Enfilade

From ArtHist.net:

Material and Visual Culture Seminar Series, 17th and 18th Centuries
Online, University of Edinburgh, Wednesdays, September — December 2024

Proposals due by 31 July 2024

We are pleased to announce that the Material and Visual Culture Seminar Series (MVCS), hosted by the Material and Visual Culture of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Research Cluster at the University of Edinburgh, will be continuing for a sixth year. We therefore invite proposals for twenty-minute papers from PhD candidates, early-career researchers, and cultural heritage professionals addressing any aspect of material and visual culture studies.

These online seminars aim to explore a wide variety of themes and localities within the long seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (broadly defined) to foster methodological and interdisciplinary dialogue. Topics might include but are not limited to: object or subject case studies, material/visual culture and identity especially with respect to marginalized peoples or communities, material/visual culture and literature, craft, consumer cultures, global ‘things’, etc. Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 250 words, with a short biography (about 100 words) to materialcultureresearcheca@ed.ac.uk by 31 July.

The seminars are scheduled for Wednesday evenings online, at 5pm BST/ GMT fortnightly throughout semester one 2024/25.

From the Call for Papers:

‘What Light through Yonder Window Breaks?’: The Window as Protagonist in British Architecture and Visual Culture
Paul Mellon Centre, London, 21–22 November 2024

Proposals due by 8 July 2024

From the quintessentially romantic ‘balcony scene’ in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the visceral tension of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1954 film Rear Window; in paintings, prints and photography; in architectural drawings and their realisation in three-dimensional form, the window has played a significant role in almost every medium of artistic expression. The window serves, both literally and figuratively, as a boundary between interior spaces and the external world, between humans and nature, between the familiar and the unknown.

As we mark five years this winter since the outbreak of Covid-19, we recognise how recurring lockdowns underscored our own personal consciousness of the boundary between interior and exterior. More than a boundary, however, the window also acts as a frame, helping to define and mediate how we see and interact with the spaces around us, not least providing a view of the world outside from a place of relative protection from the elements—an important consideration following the world’s hottest year on record. Across visual media and architectural design, the window is central to a broad range of issues, including self-representation, privacy and security, surveillance and voyeurism, spiritual and religious symbolism, climate and the environment, and technological and industrial innovation.

This conference will explore the multifaceted, multi-purpose nature of the window as protagonist, with an emphasis on its place in British architecture and visual culture, broadly conceived. A range of interdisciplinary papers presented by international scholars will provide a platform for dynamic and engaging discourse that forefronts the cultural and social significance of the window in its many guises as object, as boundary, as frame, and as mediator. As part of this two-day conference, we invite proposals for papers that consider the various roles of the window across periods, media and disciplines; we are committed to championing new voices, and especially encourage proposals from graduate students and early career researchers.

Possible topics could include but are not limited to:
• How the view is framed: what is shown/captured from/through a window, window placement within a room/building, the relation between the window and the picture plane
• The figure at the window (or its absence): issues surrounding gender and voyeurism, the use of the window in literature as narrative or plot device
• Inequality: surveillance, power imbalances between inside and outside, window breaking in times of social unrest, historical window/glass taxes
• Privacy and security: elevated windows (in prisons, banks, libraries, museums), bars on windows and locking mechanisms, window dressings (curtains, blinds, shutters), window use/placement in urban versus rural environments, jali and mashrabiya
• Windows and the environment: keeping out the elements, smart windows, protecting objects from UV light (especially in museums or historic buildings)
• Setting the tone or conveying a message: contrasting light levels between inside and outside or between one space/room and the next, coloured or stained-glass windows in ecclesiastical (or secular) architecture, types/shapes of windows as linked to specific architectural styles
• Windows in motion: in vehicles, trains, ships, aeroplanes, and on film
• The window extended: full-length windows and architectural permeability, shopfront windows, glass roofs/structures

Please submit the following by noon (BST), 8 July 2024, using ‘CFP: WINDOW’ as the subject line, to events@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk:
• 200-word abstract outlining the topic of your paper
• short biography of approximately 100 words (please do not send CVs)

The abstract and biography should be combined in a single Word document and submitted as an email attachment. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered. Successful contributors selected through this open call will be paid a fee of £150 for their contribution and reasonable travel and accommodation costs will be covered. Please feel free to share with us any other pertinent information, such as required adjustments or access needs, and we will do our best to accommodate them.

