Enfilade

From the AGO:

Many Lives: Picture Frames in Context
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2–3 May 2024

Proposals due by 15 December 2023

Frame with Four Labours of Hercules: Hercules and the Nemean Lion, the Cerberus, the Cretan Bull, and the Ceryneian Hind, ca. 1700–25, boxwood, 21.5 × 18 × 2.5 cm (Toronto: AGO, The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario, 29347).

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) invites submissions from conservators, curators, graduate students, and independent researchers for a two-day conference on the history and conservation of picture frames. The conference will take place at the AGO on Thursday, 2 May, and Friday, 3 May 2024.

This conference is co-organized by the museum’s curatorial and conservation departments to promote inter- and multi-disciplinary dialogue. The AGO is home to an important collection of historic frames, and a project is currently underway at AGO to catalogue and conserve this collection to make the collection more accessible for study and use. In light of this project, the symposium aims to present current research that contextualizes frames in their many incarnations, including research on frame makers, framing traditions, frames’ afterlives, frame collections, pairings of frames to paintings, artists’ frames, the commercial history of framing, and related topics. Keynote lectures will be delivered by Lynn Roberts, acclaimed frame historian and publisher of The Frame Blog, and Hubert Baija, recently-retired longtime conservator of frames at the Rijksmuseum.

Applicants are requested to send a current CV and a 300-word abstract outlining the topic of a 20-minute paper to Julia.campbell-such@ago.ca by 15 December 2023.

Conference registration, accommodation in Toronto, and some meals will be covered for speakers. Further funding is available for travel for students and unaffiliated researchers. Special funding for one early-career scholar has been generously provided by the Decorative Arts Trust. Please indicate in your email with CV and abstract if you would like to apply for this funding.

From ArtHist.net:

Art on Demand: Objects, Knowledge, and Ideas from the Low Countries in Sweden, 1400–1800
RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History, The Hague, 8 May 2024

Proposals due by 20 December 2023

The risks and challenges of migration are of compelling interest today. Over the past thirty years, research on the migration of early modern artists and on cultural exchange between the Low Countries and Sweden has advanced steadily, and addressed many themes. The Dutch and Flemish artists’ communities in Stockholm, and the careers of individual artists at the Swedish court, in the service of the Swedish nobility or Dutch industrial entrepreneurs in particular, have received fresh attention, as has the history of the collecting of Netherlandish art in Sweden.

On 8 May 2024, a symposium at the RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History will mark the launch of the heavily annotated and illustrated digital English language version of Horst Gerson’s chapter on ‘Sweden’ from his Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts of 1942 (The Dispersal and Legacy of Dutch 17th-Century Painting). For historians of Dutch 17th-century painting, in 1942, Gerson’s study of the integration of Dutch art in Sweden was largely uncharted territory, although there were Swedish studies in the field. The launch of the translated and annotated version of Gerson’s text marks the perfect occasion to discuss, contextualize, and rethink his original ideas in the light of present and developing knowledge.

The organizers welcome unpublished contributions on a broad range of topics relating to Dutch and Flemish artists, artisans, and art production in Sweden and its then major territories. These include: painting, drawing, graphic arts, tapestry, jewellery, sculpture and architecture, collecting and the art market, the looting of Dutch and Flemish art during the Thirty Years’ War, as well as the contribution of Dutch and Flemish migrants to many forms of material culture.

Papers will be 20 minutes long, and might address the following themes and questions:
• Fresh approaches to the careers of practitioners from the Low Countries at the Swedish court, in the service of the Swedish nobility, Dutch entrepreneurs and in urban centres (including monographic studies)
• How did those interconnected fields function as hubs of cross-cultural exchange between individuals, and of production?
• Less-studied works by Dutch and Flemish artists and artisans who were active in Sweden between 1400 and 1800
• What were the workshop practices and techniques employed by Dutch and Flemish artists and artisans in Sweden, and how did these interact with local artistic traditions and impact on technical and art literature?
• What were the social networks and professional relationships that linked and supported Netherlandish and Swedish makers, art dealers and collectors?
• What was the market for Dutch and Flemish artistic goods in Sweden, and how did it develop over time?

