Enfilade

From the Call for Papers:

On the Use and Abuse of Antiquity in 18th-Century Life: Classical References and Their Subversion in the Age of Enlightenment
University of Chicago John W. Boyer Center in Paris, 22–23 May 2025

Proposals due by 15 December 2024

Ingres, The Apotheosis of Homer, 1827, oil on canvas, 386 cm × 512 cm (Paris: Musée du Louvre).

It is a well-established fact, frequently analysed by literary critics, that Greek and Roman Antiquity lies at the heart of 18th-century culture. The significance attributed to ancient authors in 18th-century collèges is often acknowledged, but references to classical figures in fact permeate all forms of the literary and visual arts, whether in the light-hearted forms of Baroque and Rococo or the austere severity of Neoclassicism. Scholars have often highlighted the idealisation of ancient socio-political models, which served as counterpoints to contemporary reflections and critiques, extending from the writings of philosophers to the proclamations and imagination of Revolutionary thinkers. The classical world was imbued with an exemplary value, conceived as an alternative framework through which to contemplate and categorise a frequently problematic present, or to advocate for political, social, and aesthetic reforms. Antiquity offered ideas and images that constituted a kind of second language through which the world of the Enlightenment could be reimagined.

However, any process of re-functionalisation and re-valorisation is inevitably accompanied by subversions, instrumentalization, and alterations. For a reference to be productive and applicable to a new and changing context, it must undergo modification that renders it relevant and exploitable, allowing it to bear meanings beyond the scope of its original formulation. In all cultural domains, ancient texts were either faithfully reproduced, critically commented upon, or openly reinterpreted according to the argumentative needs of writers, who, whether intentionally or not, projected their worldview and concerns onto these works. Precisely because Antiquity functioned as a ‘second language’, its words could only serve as instruments for the description and analysis of reality to the extent that they lost their original meaning and took on new ‘semantic’ valences, enabling them to convey content more attuned to the concerns of the time.

This colloquium aims to analyse and explore these deviations, shedding light on the highly productive dialectical play that takes place between an increasingly historicist and proto-scientific reception of the ancient world (with the emergence of disciplines such as archaeology, philology, etc.) and the still very free and fertile use of classical heritage, which was often employed with little constraint to support any and all ethical, political, or aesthetic arguments. Our goal is to identify the misunderstandings or ‘subverted’ reuses of classical texts, histories, and figures. Whether these fluctuations occur in the literal but reoriented reproduction of phrases, maxims, or passages from ancient texts, or more broadly in the reception of classical models in which new symbolic potentialities are detected, we wish to delve deeper into the qualities and purposes of these transformations of ancient material, analysing their pathways and dead ends, their distortions and their reconfigurations.

Why refer to Antiquity, and with what specific objectives or purposes? How were maxims, historical or philosophical texts, and the pantheon of ancient heroes and gods reinterpreted in the Age of Enlightenment, and how were they integrated into the contemporary cultural discourse? What demands for fidelity, and what modernising distortions were imposed upon Greek and Roman treatises and literature? How did any reappropriation of ancient discourse and its imagery ultimately prove suitable for the new expressive and ideological needs of the philosophes, and how could these same images also lead to their condemnation?

Presentations, in French or English, must not exceed 30 minutes. The conference organizers will cover travel and accommodation expenses for all invited speakers. A publication of the conference proceedings is planned.

Proposals for papers, in French or English, consisting of 250–300 words, accompanied by a brief bio-bibliography including institutional affiliations, should be submitted by 15 December 2024, to glenn.roe@sorbonne-universite.fr and dario.nicolosi.92@gmail.com. Acceptance decisions will be communicated to the authors by 15 January 2025.

From the conference website:

Seeing Her: Where Women Wrote Architecture, 1700–1900
Sie Sehen: Wo Frauen Architektur Schrieben, 1700–1900
ETH Zurich Hönggerberg, 29 November 2024

The 5th WoWA Workshop and Colloquium is entitled Seeing Her / Sie Sehen and will take place on 29 November 2024 at ETH Zurich. Featuring a private bilingual reading workshop followed by public talks in the afternoon, it brings together a diverse group of scholars in terms of seniority, period, background, and expertise.