The symposium is convened by Rebecca Tropp (Paul Mellon Centre).

From ArtHist.net:

Venice: Trade, Production, Consumption of Textiles and Dress in the Early Modern Period
Dressing the Early Modern Network Conference
Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani, Venice, 28–29 May 2025

Organised by Jola Pellumbi, Sara van Dijk, and Torsten Korte

Proposals due by 30 September 2024

Venice in the early modern period flourished as a centre of textile production and trade, shaping and fostering global networks of connections that directly impacted dress in Europe and elsewhere. Due to Venice’s impenetrable location, its proximity to the centre of Europe, and a long-standing tradition of merchants and seafarers, Venice had positioned itself as a principal gateway between Europe and the East. Whether it was through the importation of luxury goods such as textiles and carpets, exports of beauty products and perfumes, or exchanges of ambassadorial gifts, Venice aided in the dissemination and infiltration of ideas, styles, and designs between Europe and the East. Furthermore, due to the flourishing art production and the thriving printing press in sixteenth-century Venice, textile patterns and dress styles were able to spread throughout Europe and the rest of Venice’s trading posts around the world influencing fashions, designs, methods of production, and patterns of consumption. Apart from the unaffected patrician government attire, infiltrations of new styles were particularly noticeable in Venice itself, throughout Carnival festivities, dogal and ambassadorial processions, operas and theatres, gambling dens, and in everyday life where both spaces and bodies were adorned. This conference aims to generate a discussion about the role of Venice as a centre of a global network of connections as seen through its trade, production, and consumption of textiles and dress as well as carpets, haberdashery, beauty products, perfumes, dyes, feathers, jewellery and design.

The conference is open to all, but we particularly welcome submissions from PhD candidates and early career researchers who are invited to speak about the topic with reference to their current or previous projects. We invite potential speakers to submit the following as a single document to the Dressing the Early Modern Network at info@dressingtheearlymodern.com: 1) a paper title; 2) a 300-word paper abstract, which should include the main question of the research project; 3) a short written biography (150 words max); 4) institutional affiliations; 5) subject of PhD thesis and (expected) date of completion; and 6) contact information. Each speaker will be allotted twenty minutes. The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2024. Notification of the outcome will be advised by email before 31 October 2024.

Organised by Jola Pellumbi, Sara van Dijk, and Torsten Korte, Dressing the Early Modern Network, in collaboration with Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani.

From ArtHist.net:

The Art of Embroidery: History, Tradition, and New Horizons
University of Murcia / Lorca, 27–30 November 2024

Proposals due by 31 August 2024

Organized by the Lorca City Council and the Research Group Sumptuary Arts of the History of Art Department, University of Murcia

This congress aims to create a space to present and discuss the results of the most recent studies on the history of embroidery in its broadest dimension, without prioritizing specific cultural, artistic, or chronological areas, but encompassing all aspects that such an ancient art as embroidery entails. Languages for communications: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, English, and French

Those interested in participating in the congress by presenting a communication must adhere to any of the themes that the scientific committee has established following the following descriptors:
Spanish embroidery history. European embroidery history. Ibero-American embroidery history. Geographies and circulation. Temporal connections. Spatial connections. Material connections. Formal connections. Technical connections. Relationships and exchanges. Aesthetic relationships. Uses and functions. Identities. Dating. Survivals. Typologies. Definition of centers, workshops, studios, schools, masters, etc. Flow of artists. Transmission of teaching. Craft and guilds. Techniques and designs. Patronage and sponsorship. Cultural histories surrounding embroidery. Religious contexts. Civil contexts. Provenances. Religious image embroidery. Civil and military embroidery. Rituals and symbolic practices. Liturgies and ceremonies. Cataloging and conservation. Theory, methodology, and historiography. Authorship and attributions. Decorations and ornamentations. Museums and collections. Restoration and conservation. Documentary findings. Research sources. Copies and fakes. Art market and trade. New challenges and approaches.

People interested in submitting a paper for its oral presentation should send their proposals by 31 August 2024 to Manuel Pérez Sánchez at congresobordadolorca@um.es. Questions are also welcome at the same address.

