CFP: ‘The Concertina-Fold Book, Across Premodern Cultures’, IMC Leeds 2023, deadline 12 September 2022

CFP Leeds, International Medieval Congress, 3–6 July 2023 

‘Accordion’, ‘concertina’, ‘pleated’, ‘screenfold’ —scholars use a variety of terms to describe the zig-zag- or ‘fan’-fold book format. Although not identical in structure, books of this type share at least one common feature: they (appear to) comprise a continuous, oblong surface broken by creases. Most are bound in such a way that they can be flipped through like a codex; some can be fully or partially extended to reveal multiple ‘pages’ at once. Just how and even what information was articulated across the surfaces of concertinas, the extent to which the different folded states were meaningfully exploited by premodern people—these are among the questions to be explored in this session. We seek papers that consider the contents and mechanics of concertinas in various cultural contexts. By taking a comparative approach, we aim to identify commonalities that may signal formal imperatives whilst sharpening our understanding of particularities preserved in different traditions. Proposals by individuals in the academic, museum and library sectors; at any stage of their careers; and from any discipline and field of study are welcome. Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words along with your CV and the information below (required by IMC) by 12 September 2022 to Megan McNamee: mmcnamee@ed.ac.uk. Information to include with abstract and short CV: 

  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Postal address
  • Telephone number
  • Affiliation details (department, institution)
  • Title (e.g. Dr, Ms, Mr, Mx, Professor etc)

Organised by Sarah Griffin, Lambeth Palace Library, and Megan McNamee, University of Edinburgh 

Link to PDF of announcement:https://www.academia.edu/85424453/CFP_IMC_Leeds_2023_The_Concertina_Fold_Book_Across_Premodern_Cultures?source=swp_share

CFP: ‘African Networks and Entanglements in a “Medieval World”’, IMC 2023, deadline 19 Sep 2022

International Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK, 3–6 July 2023

The study of European-Asian interaction or the medieval Mediterranean has long been established within Medieval Studies; in more recent years, the Indian Ocean has also become the subject of increasing scholarly attention. The integration of the role of the extensive continent of Africa, its networks, realms, and agents, into the concept of the “Global Medieval”, however, remains an ongoing challenge for the field. Seeking to utilise the special thematic strand of “Networks and Entanglements” of the 2023 International Medieval Congress in Leeds, we aim to put together a series of sessions that address the topic and question of “African Networks and Entanglements in a ‘Medieval World’”.

We welcome papers at the micro-, meso-, and macro levels that centre the role of African realms, political entities, or agents as well as the economic, religious, cultural, intellectual, artistic, or diplomatic networks and entanglements from Atlantic and West Africa to the Southern Mediterranean to the Western Indian Ocean region between 300 and 1600 CE, as well as papers that interrogate the role of African realms within ‘medieval’ world system(s), and/or those that address and challenge the boundaries created by the disciplinary and linguistic constraints of the academy.

Papers from scholars of all career stages and research backgrounds (history, art history, archaeology, philology, religious studies, etc.) are welcome. Travel bursaries to support the attendance of early career researchers, independent scholars, and those working outside of North American/European academe are available.

Abstracts of up to 250 words should be sent to the dedicated email account AfricanMiddleAges@gmail.com by Monday, 19th of September 2022.

Please include your preferred paper title, A-V and bursary requirements and your contact details (full name, title, affiliation, address, email address).

Organizers / Contacts

  • Abidemi Babatunde Babalola, British Museum, UK • ababalola@britishmuseum.org
  • Andrea M. Achi, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA • Andrea.Achi@metmuseum.org
  • Felege-Selam Solomon Yirga, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA • fyirga@utk.edu
  • Solomon Gebreyes Beyene, Hamburg University, Germany • fonv579@uni-hamburg.de
  • Verena Krebs, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany • Verena.B.Krebs@rub.de

CFP: ‘Intersections and Entanglements: Objects of Mobility in the Ancient and Early Modern Periods’, CAA Annual Conference 2023, deadline 31 August 2022

From ceramic vessels to elaborate textiles, the ancient and early modern periods are rich with portable objects. Although art historians regularly interpret and even define whole classes of objects as “mobile,” they often move in unusual and interesting ways. Viewed cross-culturally, a series of paradoxes beset the attempt to define and characterize the “mobile” object. Not all objects that appear mobile physically move, while seemingly immobile objects can in fact travel. Things may be considered “mobile” if they have the power to move people, whether as an accessory to travel, through the reconceptualization of space, or by demanding movement of their viewers. Furthermore, the transit of a thing into a new context can redefine it or inspire the invention of an entirely new type of object. In this session, we wish to call attention to the diversity of cultural phenomena that fall under the auspices of the “mobile” and “portable.”