Talks by Emma Cheatle (Sheffield), Sonja Dümpelmann (Munich), and Isabel Karremann (Zurich) will centre around specific sites ranging from maternity spaces to the literary country house and gendered landscapes. Together with the respondents, Anna-Maria Meister (Florence/Karlsruhe) and Anne Hultzsch (Zurich), speakers will complicate architectural histories of the 18th and 19th centuries with the question where women wrote architecture. Join us for the in-person colloquium: all are welcome!

From ArtHist.net:

Objects and Everyday Life in Early Modern Latin America: Art, Crafts, and Material Culture in Light of the Encounter with European Travellers
Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France, Paris, 12 February 2024

Organized by Maddalena Bellavitis, Corinne Mencé-Caster, and José Manuel Santos Pérez

Proposals due by 15 November 2024

Colonial studies in recent years are increasingly bringing attention to topics that go beyond purely historical, geographical, or ethical issues. There is also a desire to focus on aspects of everyday life, on the elements that constituted moments of family routine, the rituals of cult activities, the spheres of work, like handicrafts, agriculture, and commerce, or personal affairs. In this field, research from a variety of disciplines is mixed, collaborating with each other to search for sources from which information can be drawn, and to analyse their contents in order to reconstruct contexts and narratives that can give us glimpses of the reality of that time.

This workshop intends to explore precisely this reality, and investigate the objects that were part of the private and everyday—but also public and religious—moments in the lives of the peoples of Latin America between the 16th and 18th centuries. Consideration will be given not only to items produced, constructed, and preserved in situ, but also to those that travelled to Europe with the ships that returned there, collected by travellers as curiosities or trophies. Particular attention will then be paid to objects that were derived from the encounter with European culture, through technical, practical, or aesthetic inspiration. Therefore, all proposals that deal with the world of objects, both craft and artistic, and material culture related to colonial Latin America and its encounter with Europe are welcome.

Please submit a one-page PDF with abstract for an unpublished contribution and short bio by 15 November 2024 to the following address: maddalena.bellavitis@gmail.com. Presentations will be in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese and will last a maximum of 20 minutes. The organizers, Maddalena Bellavitis, Corinne Mencé-Caster, and José Manuel Santos Pérez, will notify the selected proposals by the end of November 2024.

From ArtHist.net:

What Is Sex? Special Issue of Frame[less] Magazin
Proposals due by 8 December 2024

In der Kunstgeschichte ist Sexualität seit jeher ein facettenreiches und kontroverses Thema, das sich sowohl in subtilen Andeutungen als auch in expliziten Darstellungen widerspiegelt und eine breite Spannweite an Imagination und Interpretation bietet.

Klassische Darstellungen wie Tizians Zeus und Danae oder Berninis Apoll und Daphne zeigen, wie sexuelle Themen in mythologischen Kontexten verarbeitet wurden und bieten, wie die Erzählung der unbefleckten Empfängnis, die ikonografisch besonders in religiösen Darstellungen verankert ist, reiches Material für eine kritische Auseinandersetzung.

Auch Stillleben beinhalten oft subtile Anspielungen auf Erotik und Sexualität, erzählen von verborgenen Begehren und reflektieren das Verhältnis von künstlerischer Darstellung und gesellschaftlichen Normen, das sich weniger offensichtlich auch in den Werken Fragonards widerspiegelt.

Wie haben sich diese Erzählungen über die Jahrhunderte verändert und welche Bedeutung haben sie noch heute?

Die Enttabuisierung sexueller Themen in der Kunst, insbesondere seit den 1960er Jahren, bietet Ansatzpunkte für die Betrachtung, wie Künstler*innen den Diskurs über Sexualität und Feminismus revolutioniert haben und welche Tabus heute noch herausgefordert werden.

Gender, Diversität und LGBTQ+-Themen sind von zentraler Bedeutung, wenn es um die Frage geht, wie Kunst die Komplexität sexueller Identitäten und Vielfalt sichtbar macht und reflektiert.

