Tag Archives: materiality

CFP: Venice, Materiality, and the Byzantine World, Sponsored by the Italian Art Society, 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 10-13, 2018, Western Michigan University

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imgp4428CFP: Venice, Materiality, and the Byzantine World, Sponsored by the Italian
Art Society, 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 10-13,
2018, Western Michigan University
Deadline: 15 September 2017
The Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposium leading to the 2010 publication of San
Marco, Byzantium, and the Myths of Venice introduced new perspectives on
Byzantine and Venetian visual and material culture that extended Otto Demus’s
survey of Saint Mark’s basilica. The authors’ application of more recent approaches—
such as the social function of spolia, the act of display, the construction of identity,
and cultural hybridity—brought fresh analyses to a complex and richly decorated
monument. This panel seeks to expand this methodological discourse by taking into
account questions related to materials, materiality, and intermediality between
Venice and Byzantium. The arrival of material culture from the Byzantine world to
Venice as gifts, spoils, or ephemera during the centuries surrounding the Fourth
Crusade allowed for both appropriation and conceptual transformation of material
culture. In light of the renewal in interest of Venice’s Byzantine heritage, this panel
seeks to reflect on the interaction of material culture between la Serenissima and the
Byzantine world, especially during the eleventh through fifteenth centuries. Topics
may be wide-ranging, including, but not limited to: issues of reception and cultural
translation; changing concepts of preciousness; different valuation of materials
between Venice and Byzantium; the fluctuating simulation of material visual effects;
the transformation of Byzantine objects incorporated into Venetian frames;
intermedial dialogue between Byzantine and Venetian art; and the process and
technique of manufacture of works between Byzantium and Venice. Some points of
departure may include: the building of San Marco itself; Byzantine objects in the
Treasury; Byzantine manuscripts included as part of the Cardinal Bessarion gift to
the Republic; the monuments on Torcello; or issues raised as a result of recent
conservation projects. New cross-cultural methodologies from art historical,
anthropological, or sociological fields are welcome.
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a completed Participant Information Form
(http://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) by September 15 to the
session organizers: Brad Hostetler, Kenyon College, hostetler1@kenyon.edu Joseph
Kopta, Pratt Institute, jkopta@pratt.edu
In addition to the travel awards available to all Congress participants (http://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards), the
Italian Art Society offers competitive travel grants:
http://italianartsociety.org/grants-opportunities/travel-grant-information
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CFP: Pictor/Miniator: Working across media, 1250–1500, 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2018

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michelino_molinari_da_besozzo_-_st-_luke_painting_the_virgin_-_google_art_projectCall for Papers: Pictor/Miniator: Working across media, 1250–1500, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies Sponsored Session at the 53rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 10-13, 2018
Deadline: 20 September 2017

The multimedia fluidity of artists and artisans in the later Middle Ages is an area ripe for investigation. Across diverse regions in Europe and beyond, many illuminators, both named and anonymous, engaged in forms of art-making in addition to the decoration of manuscript books. Some painted frescoes, panels, and ephemera, while others provided designs and supervised the production of stained glass, enamels, tapestries, and other objects. With some frequency, those who specialized in other media were in turn called upon to illuminate books. While modern studies have focused on individual examples of such multi-media talent, the broader implications of this intermedial fluency remain obscure: within the wider art-historical canon, manuscript illumination as an art form is largely seen as derivative or prone to influence from large-scale media.
This session seeks to re-examine the relationship between manuscript illumination and other fields of artistic endeavor in the later Middle Ages. How did artists themselves consider the differing characteristics and ontologies of these varied supports? How did painters adapt their style and working method when engaging with other media and other categories of object? Did the presence of local guild regulations curtail or encourage multi-media practice, and how did this compare region-to-region or to contexts outside of Western Europe? Beyond evident differences in scale, pricing, and technique, interesting issues arise regarding patronage and audience: how different was the clientele for manuscripts compared to that for painting, for example? How did the relative accessibility and visibility of differing art forms affect the visual solutions achieved? Is a book-bound image “freer” or more experimental than a publically visible one?
The session asks these and other questions relevant to those studying the social contexts of art production, the dynamics of reception, materiality, and the technical characteristics of objects. It seeks to be open-minded in terms of methodological approach, and aims to bring together scholars working on diverse material, in order to initiate a larger conversation that can impact the discipline of art history as a whole.
Please send proposals with a one-page abstract and a completed Participant Information Form (http://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions) to Nicholas Herman (hermanni@upenn.edu) by 20 September 2017.

CFP: ‘Medieval Liturgy: Text and Performance,’ 53nd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2018) in Kalamazoo, Michigan

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bean20ms120-20folio2080l20-20liturgy20of20the20deadCall for Papers: ‘Medieval Liturgy: Text and Performance,’ 53nd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2018) in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Deadline: 15 September 2017
The Interdisciplinary Graduate Medieval Colloquium at the University of Virginia invites graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars to submit papers for a session entitled “Medieval Liturgy: Text and Performance” at the 53nd International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 10-13, 2018) in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Abstracts of up to 250 words for a 15-20-minute paper should be submitted on or before September 15, 2017 via Google Forms (visit http://bit.ly/liturgyform). All entries will undergo blinded peer review. Applicants will be notified of the committee’s decisions via email by Friday, September 22.