Please submit a preliminary title, an abstract (maximum of 300 words), and a short CV to Rieke van Leeuwen (leeuwen@rkd.nl) before 20 December 2023. Speakers will be notified by 15 January 2024. Selected presentations will be considered for publication. Please contact the organizers with any questions concerning the conference and this call for papers.

Academic Committee
Alex Alsemgeest (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Quentin Buvelot (Mauritshuis, The Hague), Angela Jager (RKD, The Hague), Rieke van Leeuwen (RKD, The Hague), Martin Olin (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm), and Juliette Roding (independent, previously Leiden University)

From ArtHist.net:

The Public of the First Public Museums: II. Literary Discourses, 18th–19th Centuries
Durham, 23–24 May 2024

Proposals due by 22 December 2023

The upcoming workshop The Public of the First Public Museums: II. Literary Discourses, 18th–19th Centuries is part of the research project Visibility Reclaimed: Experiencing Rome’s First Public Museums, 1733–1870 — An Analysis of Public Audiences in a Transnational Perspective (FNS 100016_212922).

Marking the second of three encounters, this workshop delves into the examination of literary discourses vital to understanding the experiences of early museum-goers. Travel literature has long represented a privileged source for investigating the origins of the first public museums and the practices of access to public and private collections in Europe. However, in the light of recent studies aimed at deepening the material history of the museum and the encounter of the public with the institutions, these sources deserve a closer scrutiny in both methodological and critical terms. As museums sought to define and engage their public, literature often became both a mirror and a mould, reflecting and shaping societal perceptions. With a spotlight on interdisciplinary and transnational approaches, the Durham workshop calls for a deeper probe into the visual and material realms of museums, emphasizing the interplay between literary discourses and artworks, collections, display, space, audiences ‘narrated’ in the museum and the evolving institutional norms of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Following the inaugural Rome session centred on institutional sources, the Durham workshop turns its gaze towards the rich tapestry of literary narratives with the aim of analysing them also in a comparative perspective with the primary sources. Periegetic literature—inclusive of travel accounts, artist correspondences, poetic endeavours, and Grand Tourist insights—stands as a testament to the artistic engagement with museum spaces over two defining centuries. At the heart of this exploration is the figure of the writer as a museum visitor. These writers, often esteemed poets and authors, are not just passive observers; their perspectives and critiques actively shape museum dynamics and public perceptions. Such literary visits, sometimes critical towards the museum as institution, have left a lasting impact, influencing subsequent generations of museum-goers. The writer’s dual role as a visitor and critic underscores the need to reassess these literary accounts in the broader context of museum studies.

From the poetic allure of lyrical evocations that captured the emotions of an ambient to ekphrastic descriptions which meticulously transform artworks into written words, the literature of the time offered a multifaceted view of the museum experience. Anecdotes and reported conversations in situ provided a window into the immediacy of exchanges, offering insight into contemporaneous views and reactions. Reviews in periodicals played a pivotal role, often influencing broader public perceptions, while a comparison between published and unpublished literary accounts unveils disparities in representation and reception. Erudite exploits presented readers with insightful perspectives, illustrating the convergence of art, history, and scholarly pursuits. Museums emerged as hubs of social interaction, where the intellectual and cultural elite converged but not only. The belletristic narratives wove tales that blurred the lines between fact and fiction. Each genre added a unique voice, contributing to a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the period. We aim to broaden the horizon by drawing parallels with analogous documentation from other cultural spaces that the project seeks to study in comparative terms. This includes libraries, academies, galleries, private collections, villas, both ancient and modern monuments, archaeological sites, places of worship, theatres, ateliers, and more.