Künstlerinnen wie Sarah Lucas und Nan Goldin setzen sich in ihren Arbeiten explizit mit der Darstellung von Geschlechtsteilen und sexuellen Handlungen auseinander. Auch im Performativen findet sich diese Auseinandersetzung mit Sexualität—wie zuletzt in Florentina Holzingers Opernperformance Sancta, die weltweit Schlagzeilen machte. Direkte Konfrontation—erotische Fotografie—künstlerisch inspirierte Form der Pornografie: Welche Grenzen werden zwischen Kunst und Konsum gezogen und wie fungiert der Körper dabei als Medium?

Im digitalen Zeitalter erweitert sich dieser Diskurs um neue Dimensionen: Cybererotik und die Erforschung von Körperlichkeit im Virtuellen schaffen innovative Formen der Sexualität, die physische Grenzen verschwimmen lassen und den erotischen Ausdruck in bisher unerforschte digitale Räume verlagern. So entstehen neuartige Verbindungen zwischen Körper, Sexualität und Technologie, die den Umgang mit Intimität auf radikal neue Weise gestalten.

Nach Foucault ist Sex Macht und das Bild Verhandlungsebene zwischen Gesagtem und Gesehenen. Doch welche Rolle spielt Kunst in der Auseinandersetzung mit problematischen Machtverhältnissen, mit Missbrauch und Übergriffen? Kann Kunst wirklich aufklären und ist Sex in all seinen Facetten und sozialen Implikationen überhaupt darstellbar?

frame[less]—das digitale Magazin für Kunst in Theorie und Praxis ist auf der Suche nach euren Beiträgen. Für das Issue #8 schreiben wir den Open Call zum Thema SEX aus. Die Form wird den Beitragenden freigestellt. Wir freuen uns über vielfältige Formate wie theoretische, kritische und wissenschaftliche Annäherungen an das Thema, genauso wie praktische, projektbezogene Beiträge. Ebenso heißen wir interdisziplinäre und hybride Formen willkommen. Es gibt keine formalen und personenbezogenen Kriterien für die Auswahl der Beiträge. Einzig die Qualität der Abstracts und Proposals entscheidet.

Wir ermöglichen einen interdisziplinären Diskurs im Bereich Kunst, wobei wir einen offenen Kunstbegriff propagieren, der unter anderem Disziplinen wie Architektur und Design mit einbezieht. Besonders Menschen, die sich als FLINTA definieren und beziehungsweise oder BIPoC möchten wir ermutigen, sich zu bewerben.

Sende uns dein Abstract oder Projektvorhaben (maximal eine Seite) zu, in dem du kurz deine Idee beschreibst. Bis zum 08.12.2024 hast du Zeit, dich unter redaktion@framelessmagazin.de zu bewerben. Wir geben dir dann schnellstmöglich eine Rückmeldung (ca. eine Woche) und informieren dich über alle weiteren Vorgänge.

frame[less] ist ein digitales Magazin für Kunst in Theorie und Praxis. frame[less] ist ein unabhängiges und nicht kommerzielles Online- Magazin, das Studierenden, Wissenschaftler:innen sowie Künstler:innen eine Plattform bietet, wissenschaftliche Beiträge, Essays, Kritiken, Kommentare, künstlerische Arbeiten und weitere Formen zu veröffentlichen.

From ArtHist.net:

Religion, Ancestry, and Identity: On the Relationship between Theology, Genealogy, and Heraldry in the Early Modern Period
Warburg-Haus, Hamburg, 3–4 April 2025

Proposals due by 13 December 2024

In early modernity, genealogy was a topic of major religious and theological relevance. During the Reformation, genealogical thinking helped to shape new confessional identities, significantly influencing perceptions of family and kinship. References to ancestry served to illustrate religious continuities and the transmission of the ‘true’ faith across generations. Thus, genealogy not only contributed to establishing religious authority, but also shaped confessional identities and served as a tool for resolving theological issues. This interdisciplinary conference proposes to discuss the various interconnections between questions of origin or ancestry and confessional contexts.

The conference takes as its starting point the seemingly surprising observation that numerous theologians were simultaneously active in the fields of genealogy or heraldry. On the Protestant side, Cyriacus Spangenberg (1528–1604), Philipp Jakob Spener (1635–1705), and Johann Ulrich Pregitzer IV (1673–1730) can serve as examples. On the Catholic side, the pronounced engagement of Jesuits in genealogy and heraldry is particularly striking, with Philibert Monet (1566–1643) and Claude-Francois Menestrier (1631–1705) being prominent examples in France.

