Britain
David Morgan, Professor Ph.D., Religious Studies & Art, Art History and Visual Studies, Duke University, USA
Salvador Ryan, Professor. Ph.D., Ecclesiastical History, Pontifical University St Patricks College, Maynooth, Ireland
Zuzanna Sarnecka, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Institute of Art History, University of Warsaw, Poland 
Laura Katrine Skinnebach, Ph.D., School of Communication and Culture – Art History, University of Aarhus, Denmark
Allie Terry-Fritsch, Associate Professor, Ph.D., School of Art – Art History, Bowling Green State University, USA

The conference will take place in Bialystok at the:
The A. Zelwerowicz National Academy of Dramatic Art 
Branch Campus in Białystok 
(Puppet Theatre Art Department) 
H. Sienkiewicza 14, 
15–092 Białystok, Poland
www.atb.edu.pl
e-mail: sekretariat@atb.edu.pl

Jobs: Wellman Chair in Medieval History, UCLA – Deadline 1 November 2020

The UCLA History Department seeks a senior historian of any region of Europe (including the Byzantine world) focusing on any period from late antiquity to 1400. We are searching for a senior Associate or a Full Professor with a distinguished research and publication record, who is a leader in the field as well as a dedicated teacher and mentor. A PhD in history or a related field is required. 

The department welcomes candidates whose experience in teaching, research or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence. This position is subject to final administrative approval.

Please see the link below for more information about the role, and how to apply:

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF05574

Online Seminar: History of Liturgy Seminar Cycle – The Manuscript Remains of the Abbess-Saints of Barking Abbey by Katie Bugyis, 5 October 18:30

Tonights online lecture marks the first of the History of Liturgy seminar cycle hosted by the Institute of Historical Research. The cycle has been organised by Helen Gittos (Oxford), Sarah Hamilton (Exeter), John Harper (Bangor), Eyal Poleg (Queen Mary), Teresa Webber (Cambridge) and Henry Parkes (Nottingham). This terms events will be hosted via Zoom. Booking is essential.

To book your place to attend this lecture via zoom, follow the booking links on the link below:

https://www.history.ac.uk/events/manuscript-remains-abbess-saints-barking-abbey

Katie Bugyis is a historian of Christian theology, liturgical practice, and material culture, who is particularly interested in reconstructing the lived experiences of religious women in the Middle Ages through their documents of practice and other material remains. Her book, The Care of Nuns: Benedictine Women’s Ministries in England during the Central Middle Ages (Oxford University Press, 2019), recovers the liturgical practices of Benedictine nuns in England from 900 to 1225 primarily through detailed analyses of the books their communities produced and used.

Please contact ihr.events@sas.ac.uk for more information about this event.

For information about further events in this lecture cycle, please see the image below.

Online Lecture: Raphael 500: Raphael: Authorship, Networks, Workshop, The Warburg Institute, 15 October 2020, 17:30-19:00

Professor Ulrich Pfisterer (Director, Zentralinstitut)

In the first event in the Warburg’s new series Raphael 500, Professor Pfisterer will focus on two related works by Raphael to address key questions concerning the relevance of authorship for the painter and his workshop, his approach to theoretical thinking, and the composition and interaction of his social network.

Raphael’s work in painting, drawing, architecture and design had a profound effect on the arts, influencing not only his own time but also ours. Raphael 500 celebrates the painter’s life and marks the year of his death with a programme that considers elements of his approaches to the invention and production of works of art and looks at the way the study of Raphael widens our understanding of other Italian Renaissance artists. 

This event is also part of the Director’s Seminar series, which brings leading scholars and writers to the Institute to share new work and fresh perspectives on key issues in their fields.


FREE VIA ZOOM. PLEASE BOOK IN ADVANCE – BOOK HERE.

More information can be found here.

New Publication: Treasure, Memory, Nature: Church Objects in the Middle Ages, by Philippe Cordez

Precious metalwork, relics, chess pieces, ostrich eggs, unicorn horns, and bones of giants were among the treasury objects accumulated in churches during the Middle Ages. The material manifestations of a Christian worldview, they would only later become naturalia and objets d’art, from the sixteenth and the nineteenth century onwards, respectively.

Philippe Cordez traces the rhetorical origination, economic development, and later history of church treasures, and explores the forms and functions of the memorial objects that constituted them. Such objects were a source of wonder for their contemporaries and remain so today, albeit for quite different reasons. Indeed, our fascination relates primarily to their epistemic and aesthetic qualities. Dealing also with these paradigm shifts, this study opens up new paths toward an archeology of current scholarly and museum practices.