Proposals should include the following items
• Title of the proposal
• Brief summary of the proposal and justification (500 words maximum)
• Brief curriculum vitae (300 words maximum)
• Name(s) of the author(s)
• Institutional affiliation
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone number

Accepted papers will be announced 13 September 2024, when the registration period will begin (until 11 November).

Important Notes
• The papers submitted will have a maximum of three authors, must be original, unpublished, and not being considered for publication in any other medium for the dissemination of knowledge.
• Papers whose authors are not registered cannot be presented.
• One registration fee will be paid per author and paper.
• Priority will be given to those papers that provide a real advance in knowledge of the history of art and heritage in the lines of work proposed.
• The oral presentation of the paper will not exceed 15 minutes.
• The acceptance or rejection of the paper will be communicated on the given date to the authors via email
• The University of Murcia will issue certification of the papers only to those who have presented them orally at the congress.

Registration fees are as follows
• 20€ for standard presenters
• 10€ reduced fee for presenters: CEHA members, under 25, unemployed, and people with disabilities
• 5€ for non-presenting attendees

From ArtHist.net:

Drawn to Blue
Online, 12–13 November 2024

Organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of Amsterdam

Proposals due by 31 July 2024

Made from discarded blue rags, early modern blue paper was a humble material. Despite that, its manufacture required expert knowledge and its impact on European draftsmanship was transformative. This call seeks proposals for 20-minute papers that address the history of European blue paper from the fourteenth century until 1800. Open to art historians, curators, conservators, conservation scientists, paper historians, papermakers, and dyers, successful proposals will demonstrate original archival research and/or object-based approach to their discussion of works on blue paper. While all topics will be considered, organizers encourage papers related to the following subjects:
• blue paper production outside the Italian peninsula and the Netherlands
• color shift in blue paper and its implications
• technical and/or scientific examination of blue paper
• artistic applications of blue paper
• non-artistic uses of blue paper
• blue paper as means of transcultural exchange
• intersection between blue paper production and textile trade and technological developments

Co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of Amsterdam, this interdisciplinary online symposium will take place 12–13 November 2024, over two morning sessions Pacific Standard Time. Proposals should include author’s name, title, and an abstract (not to exceed 500 words). Submissions should be sent to drawings@getty.edu by 31 July 2024. Please put ‘Drawn to Blue’ in the subject. Accepted speakers will be notified by mid-August.

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Earlier this year, The Getty presented the exhibition Drawing on Blue (30 January — 28 April 2024) and published an accompanying book edited by the show’s curators, Edina Adam and Michelle Sullivan, Drawing on Blue: European Drawings on Blue Paper, 1400s–1700s (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2024).

From ArtHist.net:

Early Modern State Descriptions in an Interdisciplinary Perspective
Münster, 10–11 April 2025

Organized by Karl Enenkel and Lukas Reddemann

Proposals due by 21 July 2024

From the 16th through to the 18th century, state descriptions were a vital part of European literary production and book markets. Such publications covered an enormous range of topics including geography, economics, cities, military, political constitutions, and numerous other aspects of early modern political formations. State descriptions were written in Latin and vernacular languages alike. They could be composed as single descriptions or as collections and were often published in numerous editions and translations. Such ‘bestsellers’ on the early modern book market included several well-known works. For example, one can call to mind Lodovico Guicciardini’s description of the Low Countries (Descrittione di tutti i paesi bassi, 1567), William Camden’s description of Britain (Britannia, 1586), and the collections in Giovanni Botero’s Relationi universali (1590s), Pierre d’Avity’s Les estats, empires, et principautez du monde (1613), and the ‘Republics’, a series of Latin state descriptions printed by Elzevir and other Dutch publishers in the 1620s and 1630s. In the course of the 17th century, the production of state descriptions gained new momentum through the formal establishment of statistics as an academic discipline, in Protestant universities in Germany in particular. This development resulted in the famous “Göttinger Schule” of statistics that is associated with Gottfried Achenwall and August Ludwig von Schlözer.

It is paramount that we attain a clearer picture of the place of state descriptions in the larger context of early modern academic and non-academic learning, as well as their connections to other, non-textual media. For instance, what role did state descriptions play in the development of early modern political theory, the education of and communication between diplomats, and the knowledge networks of merchants? How did they intersect with fields such as cartography or other media concerned with the pictorial representation of geographical and political aspects of early modern states?