This phenomenon can be explained through the numerous intersections between the fields of genealogy, heraldry, and theology. Genealogical and heraldic practices served theologians as tools for addressing theological issues, such as resolving the conflicting genealogies of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Additionally, the merging of secular and sacred fields of knowledge generated iconographic innovations for illustrating and conveying these topics, for instance in the form of printed family trees, which differed from earlier representations. In heraldic literature, there was cross-confessional discussion up until the seventeenth century about the extent to which the origins of coats of arms could be traced back to the 12 tribes of Israel or even to Adam. Christian symbols, such as depictions of saints, were widely used in early modern city coats of arms—a tradition whose traces can still be seen today. At the same time, Jesuits were particularly active in princely genealogy and heraldry. Their studies were initially connected to the education of young nobles in these subjects at their colleges, but they also resulted in extensive heraldic and genealogical compendia.

At least on the Protestant side, theologians engaged in genealogical and heraldic activities often faced pressure to justify their work. Contemporary criticism of genealogical and heraldic studies as vanity or a waste of time must be understood within the context of a broader moral-theological debate about the Christian valuation of family, ancestry, and birth. A central reference point in this debate was Paul’s (seemingly) critical view of the genealogies of ancient Judaism (1 Timothy 1:4 and especially Titus 3:9), around which an antiquarian-theological dispute unfolded in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The influence of this criticism can be traced from Spangenberg to Spener.

While there has been some initial research into the complex and sometimes tense relationship between genealogy, heraldry, and theology during the early modern period, the majority of the field remains largely unexplored. This is especially true regarding Christian discourses on genealogy and heraldry, the use of theological arguments in both fields, and changing perspectives on the family as a result of the Reformation, as well as possible confessional differences regarding these topics. The aim of the conference is to illuminate and discuss the early modern relationship between religion and ancestry in an interdisciplinary way.

Possible topics include:
1  What confessional differences can be identified in the use and discussion of genealogical concepts? How did genealogical concepts help to support or clarify biblical/confessional narratives? To what extent do genealogy and heraldry, as secular fields of knowledge, offer a ‘common ground’ for understanding between different confessions?
2  What media and narrative forms of expressing ancestry can be identified in religious contexts? What temporal and confessional developments can be observed?
3  In what ways and contexts were theological concepts and arguments applied and incorporated in genealogy and heraldry? To what extent did these applications vary according to region or confession within Christianity? What specific theological challenges could be addressed through genealogical and heraldic approaches?
4  How did the contemporary moral pressure to justify their work affect theologians who engaged with genealogy and heraldry? Can confessional differences in these debates be identified? To what extent did societal expectations and norms influence theologians’ approaches to genealogical and heraldic studies? Are there specific examples of conflicts between the outcomes of their research and the doctrinal mandates of the church? What strategies did theologians develop to deal with this pressure and present their research as morally justifiable?
5  How do genealogy and heraldry integrate into the biographies of theological scholars? What motivated theologians to engage in these studies? Was it a matter of personal interest, an exploration of their own family history, a didactic endeavour (for instance, as tutors to princes), or a serious alternative career option?

Contributions from cultural and literary studies, history, art history, and theology are warmly invited. If interested, please send a (working) title and a brief abstract by 13 December 2024, to Kai.Hendrik.Schwahn@uni-hamburg.de.

From Ireland’s Office of Public Works:

Irish Heritage Studies, Volume 2
Proposals due by 1 December 2024

Irish Heritage Studies is the new annual research journal of the Office of Public Works in Ireland, published in association with Gandon Editions. Volume one will be published next spring, and we’re currently inviting abstracts for volume two. The deadline is 1 December 2024.

The journal showcases original critical research rooted in the substantial portfolio of material culture in the care of or managed by the OPW: built heritage; historic, artistic, literary, and scientific collections; the national and international histories associated with these places and objects; and its own long organisational history. Papers contribute to a deeper understanding of this important collection of national heritage, and investigate new perspectives on aspects of its history. The journal is designed for a broad public, specialist, and professional readership. Full details on the journal are available here; and enquires are welcome at IHSjournal@opw.ie.