Medieval Liturgy: Text and Performance

This panel turns on a rather simple (or simplistic) question: is liturgy a text or a performance? The howls of dissent rise up – Who would ask such a thing? The answer is both, of course! In response, this panel invites graduate students, affiliated faculty, and independent scholars to respond to the dichotomy of text/performance even as they replace it with their own set of questions to guide the future study of liturgy as text, music, and/or drama. Among other concerns, how are the textual and bodily experiences of liturgy coeval, or even co-constitutive, in the Middle Ages? In what ways do liturgical texts both organize and find their roots in ritual reenactments that involve procession, genuflection, and acts of proskynesis? What episodes and anecdotes from the Middle Ages reveal how liturgical text is entangled with the environment in which it is read, sung, translated, or performed?

The panel aims to create a conversation that goes beyond the traditional practice of liturgical exegesis to a more active, embodied study of the liturgy in Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish traditions. Since unpacking the meaning of a somatic study of liturgy is the prime goal of the session, participants may use movement, travel, and the kineticism of objects as organizing principles for their work or ask how scholars actually perform or participate in the liturgies they study. Interesting avenues include discussions of the materiality of liturgy, from enduring forms to ephemera, via a close look at manuscripts, printed books, sacred instruments, vestments, relics, urban layouts, decorations for processions, and the architecture of churches, chapels, and tombs. We particularly invite work that pushes the boundary of what is currently considered the purview of “liturgy and ritual studies,” explores some aspect of space and sound, and pertains to the smell, touch, and taste of the liturgy in North Africa, Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Russia, and the Byzantine world.

Session co-chairs:
Justin Greenlee (jgg3mb@virginia.edu) and DeVan Ard (dda8xx@virginia.edu)

CfP: New Directions in the Study of Medieval Sculpture, Leeds, 16-17 Mar 2018

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Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, March 16 – 17, 2018
Deadline: Sep 30, 2017

New Directions in the Study of Medieval Sculpture

Focusing on the materiality of medieval sculpture has proven crucial to
its study and has expanded our historical understanding of sculpture
itself. Whether monumental relief sculpture in stone, wooden sculptures
in the round, sculpted altarpieces, ivory plaques or enamelled
reliquaries, the possibilities for research on medieval sculpture now
extend far beyond the established canon.

Contemporary medieval sculpture studies have opened the field to
comparative and inclusive research that embraces the social,
performative, gendered and ritual uses of medieval sculpture. These
developments have inspired the organisers of the conference New
Directions in the Study of Medieval Sculpture to reflect on the field
and ask how do we investigate medieval sculpture today and what might
come ‘after’ materiality?

This two-day conference seeks to assess and critique the state of the
field on medieval sculpture and to investigate new directions,
approaches and technologies for research. A consideration of the state
of the field could be approached through, but is not limited to, the
following topics:

    Processes and techniques of medieval sculpture
    The sensory experience of medieval sculpture
    The ephemeral and intangible aspects of medieval sculpture
    Medieval sculpture, photography and digital reproduction
    Archives, casts and reconstructing medieval sculpture
    Sculpture and medievalism
    Historiography of medieval sculpture studies
    Exhibition histories of medieval sculpture

This conference is hosted by the Henry Moore Institute, a centre for
the study of sculpture, and is convened by Dr Elisa Foster, 2016-18
Henry Moore Foundation Post-doctoral Fellow.

Accommodation and reasonable travel expenses within the UK will be
reimbursed.

Paper proposals should be sent via email to Dr Elisa Foster:
elisa.foster@henry-moore.org by 30 September 2017.

CFP: Medieval Materialities: Encountering the Material Medieval, St Andrews, School of Art History/St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies, January 19 – 20, 2017

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cskf7tovyaa3ku6-jpg_largeCall for Papers: Medieval Materialities: Encountering the Material Medieval, St Andrews, School of Art History/St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies, January 19 – 20, 2017
Deadline: November 15, 2016

The University of St Andrews School of Art History in collaboration
with the St Andrews Institute of Medieval Studies (SAIMS) present
Encountering the Material Medieval, the second edition of an
interdisciplinary conference on materiality and material engagements
with the medieval, taking place on 19-20 January 2017 in Scotland.

The academic year 2016-2017 looks like it is going to be the year of
modern medievalisms, with three conferences addressing how the medieval
fits into our modern world in the UK, France and the USA. While the
idea of medievalism directly impacts modern scholarship and culture at
large, it encourages an engagement with a theoretical abstraction of
the medieval culture. This way, the materiality of the sources, and the
intrinsic materiality of our embodied engagement with the medieval, is
neglected.

Beyond the digital humanities, we are interested in material
engagements with the medieval. This takes place in the library, where
we encounter manuscripts in an intimate, skin-to-skin contact; during
fieldwork, when we need to crouch in order to enter a medieval altar;
in one’s own kitchen, when we try to reproduce a recipe freshly
transcribed from a manuscript; or on the fairground, where we can hold
in our own hand a replica of medieval pottery.