Our conference aims to bring together multiple interdisciplinary perspectives on early modern state descriptions to address the abovementioned areas and similar fields. Rather than investigating state descriptions as a single literary genre or form of printed publication, we want to shed light on the early modern interest in different forms of literary and non-literary representations of contemporary political formations as a broader cultural phenomenon. Contributions might address, but are not limited to, the following research questions:
• On what methodical basis can we identify target audiences and actual readers of early modern state descriptions? Which academic and non-academic factors stimulated the huge interest in such publications?
• How can we describe the relationship between state descriptions in Latin and in the vernacular languages? Are there certain focal points related to time or region? Can we recognize specific connections between the language and the target audiences of such publications? What role do translations play?
• How did the authors and editors of state descriptions systematize and manage the vast amount of potentially relevant information? How do their different forms of information management interact with the literary and academic purposes of a work?
• How can we describe these often-complicated use of literary sources more specifically, rather than applying general concepts such as ‘compilation’ or ‘anthology’ (cf. e.g. Reddemann, Staatenkunde als Weltbeschreibung, 2024)?
• How do state descriptions, as ‘factual’ representations of concrete political formations, respond to and interact with writings and trends in the field of political theory?
• How does book-historical evidence help us shape clearer ideas about the dissemination, readerships, and practical use of state descriptions? What can we say about their presence in early modern libraries and book collections and how may this reveal more about domain-specific practices of book collecting?
• Which non-literary forms of representing, illustrating, and describing early modern states can we identify? Do they interact with or react to textual state descriptions and, if so, in what specific ways?

We look forward to receiving contributions from researchers in the entire breadth of disciplines within the field of early modern studies. We plan to publish the revised papers in the series Intersections: Interdisciplinary Studies in Early Modern Culture (Brill).

The conference will take place 10–11 April 2025 in Münster. The University of Münster will take care of travel costs for speakers and provide their hotel accommodation for the duration of the conference. The language of contributions and discussion is English. The deadline for submissions is 21 July 2024. Please send an abstract of your contribution (ca. 250 words) and a preliminary title to both organisers, Karl Enenkel (kenen_01@uni-muenster.de) and Lukas Reddemann (lukas.reddemann@uni-muenster.de).

From ArtHist.net:

Jewish Museums and Professionals in Jewish Art and Material Culture in Latin America
Museos Judíos y Profesionales del Arte y Cultura Material Judía en América Latina
Sociedad Hebraica Argentina, Buenos Aires, 19–21 November 2024

Proposals due by 15 August 2024

Organized by Sociedad Hebraica Argentina with support from the World Union for Jewish Studies and the Latin American Jewish Studies Association

We invite proposals for papers to be presented at the first seminar for Jewish Museums and Professionals in Jewish Art and Material Culture in Latin America, to be held at Sociedad Hebraica Argentina, Buenos Aires, in November 2024. We welcome proposals from curators, conservators, educators, art historians, artists, and researchers in Jewish studies.

The seminar aims to bring together a small group of professionals in Jewish museums and art to explore the question of Jewish art and museums in Latin America. Over three days, participants will give short presentations on their individual experiences, research, and institutions, engaging in discussions on sources, methodology, and theory to evaluate current and future trends, as well as common challenges, at the intersection of museums and art related to the Jewish experience in Latin America. Additionally, participants will engage in practical workshops and visits to relevant local museums and collections.

Jewish museums have existed in Latin America since the mid-20th century. However, the region lacks a network to connect and share experiences among museums that can enrich museum activities: education, visitor centers, provenance research, collection management, preservation, and research. Understanding that Latin American Jewish museums are underrepresented in both museum studies and Jewish studies, the purpose of this seminar is to bring together professionals in Jewish art, collectors, professionals from museums of Jewish history and material culture, archivists, librarians, educators, and scholars in Jewish studies to develop a program of exchange and debate on the current situation of the field in the Latin American region.

The Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue (The Hope of Israel-Emanuel Synagogue) in Willemstad, Curaçao is, according to Wikipedia, “the oldest surviving synagogue in the Americas. . . . The community (congregation Mikvé Israel) dates from the 1650s, and consisted of Spanish and Portuguese Jews from the Netherlands and Brazil. . . . The first synagogue building was purchased in 1674; the current building dates from 1730.” Photo from January 2008, Wikimedia Commons. Image added to the Call for Papers at Enfilade by Craig Hanson

Based on case studies of experiences in producing Jewish art and presenting Jewish history and experiences through exhibitions, as well as the conservation and dissemination of museum and archival material, we seek to identify different approaches and key themes of the field in relation to our region. The focus areas may include, but are not limited to:
• Exhibition of Jewish history and culture: Jewish history and culture in general and in Latin America. Jewish immigration and presence in Latin American countries.
• Exhibition spaces: Jewish sections in historical museums, in synagogues, and in art museums.
• Jewish art: contemporary art, Jewish art salons, Latin American Jewish artists.
• Holocaust and memory: Holocaust museums and memory spaces.
• Education and accessibility: education programs in museums and interaction with the community.
• Digitization and technology: digital and online museums, digitization projects, and collections of Jewish material culture in archives and libraries.
• Conservation and collection management: provenance research and management of art, archive, and Jewish material culture collections. Management of donations.
• Methodology and research: research methodologies in museums, research on Jewish material culture, and research on the Jewish presence in Latin America.

The seminar will be conducted in Spanish, but presentations in English and Portuguese will also be accepted. Submit short proposals (maximum of 500 words) and a one-page CV to Tammy Kohn (tammykohn@gmail.com) and Hebraica (cultura@hebraica.org.ar) by August 15. Selected applicants will be notified in September. Participants and their institutions are responsible for covering travel and accommodation expenses, but limited financial assistance is available upon request. Requests for financial aid must be submitted by August 1. Full papers must be submitted by November 1 for circulation in advance.

Important Dates
Submission of proposals: by 15 August 2024
Request for financial aid: by 1 August 2024
Notification of acceptance to participants: September 2024
Submission of papers: by 1 November 2024
Seminar date: 19–21 November 2024

From ArtHist.net:

Making the Subject of Portraiture in a Trans-Asian Context, ca. 1500–Present Day
SOAS University of London, 5–6 December 2024

Organized by Mariana Zegianini and Conan Cheong

Proposals due by 29 July 2024

Portraits have commonly been understood as naturalistic likenesses of human beings, centred on the face. The work of scholars such as Jean Borgatti, Richard Brilliant (1990), and Joanna Woodall (1997) opened the field in conceptualising portraiture as a truly multi-local genre, foregrounding relational and performative processes. Following their research, this symposium defines portraiture as a process where subjectivities are constructed as a result of the collaboration between artists, patrons, sitters, and viewers living in a specific time and space, This call for papers therefore is addressed to scholars of art, cultural, visual, and material culture at any career level who explore how notions of subjectivity are constructed in text and images created between the sixteenth century and the present day in Asia and its diasporas. The symposium organisers will consider papers analysing literary and pictorial processes of embodiment through the production of objects and artefacts such as paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, ceramics, jewellery, and currency; and of designed spaces including gardens and architecture.

Portraits have long been studied as documents or biographies of a person that once existed. Without denying the capacity of a portrait to index a living person, the symposium wishes to address the varied performative elements that portraits display in the Asian context. These performances reveal the enactment of class, gender and race of specific societies and cultures of Asia and its diasporas. Understanding the performative function of portraiture in Asia, we argue, reveals cultural, social, religious, and philosophical ideas that are important to understanding the region.

This two-day in-person symposium focuses on the portraiture of Asia with two specific purposes in mind. First, to decenter studies of Asian portraiture from Eurocentric conceptions of subjecthood and thus to expand the field of portraiture studies; second, to foreground the connections, transfers and tensions articulated by portraiture within the trans-Asian context. The focus on Asia should not be read as exclusionary, but rather as the intent to initiate a dialogue with existing research on the portraiture of other regions such as Africa and Europe. Thirty-five years after Borgatti, Brilliant, and Woodall’s contributions to the field of portraiture studies, the symposium Making the Subject of Portraiture in a Trans-Asian Context, ca. 1500–Present Day proposes to take stock of a changing field by contributing the scholarship of art, cultural and literary historians, anthropologists, and specialists in gender and critical race theory whose research interests focus on the embodiment of selfhood in portraiture from Asia.