Image: Mrs. Parnel Moore. Aged 112. 1761, by unknown artist, oil on canvas. The sitter was housekeeper at Castletown House, co. Kildare.

From HECAA:

Panel | Global Material Culture and the Body
British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Conference, Pembroke College, Oxford, 8–10 January 2025
Panel organized by Chloe Wigston Smith

Proposals for this session due by 18 October 2024

Jointly supported by the Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art and Architecture and the University of York’s Center for Eighteenth Century Studies, this panel aims to foster interdisciplinary conversations about the relations between global material culture and the body, in keeping with the theme of the 54th annual BSECS conference, Bodies and Embodiment. Papers might focus on the body’s physical proximity to examples of global material culture, whether in the form of clothes, accessories, cosmetics, and domestic furnishings (and more); the body’s haptic experience of global objects, through making, production, handling, and consumption; and / or the representation of the body and bodies on specific objects. Papers might focus on a wide range of print, visual, and material sources, including ceramics, drawings, watercolours, handiwork, woodwork, etc, and / or the broad range of materials in the period, such as cotton, indigo, or silver. Submissions from early career scholars are especially encouraged. Please submit abstracts of no more than 350 words along with a short (1 page) CV to Chloe Wigston Smith at chloe.wigstonsmith@york.ac.uk.

Please note that selected presenters will need to become members of BSECS to register for the conference. Or BSECS honors ASECS memberships, so if you are an ASECS member you will not need to join BSECS.

From the Call for Papers:

Matters of Knowledge: Paradigms and Practices of Conservation through the Centuries
Les matières du savoir: Paradigmes et pratiques de la conservation à travers les siècles
Université de Neuchâtel, June 5–6 June 2025

Proposals due by 31 October 2024

Preservation and conservation, along with collecting and valuation, are pillars of any institution that holds a collection of cultural heritage. However, conservation is rarely the subject of analytical and reflexive discourse, researched in a historical perspective. Studies in museology, the history of collections, and even the history of science and technology, have offered their perspectives on why and how all kinds of material collections are preserved in institutions dedicated to conservation. Further, the professionals of these institutions are faced with their own questions about the state of their collections and the origins of the practices they execute in their daily work.

Increasingly, questions relating to collecting, the status of objects, how to show them, as well as exhibition devices have been investigated within academia and museums. Over the past two decades, this self-reflection of institutions has become the subject of exhibitions, which incorporate the multiple identities and status of certain objects or collections (and their possible reassignment) in relation to the institution’s history, its constitution, its values and the formulation of its practices. What is the impact of this renewed look on conservation and the professions related to it?

Research into the ways in which collections are built has highlighted both the voluntary and unintentional nature of their constitution. How have ideas and practices of conservation been articulated and perpetuated since the building of institutions and the formalization of occupations related to collecting, whether within disciplinary or thematic museums, cabinets, libraries or even botanical gardens?

As part of the SNSF project Libraries and Museums in Switzerland (https://www.biblios-musees.ch/), a two-day conference will be held on June 5th and 6th, 2025, focusing on all these dimensions of the conservation of important collections since their founding. This event will bring together academic, scientific and professional circles, while providing an opportunity for theoretical reflection and case studies. It will take a global approach to the phenomenon, focusing primarily on the period between the 17th and the end of the 19th century. However, papers focusing on the 20th century will be welcome, if they engage with the past.

The following themes will be explored:
• Object trajectories and typologies: redefinitions and taxonomy; functionality and instruments; hybrid objects
• Genius loci and the diversity of collections: cabinets, museums, libraries, archives, botanical gardens, etc.; the vagaries of material history: moving, finding, relisting, etc.
• Conservation devices and the ‘spectacle of order’: containers, display cases, storage methods
• Nomenclature(s)
• Inventories, catalogues, ‘paper technologies’: When and why are inventories and catalogues drawn up? What classification criteria were applied? How did such systems contribute to conservation?
• Dematerialization of material history: digital measures and databases
• Theorizing conservation: historiography; methods, sources and models; traditions and innovation
• Individuals and institutions: curators (a profession that did not have a name); disciplines, professionalization; weight of politics; organization and evolution of public service
• Loss, sorting, destruction: criteria and challenges of ‘conscious’ conservation

Proposals—in French, German, Italian, or English—should not exceed 300 words. In addition to your abstract, please submit a short CV (1–2 pages). Please email your proposal by 31 October 2024 to Valérie Kobi (valerie.kobi@unine.ch) and Chonja Lee (chonja.lee@unine.ch). Notifications will be sent in November 2024.

