New Europe College, Bucharest
Deadline: Nov 30, 2018

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
for a series of three one-week seminars on periodization in the history of art to take place at the New Europe College-Institute for Advanced Study in BucharestA program supported by the Getty Foundation as part of its Connecting Art Histories initiative

We propose a series of three seminars of one-week duration each on periodization and related issues in the history of art, whose addressees are to be early-career art historians from East-Central Europe, and which would include a number of invited guest speakers, from this region, and outside it. Though a sense that the conventional periodizations are in need of revision can be detected earlier, a more pointed reflection on this topic can be noticed after the demise of communism and the dismantling of the colonial system. In the aftermath of the 1989 events in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, a number of scholars felt the pressing need to reconsider the place of local art histories within the established narratives, and to reflect on how these local histories might fit within the Western canon, or to question its authority.

This series of seminars aims, on the one hand, to address questions that are (or so we deem) of interest to art historians in the countries of East-Central Europe in ways that would counter a piece-meal approach, mostly dictated by national borders, in favor of a more unified one, and would provide an opportunity to identify common concerns, and perhaps also case studies that could (or should) encourage cross-border collaboration. A broad framework for researching art historical narratives in the region on a comparative basis is still lacking. There is also limited cross-cultural knowledge at the level of curricula and teaching methodologies. In universities across the region Western Art is researched and taught mostly according to the established periodization and categories (the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, historical avant-gardes, contemporary art etc.). Should it, and could it be taught differently? There is less consensus regarding the same categories in Eastern and Central Europe, which is not a homogenous cultural entity. Can such a consensus be reached? In what ways would this prove productive?

STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
The Program will consist of a series of three one-week seminars with the participation of up to 20 early career scholars from East-Central Europe, up to 4 keynote/guest speakers, the Coordinator and the Consultants.
During each of the seminars we would expect about a third among the participants to present their work in progress on a case study, which would make for six-seven papers in all. Scholars presenting papers will be identified in advance (and their agreement to do so secured), and papers will be – whenever possible – circulated before the seminar among the participants, so as to make possible a productive, in-depth discussion.

Dates:
– First seminar: mid-May 2019;
– Second seminar: first half of November 2019;
– Third seminar: last week of May 2020

Guest speakers:
Zdenka BADOVINAC, curator and writer, since 1993 Director of the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana;

Mieke BAL, Professor of Theory of Literature and founding Director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam;

Patrick FLORES, Professor of Art Studies at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, Curator of the Vargas Museum in Manila, and Adjunct Curator at the National Art Gallery, Singapore;

Andrea GIUNTA, Professor of Art History at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and former Chair in Latin American Art History and Criticism at UT Austin;

Krista KODRES, Professor at the Institute of Art History and Visual Culture of the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn, and Head of the Doctoral Curriculum in Art History;

Saloni MATHUR, Professor, Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, Department of Art History, UCLA;

Matthew RAMPLEY, Professor, Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies, Chair of Art History, University of Birmingham;

Miodrag ŠUVAKOVIĆ, Professor of Theory of Art and Theory of Culture at the Transdisciplinary Master and Doctoral Studies at the Faculty of Media and Communication, University of Arts in Belgrade;

Christopher WOOD, Professor and Chair, Department of German, New York University (Affiliated Faculty, Department of Comparative Literature and Institute of Fine Arts).

ELIGIBILITY
The program targets early-career art historians from Central and Eastern European countries. They should hold a PhD or be in a demonstrably advanced stage of work on the thesis and be citizens of one of the former socialist states in East-Central Europe or of the post-Soviet republics. Once selected, the applicants are expected to take part in the whole series of seminars.

Travel, accommodation and meals will be arranged and covered by the organizing institution.

HOW TO APPLY
Applications will be submitted in electronic format only, to the address:
applications@nec.ro

Candidates are asked to enter in the Subject field of their e-mail message “Periodizationseminar series”.

There is no application form for this program. More information regarding the documents that the application should contain can be found on the following webpage:

http://www.nec.ro/data/pdfs/public-events/2018/october/Call%20for%20applications%20(4).pdf

The deadline for the submission of applications is November 30.

The results of the selection process will be communicated by February 15