The questions presented below are designed to stimulate discussions and kindle in-depth explorations into the confluence of literature and the publics of first public museums:
1  How do literary works contribute to the construction of common themes and stereotypes associated with museum audiences?
2  How has literature influenced and shaped the evolution of the culture of the museum guides or cicerones over time, and to what extent has this literary impact altered visitor experiences and expectations in museums?
3  What are the origins, characteristics, and specificities of literary genres targeted towards museum-goers, especially concerning guides, itineraries of visits, and public lectures? How do they transform based on the evolution and variations of museum audiences themselves?
4  How do notions of time during a museum visit compare and contrast with the temporal dynamics of literary narration?
5  How do ekphrastic descriptions in literature enhance our comprehension of the visitor’s gaze when engaging with artworks, architecture, museum displays?
6  How do various literary genres, such as periegetic literature, artist correspondence, diaries and reviews, serve as either sources or models for understanding the museum experience and the role of audiences?
7  How do the narratives and insights from published literary accounts of museum visits compare and contrast with those from unpublished sources, and what implications arise from these distinctions in shaping our understanding of museum-going experiences?
8  How does the concept of a museum as a space to ‘read’ differ from its traditional perception as a space to ‘visit’, and what are the implications of this distinction in literary and museological discourses?
9  How does literature play a pivotal role in crafting horizons of expectation for museum-goers influencing their anticipation and reception of museum exhibitions?
10  How did differences in gender, religion, social status, and cultural background influence writers’ portrayals of museums, and what do these varied perspectives reveal about the socio-cultural dynamics in museum narratives?

Key points of consideration:
• To foster dialogue around the most recent research endeavours, we especially encourage submissions from doctoral candidates and early-career researchers, who are currently delving into original themes and sources resonant with the seminar’s objectives.
• Preference will be given to applications showcasing interdisciplinary research approaches. This encompasses the melding of art history with literature, visual studies, and beyond. Proposals that venture beyond the traditional realms of art and architectural history, such as linguistic history, literature, tourism studies, and geography, are particularly sought after.
• Submissions emphasizing digital humanities are highly regarded. This includes, but is not limited to, cataloguing projects, databases concerning the relating in particular to literary sources concerning the visiting experiences and audiences of the first public museum and comparisons with other institutions and places (e.g., libraries, academies, galleries, villas, ancient and modern monuments).
• We highly value case studies adopting transnational and/or transregional perspectives. Proposals exploring underrepresented geographies within the sphere of Museum Studies are particularly encouraged.
• The primary focus of this workshop is on the 18th and 19th centuries. However, topics on the 17th and the early 20th century are also welcome, provided they maintain a strong engagement with or connection to these two centuries.

Contributors are invited to submit an abstract (max. 2,000 characters, including spaces) accompanied by a brief CV (max. 1,500 characters, including spaces) and a minimum of three keywords to: visibilityreclaimed@gmail.com.
• Accepted languages: Italian, English, French, Spanish
• Deadline for abstract submission: 22 December 2023
• Notification of acceptance: 10 January 2024

For further information, please contact the organising secretaries: Gaetano Cascino and Lucia Rossi at visibilityreclaimed@gmail.com.

Direction and scientific coordination
Carla Mazzarelli (Università della Svizzera italiana, Accademia di architettura di Mendrisio, Istituto di storia e teoria dell’arte e dell’architettura), carla.mazzarelli@usi.ch

Project Partners
Giovanna Capitelli (Università di Roma Tre), Stefano Cracolici (Durham University), David Garcia Cueto (Museo del Prado), Christoph Frank (Università della Svizzera italiana), Daniela Mondini (Università della Svizzera italiana), Chiara Piva (Sapienza Università di Roma)

From ArtHist.net (which also includes the Call for Papers in Italian). . .

Rimini in the 18th Century: Between Art, Science, Antiquarianism, and the Grand Tour
Rimini nel Settecento: Tra arte, scienza, antiquaria e Grand Tour
Online / Università degli Studi di Bologna, Campus di Rimini, 26 January 2024

Proposals due by 23 December 2023

During the eighteenth century, Rimini opened to Europe, becoming a destination for artists, travelers, and curious intellectuals. These visitors came to discover the archaeological and artistic testimonies of the city and to observe its rediscovered natural realities. A center of “European local learning” (Raimondi) in dialogue with Enlightenment Europe, Rimini became a necessary stop of the Grand Tour to and from Rome along the Adriatic coast. Science, art, architecture, and erudite interests acted as catalysts to spotlight the city.