From ArtHist.net:

Recipes and Flavors on the Move: The Circulation of Traditions and Ingredients between the Mediterranean and the American Colonies
Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), Paris, 22 January 2025

Organized by Maddalena Bellavitisl, Corinne Mencé-Caster, and José Manuel Santos Pérez

Proposals due by 21 October 2024

Scholars in recent years have intensified their interest in cultural aspects of the colonial world, going beyond purely historical and social analysis. They have also been looking at the whole context constituted by the expressions and habits related to the daily, intellectual, and artistic life of the local populations and of those who found themselves traveling—in one direction or another—between Europe and the distant lands of ancient or recent discovery. The question thus raised relates to the cultural heritage of the territories concerned, both tangible and intangible heritage, and therefore also a whole series of details belonging to the sphere of the senses and habits most closely linked to local traditions. Among these, of course, the most fundamentally intertwined with popular life and culture is that of food. Therefore, a research direction that looked precisely in this direction was needed, questioning food habits, raw materials, recipes, and flavors.

This workshop therefore proposes a dialogue on colonial culture and food, choosing to set the discussion according to a perspective of exchange and mutual enrichment, with a view to reconstructing paths and narratives that have seen the intertwining of knowledge and traditions. Thus, the first part will be devoted to the interchanges, reception, and perception of Mediterranean food culture in Latin America and vice versa, with a consideration of ingredients, recipes, and tastes, while the second part will focus on material and iconographic culture, considering visual representations that depict this diffusion of flavors and the objects involved in the process.

The organizers, Maddalena Bellavitisl, Corinne Mencé-Caster, and José Manuel Santos Pérez, welcome proposals for 20-minute contributions—in English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese—on interdisciplinary topics addressing the subjects to which the workshop is dedicated. Those who are interested can send a one-page PDF file with an abstract and short bio to maddalena.bellavitis@gmail.com by 21 October 2024. Selections will be made at the beginning of November 2024.

From ArtHist.net:

Scottish Society for Art History: Art and Text
National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, 6–7 February 2025

Proposals due by 25 October 2024

The Scottish Society for Art History (SSAH), in partnership with the National Library of Scotland, will host a two-day in-person event exploring the relationship between art and the written word in Scotland.

Scottish art has long been inspired by literature, while Scottish artists and publishers have made fundamental contributions in the fields of book and magazine illustration, advertising posters, comics, graphic novels, and artists’ books. In turn, there has been a significant body of writings on Scottish art in both fiction and non-fiction, and many outstanding collaborations between artists and writers. This conference will share current research and critical debate into the myriad relationships between art and text and we hope to engage with artists, writers, curators, archivists, art historians, literary and linguistic scholars, and interdisciplinary researchers. Topics include, but are not limited to:
• Art inspired by literature
• Critical writing on art
• Fiction and poetry inspired by art
• Artists’ books
• Concrete poetry
• Posters and advertising
• Banners and protest art
• Illuminated manuscripts
• Comics, magazines, and book illustration
• The relationship between art and text in theatre, performance art, video, and multimedia art
• Collaborations between artists and writers
• Artists’ archives
• Crossovers between art history, literary history, and Scottish studies
• Art and art history relating to Scots, Gaelic, and Doric

We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers or 10-minute case studies to be presented in person at the event. Proposals should be in the form of 300- to 500-word abstracts, accompanied by brief biographical details and a supporting image. The deadline for proposals is 5pm on Friday, 25 October 2024. If you would like to discuss the CFP in greater detail or submit an abstract, please contact Matthew Jarron at m.h.jarron@dundee.ac.uk.

The organisers are unable to provide speakers’ fees, but all speakers will receive free entry to the event, promotion via social media as part of the event, and publication opportunities. A selection of papers from the conference will be published in the Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History.