We therefore invite papers which develop our core concern with ‘Making the Subject’ and with the performative dimensions of portraiture in Asia. Suggested topics (but not limited to):
• Dimensions of reality in portraiture
• Issues of re-/presentation
• Issues of materiality, style, and making
• Portraiture and authority: imperial, monastic, patriarchal, or cultural
• Cults of personality
• Portraiture and changing notions of beauty
• Religious and philosophical dimensions of portraiture, including rituals and ceremonies
• Issues of display and viewing: notions of theatricality and performance
• Gendered dimensions of portraiture, including theorisations of gender performance
• Self-portraiture of female and male artists
• Race and ethnicity in portraiture
• Portraiture as currency and commodities
• Fashion and material culture in embodied images
• Non-anthropomorphic portraiture: sacred geographies, depictions of nature, non-human subjects, and gardens
• Cross cultural exchange, i.e. portraits of Asians by non-Asians and vice versa, and similarly within the Asian region

To be considered as a presenter, please send a 300-word abstract plus a short biography (150 words max) for 20-minute presentations to the organisers, Dr Mariana Zegianini (mz15@soas.ac.uk) and Conan Cheong (656531@soas.ac.uk), by Monday, 29 July 2024. A selection of the conference papers will be included in a proposal for an edited volume to be considered for publication.

Unidentified painter (British School), Allegorical Painting of Two Ladies Wearing Beauty Patches, detail, ca. 1650s, oil on canvas, 64 × 75 cm. The painting sold at Trevanion, Fine Art and Antiques sale on 23 June 2021 (lot 564).

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This extraordinary painting predates even the long 18th century, but I imagine many Enfilade readers are as intrigued with it as I am. –CH. From ArtHist.net:

Puritan Picture: Vanity, Morality, and Race in Seventeenth-Century Britain
Yale University, New Haven, 27–28 September 2024

Proposals due by 17 June 2024

The middle decades of the seventeenth century in Britain were characterized by radical political, religious, and social change. In this period, an unknown artist created a remarkable painting that spoke to fears and anxieties crystallizing around a perceived increase in moral laxity, gender transgression, and the insidious influence of foreigners. The painting depicts two women side by side, each wearing a conspicuous array of beauty patches. The woman on the left reprimands her companion with the words “I black with white bespott: y[o]u white w[i]th blacke this Evill / proceeds from thy proud hart, then take her: Devill.” Text and image combine to inveigh against the sins of pride, vanity, and worldly excess. The painting reminds the viewer that sinful behavior leads to the devil and exhorts them to seek salvation.

Purchased by the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) at auction in June 2021, the painting was recognized as a work of outstanding significance to the study of early modern race and gender. After an export stop, it was acquired by Compton Verney, an art gallery in Warwickshire that is housed in a Grade I–listed eighteenth-century manor surrounded by 120 acres of parkland, landscaped by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown. Compton Verney has loaned the painting to the YCBA for inclusion in the museum’s ongoing technical study of the theory and practice of painting skin tones. It will go on view at Compton Verney in November 2024. This enigmatic painting has never been subject to sustained research, and much about it remains uncertain. We do not know the identity of the artist or patron, or the original location of the painting, and it is not clear whether the two women are real or imagined figures.

The YCBA, in partnership with Compton Verney, will host a two-day symposium to increase understanding of this significant object in the history of British art and culture. We welcome proposals from established and emerging scholars and encourage participants to be imaginative in their approach. Themes for consideration include but are not limited to:
• artist circles and modes of production
• color symbolism and its connection to racial formation
• contemporary attitudes to piety and morality
• cosmetics, clothing, and accessories
• female sexuality and gender roles
• pigments and processes used by early modern artists for painting skin tones
• religious and ethnic minorities in early modern Britain
• the role of print culture and prescriptive literature

The symposium will be held at Hastings Hall, Yale School of Architecture on September 27 and 28, 2024. Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words and a short biography to Sarah Leonard (sarah.leonard@yale.edu) by Monday, 17 June 2024. Final presentations should not exceed twenty minutes in length. The YCBA will provide travel and accommodations for successful applicants.