We are interested in studies that theorize the topic within current scholarly discourses of mobile objects, to include approaches such as pilgrimage, itinerancy, trade, phenomenology, cartography, encounters, and memory, among others. We welcome papers that consider the following questions: How do objects move? Why do people move objects? What types of objects move people? Can objects inspire movement in more ways than one? How does time alter movement? Are new meanings generated when an object is placed in a novel context?

Papers that advance a global perspective are especially encouraged. Please submit proposals to lagarde@tulane.edu and scottmiller2018@u.northwestern.edu.

 CFP: ‘Questioning ‘Gregorian Reform Art’ (11th–12th c.): Challenges, Strategies, and New Approaches’, Kalamazoo ICMS 2023, deadline 15 September 2022

International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 11-13, 2023 (University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo), Sponsored by the Italian Art Society, www.italianartsociety.org


Organizers:

  • Barbara Franzé, Lecturer, Universities of Neuchâtel and Lausanne
  • Gillian B. Elliott, Adjunct Professor, George Washington University

Since the early studies by Ernst Kitzinger and Hélène Toubert, art historians have interpreted the monumental decorative programs of Rome by placing formal inventiveness, new narrative strategies, and the intensification of figurative production of the reforming century in a causal relationship with the social issues of the Gregorian Reform movement. Even as research initiatives now consider a vast territory, from Northern Italy to France, the Iberian Peninsula, and the regions of Eastern Europe, the subject of “Gregorian Reform Art” remains controversial because skeptics continue to cast doubt on a systematic artistic reform agenda. The purpose of the two sessions is to free our discipline from the epistemological rut of the “all-encompassing reform agenda” or the “non-existent reform agenda” in which it is stuck, by proceeding on a case-by-case basis, through the examination of singular monuments.

By analyzing iconography and its language, the art historian discovers the intentions expressed “hic et nunc” and reveals the issues presiding over the materialization of the decorations. By accumulating specific knowledge of individual monuments, the sessions aim to draw a more complete picture of a complex and changing phenomenon.

Session I. Rome and Northern Italy

For the first session we welcome papers about artistic programs in Rome, its surrounding area and northern Italy.

Session II. To the Boundaries

For the second session we wish to widen the debate to the “off-center” territories of the reform (Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, etc.) and the question of a universalist (i.e., Western European), character of the pontifical project.

Please submit proposals that consider, but are not limited to, the following possible topics:

  • Individual monumental artistic programs in Italy
    Comparisons of a range of monuments
  • Shifting definitions of “Gregorian Reform Art”
  • Methodological approaches to political interpretation and artistic programs
  • Hybrid spaces and meanings
  • The artistic language of the reform
  • Universal vs. local political agendas

Please submit abstracts of 200 words no later than September 15, 2022, to Barbara Franzé at
barbara.franze@unil.ch and Gillian Elliott at gillianelliott@gwu.edu

CFP: ‘What is Eastern European Art?’, SHERA-sponsored session at CAA Annual Conference 2023, deadline 31 August 2022

CAA Annual Conference New York, 15–18 February 2023. Session sponsored by Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture (SHERA)

Session co-organizers: Alice Isabella Sullivan |Tufts University Maria Alessia Rossi | Princeton University

This panel explores and challenges understanding about Eastern European art from the Middle Ages to the present through presentations that engage with the artistic production of different regions. The visual material of Eastern Europe has not been at the forefront of art historical conversations in part due to political ideologies, conflicting definitions of what constitutes Eastern Europe, or lack of access to and interest in the material, to name but several issues. The wealth and complexity of the artistic production of Eastern Europe in various media require more thorough investigation, especially from a comparative perspective, as well as more theoretically grounded methodologies that could account for the rich cultural connections that extended in the regions of the Balkan Peninsula, the
Carpathian Mountains, and further north that contributed to distinct visual idioms. Papers for this session could explore local developments in art from the Middle Ages into the present, connections between different regions and across media, issues of terminology, methodology, and theories in the study of Eastern European art, as well as modes of  integrating visual material from Eastern Europe in teaching, as well as research, curatorial, and artistic projects. The overall aim of this session is to begin to define what Eastern European art is today, and help establish its footing on the map of art history.

