Past Histories & Afterlives of Medieval Art and Architecture.
Saturday 6 February 2010.
Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2.
Within the field of art history, the Middle Ages can be perceived as static and unchanging. However, recent scholarship, fuelled by evolving forms of interdisciplinary research, has unmoored the medieval object. Focus has shifted from initial sites of production and intended function to wider questions of the physical life cycles of objects, and their developing use over time. This colloquium aims to explore medieval art and architecture with attention to notions of temporality and to the changing lives, afterlives, and histories of objects and buildings. What can shifting forms, functions, and audiences tell us about an object's status ? In what ways is temporality traceable through the material record ? How do objects reveal or obscure a culture's conciousness of its past and future histories ? How is time measured, articulated, or encapsulated visually ?
We invite abstracts for 15-20 minute papers that engage with these themes, and encourage object-based as well as theoretical discussions of Late Antique, Byzantine, Western medieval, and Islamic art. Research students of all levels are encouraged to submit.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to :
Converted uses, changing ownership, and cooption by other cultures
Revision and composite objects
Reuse, recontextualization, and spolia
Time and temporality (Liturgical, Scriptural, Ritual, Historical)
Narrativity
Conceptions and evocations of the past
Memory and revival
Submissions for abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent by e-mail to Jack Hartnell (jack.hartnell@courtauld.ac.uk) by the closing date of 1 December 2009.
We cannot offer travel subsidies for speakers, however students from outside London are encouraged to apply to their institutions for funding to attend the colloquium.