We are dedicated to encouraging multi-mediality and non-traditional
presentation methods during the conference. Therefore, we invite
interactive presentations, installations and posters, workshop and
hands-on activities proposals (45-50 minutes), as well as papers (not
longer than 20 minutes) on the following range of topics and their
relationship to the study of materiality, physicality and embodiment
in/with the Middle Ages:
– The concept of materiality and physicality as research and teaching
methodology;
– Bringing the materiality of the medieval to the institution or the
wider public;
– Semiotics and anthropology of the material Middle Ages in modern or
medieval thought and practice;
– The human and non-human, material and embodied, materiality and
boundaries;
– Medieval to modern (dis)continuities in genealogy of material.
Papers and workshops on other issues related to the study of
materiality and physicality in the Middle Ages are also welcome.

How to submit: Please send your submissions (250 word abstract) along with a short
biography (max. 100 words) to medmat@st-andrews.ac.uk no later than
15th of November 2016.

For more info, visit our website Medievalmaterialities.wordpress.com
Find us on Twitter: @medievalmateriality and tweeting with #medmat17

Medieval Materials Matter Research Day at University of Warwick (18 July 2016)

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This one-day interdisciplinary research day aims to cultivate research links between medievalist postgraduate communities, and the conference will be a free public event. The theme of the event – Medieval Material Matters – has been chosen as a means of focusing discussion. A plenary lecture by an international established academic working on questions of materiality, will be delivered in the morning. In order to maximise opportunities for exploratory conversation following the plenary, there will be 2 sessions for short presentations (10-15 minutes) based on pre-circulated papers in the morning and afternoon, followed by a session discussing a piece of secondary reading in seminar format. The final part of the day will be used to think about future collaboration.

Keynote Speaker: Professor Catherine Brown, University of Michigan.
Abstract submission
The conference will seek to address the following questions:

How might ‘materiality’ be understood – and critiqued – in medieval contexts? How does textual materiality fit into this understanding? What is the role of objects (material or otherwise) within this context?

  • What perspectives can research in Medieval Studies offer on discussions/theorisations of materiality in other periods?
  • How might the digital environment in which medieval research increasingly takes place affect our thinking about the materiality of cultural artefacts, objects, and spaces?

Abstracts of 200 words are welcomed from postgraduate medievalist students working within any department. Please submit these to medievalmaterialmatters@gmail.com by 1st May 2016.  It is anticipated that the final papers of between 3000 – 3500 words will subsequently be submitted to the organisers by the deadline of 18th June 2016, for pre-circulation to registered delegates. Speakers will then be expected to present a summary of their paper, lasting 10-15 minutes, on the day, before discussion of their paper begins.
To send us an abstract, please send your word or PDF file to medievalmaterialmatters@gmail.com.

The deadline is 1st May 2016.

Please visit the website here.

Nearness|Rift: Art and Time in the Textiles of Medieval Britain (16 April 2016)

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Opus-AnglicanumNearness | Rift: Art and Time in the Textiles of Medieval Britain will gather a multidisciplinary group of scholars to address a range of historiographical and methodological problems implicit in the study of textiles, and to discuss new case studies from medieval Britain.

The colloquium will take place during the morning and afternoon of April 16, 2016 in Cochrane-Woods 157 on the University of Chicago campus. (Please enter the building through the north doors rather than through the Smart Museum courtyard.)

9:30 – 10:00 AM: Coffee.

10:00 – 10:15 AM: Introduction by Luke A. Fidler (Doctoral Student, Department of Art History, University of Chicago).

10:15 – 11:15 AM: Keynote lecture by Thomas E. A. Dale (Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison): “Materiality, Metaphor and the Senses: Elite Textile Cultures of Medieval England in their Global Contexts.”

11:30 AM – 12:15 PM: Valerie Garver (Associate Professor of History, Northern Illinois University): “Garments as Means of Communication Between Anglo-Saxon England and the Carolingian World.”

Respondent: Tristan Sharp (Doctoral Student, Department of History, University of Chicago).

12:15 – 1:30 PM: Lunch.

1:30 – 2:15 PM: Christina Normore (Assistant Professor of Art History, Northwestern University): “The Outlier as Exemplar: The ‘Bayeux Tapestry’ in English Textile History.”

Respondent: Carly B. Boxer (Doctoral Student, Department of Art History, University of Chicago).

2:30 – 3:15 PM: Claire Jenson (Doctoral Candidate, Department of Art History, University of Chicago): “Exeter’s Vesture: John Grandisson on Vestments in the Liturgy.”

Respondent: Karin Krause (Assistant Professor of Byzantine Theology and Visual Culture, University of Chicago).

3:15 – 3:30 PM: Coffee.

3:45 – 4:15 PM: Nancy Feldman (Lecturer in Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago): “Cultural Politics and the Term Opus Anglicanum in Late Medieval England.”

Respondent: Julie Orlemanski (Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Chicago).

4:15 – 5:00 PM: Closing remarks by Aden Kumler (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago) and final discussion.