For more information see the link below:

http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9781912554614-1

Online Lecture: A Rock-Hewn Revolution in Early Medieval Ethiopia, by Dr Mikael Muehlbauer, Courtauld Institute of Art, 28 October 2020, 5-6pm

Following the collapse of the late antique empire of Aksum, northern Ethiopia entered a “dark age” period, wherein little is known of the region. However, around the year 1000, a triad of cruciform churches were hewn out of rock in East Tigray, unparalleled in scale, form and the use of vaulting. This talk argue that these rock-cut churches were built in a period where Fatimid Egyptian investment in the Red Sea trade promoted a post-Aksumite state which in turn provided economic and political stability in northern Ethiopia. This also involved the sending of new ecclesiastical authorities from the Coptic Patriarchate, newly relocated to Fustat. These churches as such exhibit experimental forms in Ethiopian architecture, including spatial hierarchy based around a central module, and barrel vaulting: features which were not found in the region earlier. This paper locates these enigmatic buildings within broader historical citations and revivalism that occurred in the art and architecture of the Mediterranean, produced around the year 1000. It proposes that the radical plan and articulation the three churches embody was effectively a reinvention of the aisled cruciform churches of late antiquity, engineered through new architectural techniques introduced from Fatimid Egypt. 


Dr Mikael Muehlbauer is a specialist in the architecture of Medieval Ethiopia and Egypt. He is currently a Core-Lecturer in Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University where he earned his PhD in 2020. His book project is the first monographic study of cruciform churches in northern Ethiopia, informed by extensive field research and site documentation there. Mikael Muehlbauer’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks, the American Research Center in Egypt, the Historians of Islamic Art Association, the Society of the Architectural Historians and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. He has published articles in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, West 86th and Aethiopica. 

Find out more here.

Booking is essential – register here.

This is a live online event.  Please register for more details. The platform and log in details will be sent to attendees at least 48 hours before the event. Please note that registration closes one hour before the event start time. If you have not received the log in details or have any further queries, please contact researchforum@courtauld.ac.uk. 

Call for Submissions: Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archaeology and Art, Deadline 15 February 2021

Authenticity Studies-International Journal of Archaeology and Art is an international and independent journal, based on a peer review system and dedicated to the study of the methods of attribution and authentication of archaeological and art-historical artifacts.

Founded by Monica Salvadori (Editor in Chief), Federica Toniolo, Andrea Tomezzoli, Marta Nezzo, Monica Baggio and Luca Zamparo, Authenticity Studies is a journal of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua and is published by Padova University Press. Authenticity Studies is an open access electronic journal (with ISSN). It is based on an anonymous and international double peer review system.

Authors submitting a contribution to Authenticity Studies guarantee the originality of their works, the intellectual property of the contribution and the absence of conflicts of interest or economic interests arising from the publication of the attribution/authentication. Authenticity Studies does not accept attribution or authentication researches of objects of uncertain or incorrectly reconstructed provenance (and/or ownership).

Authenticity Studies does not accept attributions or authentication of items offered for sale. Authenticity Studies publishes a yearly issue in October. Manuscripts must be sent to authenticity.studies.dbc@unipd.it by February 15th, 2021. Publication is free of charge.

Info: luca.zamparo@unipd.it (Managing Editor)

For more updates on Authenticity Studies see the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/MemO.UNIPD

CFP: Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (June 21-23, 2021 Saint Louis University Saint Louis, Missouri), Deadline December 31, 2020

The Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (June 21-23, 2021) is a convenient summer venue in North America for scholars to present papers, organize sessions, participate in roundtables, and engage in interdisciplinary discussion. The goal of the Symposium is to promote serious scholarly investigation into all topics and in all disciplines of medieval and early modern studies.

The plenary speakers for this year will be David Abulafia, of Cambridge University, and Barbara Rosenwein, of Loyal University, Chicago.

The Symposium is held annually on the beautiful midtown campus of Saint Louis University. On campus housing options include affordable, air-conditioned apartments as well as a luxurious boutique hotel. Inexpensive meal plans are also available, although there is a wealth of restaurants, bars, and cultural venues within easy walking distance of campus.

While attending the Symposium participants are free to use the Vatican Film Library, the Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection, and the general collection at Saint Louis University’s Pius XII Memorial Library.

The Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies invites proposals for papers, complete sessions, and roundtables. Any topics regarding the scholarly investigation of the medieval and early modern world are welcome. Papers are normally twenty minutes each and sessions are scheduled for ninety minutes. Scholarly organizations are especially encouraged to sponsor proposals for complete sessions.

For more information please visit:

 https://www.smrs-slu.org/