Please submit a title, abstract (max. 500 words), and a brief 2-page CV by August 31, 2022 to: alice[dot]sullivan[at]tufts[dot]edu and marossi[at]princeton[dot]edu.
Please indicate “CAA proposal” in the subject line.

CFP: ‘Premodern Parchment’, IMC Leeds 2023, deadline 12 September 2022

Leeds, International Medieval Congress, 3–6 July 2023
Organised by Caroline Danforth, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; and Megan McNamee, University of Edinburgh

Parchment is a familiar medium to medievalists. Animal skin, specially prepared, and employed primarily as a substrate for written communication, it is a substance that many researchers across fields of study regularly scrutinise and handle. There is now no shortage of scholarship that refers to parchment’s experiential qualities—its varied textures, smell, even sound—and its symbolic, especially Christological, significance as skin when bound in books. We seek proposals for papers that build on and move beyond this work, focusing on aspects of the medium that have been somewhat taken for granted including its (quasi) two-dimensionality, sidedness, relative opacity, colour and pliability; and/or delving into the uses of parchment outside the codical context. Our aim is to better understand the perceived possibilities and limitations of parchment in the premodern world and the qualities for which it was valued. We plan for the session to be in-person and for papers to be 15–20 minutes long. Proposals from individuals in the academic, museum and library sectors; at any stage of their careers and from all disciplines and fields are welcome. 

If interested, please send an abstract of no more than 250 words along with your CV and the information below (required by IMC) by 12 September 2022 to Megan McNamee: mmcnamee@ed.ac.uk.

Information to include with abstract and CV:

  • Full name
  • Email address
  • Postal address
  • Telephone number
  • Full affiliation details (department, institution)
  • Title (e.g. Dr, Ms, Mr, Mx, Professor etc)

Link to PDF of announcement: https://www.academia.edu/84809878/CFP_IMC_Leeds_2023_Premodern_Parchment?source=swp_share 

New extended deadline for CFP: British Archaeological Association Post-Graduate Online Conference (23-24 November 2022), now deadline 5 September 2022

Please note that we have extended the deadline to 5 September 2022!

The British Archaeological Association invites proposals by postgraduates and early career researchers in the field of medieval history of art, architecture, and archaeology.

Papers can be on any aspect of the medieval period, from antiquity to the later Middle Ages, across all geographical regions.

The BAA postgraduate conference offers an opportunity for postgraduate students and early career researchers at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and discuss their research, and exchange ideas.

Proposals of around 250 words for a 20-minute paper, along with a CV, should be sent by Monday 5th September 2022 to postgradconf@thebaa.org.

CFP: ‘Social Agency of Secular Goldsmiths’ Work in the Late Middle Ages’, IMC 2023, deadline 12 September 2022

Wrought for a vast range of mundane practices and contexts, in an abundance of forms, styles, and techniques, European late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work remains an elusive category of artistic production. Perhaps deterred by this overwhelming variety, the study of late medieval secular goldsmiths’ work has been eclipsed by scholarship on liturgical metalware. However, publications by R. W. Lightbown and others, as well as archaeological discoveries such as those of Jewish hoards, have opened a new window onto the world of secular goldsmithery and everyday life, and shed new light on how secular objects circulated and operated outside ecclesiastical environments.


This session seeks to explore the arena of secular goldsmiths’ work in the later Middle Ages and its manifestations in different contexts such as domestic, civic, courtly, juridical, academic, diplomatic, etc. Acknowledging the centrality of secular goldsmiths’ work objects in the rituals of various social frameworks, we wish to explore these objects’ roles in shaping relationships, defining hierarchies, and constructing identities.