From ArtHist.net:

Baroque Times: The Table’s Scenography
Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Portugal, 14–16 November 2024

Proposals due by 15 July 2024

When discussing the table or the act of being at the table, our immediate thoughts go to the act of eating, the company present, and the food to be shared. However, the table transcends its practical function to become a richly layered symbol, both materially and conceptually, embodying sociability in myriad ways throughout history. During the modern era (17th–18th centuries), the table’s significance unfolded across diverse contexts and environments, from the opulent settings of palaces to the humble abodes of common citizens. Regardless of setting, the table served as a focal point, drawing together a spectrum of personalities and activities, thus assuming a central role in daily life. In palatial settings, the table symbolized power and sophistication, showcasing culinary refinement and adherence to social etiquette. The table epitomizes socialization, serving as a nexus for fundamental human experiences—the nourishment of the body and the establishment of communal identity within society. As such, it acts as a microcosm of cultural norms and interpersonal dynamics, revealing insights into societal values and individuals’ relationships with one another and with themselves.

Inspired by Christian traditions, the Western table echoes the teachings of Christ, who in the Gospels elevated the table to a sacred space for gatherings, sharing, inclusion and teaching. Depicted in various biblical scenes, such as the Wedding at Cana, the home of Martha, the Emmaus supper, and the Last Supper, the table emerges as a locus of truth and reverence, where communal sharing imbues food with deeper meaning.

At the table, physical proximity, and eye contact foster connections, yet may also give rise to discord. It is a space where alliances are forged, love and friendship blossom, and adversaries may surface. In its multifaceted nature, the table serves as a catalyst for a myriad of human activities, offering profound insights into the essence of human existence, whether amidst moments of serenity or the complexities of social interaction.

The following themes are proposed, although other related topics may also be accepted:
• The Table as Object: consideration of the table as a piece of furniture, in its various functions, such as dining, campaign, gaming.
• The Everyday Table: a space for daily gatherings, where routines and eating habits intertwine.
• Table and Power: dynamics of power and social hierarchy that manifest through table arrangement and associated rituals.
• Dressing the Table: the importance of porcelain, glassware, cutlery, textiles, and other elements in the aesthetic and functional composition of the table.
• Etiquette: the norms and social conventions that govern behavior at the table across different cultures and historical contexts.
• Food: the relationship between the table and the culinary space, including kitchens and food preparation areas.
• Celebration: how the table becomes the centrepiece of festive celebrations (attire, theatre, dance, fireworks, music, and ephemeral art in general).
• The Table in Literature: representations and symbolism associated with the table in literary works.
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Investigating intercultural practices related to the table and their mutual influences.
• Representations in the Visual Arts: how artists depict the table in painting, sculpture, tiles, textiles, and other decorative arts.
• Virtualizations of the Table: how the table is reinterpreted and recreated in virtual and digital environments.
• The Table in Cinema: representation and role of the table in neo-baroque movies of different genres.
• The Neo-Baroque Table: How the aesthetic and cultural principles of the Baroque continue to influence contemporary representations of the table.

To submit a proposal, send an abstract (a maximum of 300 words) addressing the objectives, methodology, and relevance of the work to the themes of the congress, along with a biographical note (maximum of 150 words) to temposdobarroco@gmail.com by 15 July 2024.

Scientific Committee
Carla Sofia Ferreira Queirós (ESEPP; CITCEM/FLUP)
Margarida Rebocho (ARS LUMINAE)
Maria João Pereira Coutinho (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)
Rui De Luna (Associação Cultural Castilho e Távora)
Sílvia Ferreira (IHA – NOVA FCSH / IN2PAST)

Scientific Committee
Ana Isabel Buescu (CHAM – NOVA FCSH)
Caroline Heering (Université catholique de Louvain)
Fátima Eusébio (Secretariado Nacional para os Bens Culturais da Igreja)
Fernando Quiles García (Universidad Pablo Olavide)
Gonçalo Vasconcelos e Sousa (Universidade Católica Portuguesa-Porto)
Inês de Ornelas e Castro (IELT – NOVA FCSH)
Isabel Drumond Braga (FLUL, CIDEHUS-UÉ; CH-UL)
Jaromir Olsovsky (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)
Luis Javier Cuesta Hernández (Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de México)
Ricardo Bernardes (Fundação Casa de Mateus)