Themes to be addressed may include, but are not limited to:

– Objects such as: nefs, university scepters, reliquaries for swearing oaths, automata, fountains, table utensils and decorations, jewelry
– Adaptations of goldsmiths’ work by newly-established institutions like universities or civic juridical authorities
– Entanglements of the sacred and the secular via the production of goldsmiths’ work objects
– Production of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Guilds and networks of goldsmiths
– Patronage of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Material, iconographic and formalistic aspects of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Use, performance and handling of goldsmiths’ work in rituals such as marriage, oath-taking, etc.
– Exchange of secular goldsmiths’ work
– Representations of real and fantastic secular goldsmiths’ work

Please submit a 250-word abstract for a 20-minute paper, and a short CV, including email and current affiliation as PDF or Word.doc, by 12 September 2022, to the following:
Hila Manor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; hila.manor@mail.huji.ac.il
Masha Goldin, University of Basel; masha.goldin@unibas.ch

More information can be found here: https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/imc-2023/

CFP: ‘Medieval sculpture in the aftermath of the World War II: destruction, dispersion and restitution. The impact on research methodologies and tools’, International Cirice Congress 2023, deadline 20 September 2022

International Cirice Congress 2023, Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sull’Iconografia della Città Europea

City and War: Military defences, ruins, permanence of urban memories and images Naples, 8–10 June 2023

(https://www.iconografiacittaeuropea.unina.it/cms/6115-2/)

Session C.7: Medieval sculpture in the aftermath of the World War II: destruction, dispersion and restitution. The impact on research methodologies and tools

Chairs: Paola Vitolo, Antonella Dentamaro

paola.vitolo@unina.it, antonella.dentamaro@unina.it

The destructions caused by of the World War II represented, relatively recently with respect to the development of modern artistic historiography, a watershed in the investigation of medieval sculptural complexes. In the aftermath of the end of the conflict, the loss of materials on the one hand, the restoration and reconstruction of works on the other, have often changed in a profound and irremediable way sculptural works and micro architectural contexts (chapels, altars …), with a significant impact on the critical approach to this field of study and above all on the sense of identity linked to places, as well as on the categories of representation of spaces. At the same time, these interventions have in some cases represented the opportunity for important discoveries on the material conditions of the works, for example revealing signs of interventions made over the centuries to the original contexts, cases of reuse of materials/works, sculptures that have remained hidden after later interventions etc.

How much was irretrievably lost during the Second World War? What was the impact of the reconstructions on the iconography of the places? How many works still survives, although in a fragmented state, in museums and private collections? Which contexts could be materially recomposed or reconstructed through historical images and the support of virtual reconstructions? To what extent, on the other hand, have post-war interventions represented an opportunity for scientific research?

The session aims to investigate, through the discussion of case studies, how and to what extent World War II conditioned and posed new methodological questions in the field of medieval sculpture studies. The session is part of the activities of the MemId project (Memory and identity. Reuse, rework and repurposing of medieval sculpture in the Modern Age, between historical research and new technologies, FISR 2019).

Deadline for abstract submission: 20 September 2022

Submission of abstracts on the congress platform: http://www.diarc.sda.unina.it/ocs2/index.php/progetto/progetto2018/about/ submissions

Congress deadlines, instructions for registration and registration fees: https://www.iconografiacittaeuropea.unina.it/cms/deadline/

Tours & Workshops: Revenants and Remains, Autumn 2022

This autumn, English Heritage has teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University to organise a series of free weekend events at monasteries in northern England themed around their historical associations with the supernatural. 

Taking place at Byland, Furness, Lanercost, Rievaulx and Roche, there’ll be free site tours as well as creative writing workshops and readings of selected ghost stories by M.R. James. 

The tours will be led by Dr Michael Carter of English Heritage and Professor Dale Townshend of Manchester Metropolitan University. Based on rigorous scholarship, they’ll explain how, for each of the monasteries, ghost stories and other tales of the supernatural, can be used to understand their history, art and architecture between the 12th and early 19th centuries. 

The creative writing workshops will be led by the acclaimed author Rosie Garland. Readings of M.R. James ghost stories with suitably antiquarian and monastic themes will be by Robert Lloyd-Parry of Nunkie Theatre. 

Generously funded by the AHRC, all the events are free (a site admission free is payable at Furness, Lanercost, Rievaulx and Roche for non-English Heritage members).

Further details and booking information is available here: https://revenantsandremains.mmu.ac.uk/events/

Site tours (dates below) do not require booking but booking is essential for the writing workshops and readings which take place on the Saturdays only.

Roche Abbey: 1 & 2 October (site tours at 10:30am and noon, respectively)

Furness Abbey: 8 & 9 October (site tours at 10:30am and noon, respectively

Byland Abbey: 5 & 6 November (site tours at 11am and noon, respectively)

Lanercost Priory: 12 & 19 November (site tours 11am both days)

Rievaulx Abbey: 26 & 27 November (site tours 11am and noon, respectively)
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