Throughout the eighteenth century, Rimini was in constant relationship with Rome and Bologna, and it thrived thanks to the contribution of many scholars and scientists, including the physician Giovanni Bianchi (1693–1775), refounder of the Lincei in Rimini and papal archiatra of honor, together with his most famous disciples (such as Giovanni Antonio Battarra, Giovanni Cristofano Amaduzzi, Gaetano Marini, Giuseppe Garampi), and the architect Gianfrancesco Buonamici (1692–1759), an antiquary and man of letters, an academician of honor of the Accademia Clementina in Bologna and the Accademia di San Luca in Rome.

This international workshop will investigate the different aspects of Rimini culture and the impact of foreigners on the coastal city through original, unpublished papers. The focus of this study will encompass the testimonies of travelers and amateurs, the role of architects and artists in the exchanges between Italy and Europe. If you would like to participate in the workshop by presenting a paper (20–25 minutes), please send an abstract (as a PDF file) to ilaria.bianchi5@unibo.it and valeria.rubbi2@unibo.it before 23 December 2023. The document should contain the title of your presentation, your name and affiliation, a 300-word abstract, and a brief CV. Applicants will be notified on the acceptance of proposals by 8 January 2024.

Coromandel Screen, Kangxi reign (1662–1722), Qing dynasty, carved lacquer, 258 × 52 × 3.5 cm
(Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001.0660)

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From the City University of Hong Kong, as posted at ArtHist.net:

Unfolding the Coromandel Screen
Online and and in-person, City University of Hong Kong, 22–25 November 2024

Organized by Wang Lianming with Mei Mei Rado

Proposals due by 20 January 2024

With the generous support of the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, the Department of Chinese and History at City University of Hong Kong will host a two-part academic event titled Unfolding the Coromandel Screen in celebration of the department’s tenth anniversary. This four-day event will bring together an international group of art historians, museum curators, conservators, collectors, and global historians to delve into various facets of the Coromandel screen and its intricate histories of interrelations with paintings, prints, decorative arts, palatial and interior designs, global maritime trade, and the fashion industry. The conference, organized by Wang Lianming (City University of Hong Kong) in collaboration with Mei Mei Rado (Bard Graduate Center, New York), will take place on-site at City University of Hong Kong and via Zoom on November 22–23. The keynote speech will be delivered by Jan Stuart, the Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Washington D.C. Following the conference, participants will be invited to join a two-day traveling seminar from November 24 to 25, visiting lacquer and conservation workshops and museum collections in and around Guangzhou.

Context and Scope

During the second half of the seventeenth century, the production of the Coromandel screens, also known as kuancai (‘carved polychrome’), thrived along China’s southeast coast. These screens gained immense popularity domestically and in European markets, fostering connections between regional artisans, merchants, and prominent European figures such as royalty and nobility. In the last two decades of this century, the Coromandel screens emerged as one of China’s most frequently exported commodities, rivaling porcelain and challenging Japanese lacquerware exports. Their significance extends far beyond the general perception of being merely mass-produced craftwork of subpar quality. The conference will focus on two interconnected yet distinct lines of development: the screens encapsulated social cohesion, domestic networks, and transoceanic encounters while simultaneously becoming entwined in global histories that positioned them as coveted commodities, commemorative gifts, sites of maritime connectivity, and evocative artistic expressions originating from the Orient. Following this view, three key areas of investigation are at the forefront of discussions:

A) Transported Visions and Spatial Mobility unravels the role of the Coromandel screens in facilitating visual communication during the early modern world. Drawing inspiration from Aby Warburg’s concept of the ‘Image Vehicle’ (Bilderfahrzeuge, 1932), this inquiry delves into the dynamic and creative exchange of ideas, compositional elements, and ‘pictorial formulas.’

B) Inscribed Surfaces and Social Cohesion delves into the societal aspects of the Coromandel screens within domestic contexts. They were widely circulated as inscribed gifts among middle- and low-ranking, yet affluent, Qing officials stationed on the frontier. Their indexical nature provides a distinct perspective to unravel the interconnected social networks, political gatherings, interactions among officials and merchants, and intertextuality within and across regions.

C) Deconstruction and (Re)Framing: The Afterlives encompasses a wide range of transcultural practices applied to Coromandel screens after their removal from their original context. This scope analyzes and conceptualizes the procedural aspects of integrating Coromandel screens into new displays, such as European palatial interiors, marquetry furniture, and new works of art created by fragmenting, reassembling, refurbishing, and (re)appropriating lacquer panels.

Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
• The mobility, intermingling, and dissemination of certain pictorial formulas through the Coromandel screen, such as the ‘Han Palace’ (estate celebration) or ‘Wenji Returning to Han’
• The interplay between various types of screens, porcelain, lacquerware, carpets, wallpaper, prints, furniture, and other decorative arts
• The interplay between various formats, materiality, and techniques along China’s southeast coast
• Regional divergences in terms of style, motif, lacquer and carving techniques, overall designs, etc.
• Recent discoveries in museum conservation
• The entangled histories with other screens produced in East Asia, such as the Nanban screen, the gilt biombo produced in Macao, and the painted screen in Korea
• Inscriptions, gift-giving, official-merchant interaction, political manifestos, social cohesion, and practices, etc.
• Sawing, reassembling, refurbishing, and (re-)appropriating lacquer panels in new contexts, and other framing practices
• Imitation and transmedial practices, such as leather imitation of the Coromandel screen
• The Coromandel screen’s entanglement with Japonisme painting, haute couture, and the fashion industry
• Theoretical discourses on the Coromandel screen’s valence in Orientalism, transculturalism, and global (art) history, etc.

Proposals from all disciplines are welcome. Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a brief bio, to unravelingcoromandel@googlemail.com by 20 January 2024. Presentations in English or Chinese (with pre-translated lecture notes required) should not exceed 20 minutes. The proposals accepted will be announced in early April 2024.

The Bei Shan Tang Foundation, in conjunction with the Department of Chinese and History of City University of Hong Kong, will cover the costs of lodging and travel. We also encourage speakers who can fund their own travel to participate. For further inquiries, please contact lianming.wang@cityu.edu.hk.

The organizers envision publishing selected conference papers in an edited volume.

Advisory Board
Ching May Bo, City University of Hong Kong
Burglind Jungmann, UCLA
Mei Mei Rado, Bard Graduate Center, New York
Anton Schweizer, Kyushu University
Wang Lianming, City University of Hong Kong
Xu Xiaodong, CUHK Art Museum

From the Call for Papers:

The Public Country House: ‘Treasure of Quiet Beauty’ or a Site for Public Histories?
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 16–17 May 2024

Proposals due by 2 January 2024

§ “I venture to think that the country houses of Britain with their gardens, their parks, their pictures, their furniture and their peculiar architectural charm, represent a treasure of quiet beauty.”  –Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian and former owner of NT Blickling Hall, 1937.

§ “[There is] a growing awareness of the complexity and significance of the country house in all is manifold and multifarious ways, from slavery to gender, the local community to the British Empire, horticulture to transport, politics to recreation.”  –David Cannadine, “The British Country House Revisited,” in D. Cannadine and J. Musson (eds), The Country House: Past, Present, Future (Rizzoli, 2018), p. 15.

§ “Understanding the importance of imperial wealth and artefacts to the purchase, building and furnishing of … country houses underscores how these built environments—far from being exclusively British or English—were shaped by long histories of global interaction.”  –Margot Finn and Kate Smith, “Introduction,” in M. Finn and K. Smith (eds), The East India Company at Home, 1757–1857 (UCL Press, 2018), p. 12.

The British country house: family home or public cultural asset? Glorious exemplar of historic taste or contested site of public history? A visually enthralling historic stage set, or a site to inform understanding of our national histories? There are millions of visits to country houses every year in the UK, and recent events have demonstrated how the public country house is emerging as a new front line of public history. In England, the Country House Scheme, first established in the 1930s by Lord Lothian, has allowed many of the most significant country houses and their estates to transfer ownership to the National Trust through acceptance in lieu of taxation. This has meant that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, country houses—sometimes with their collections—could be saved for the nation to enjoy as a “treasure of quiet beauty.” Nearly ninety years on, the research landscape surrounding country houses has transformed, encompassing topics beyond questions of patronage, the histories of interior taste and style, to also address collective histories of people and place, and local, regional, national and global histories and object provenance.

The country house is no longer only a unique index of aristocratic or elite artistic and architectural taste over time, it is also a living cultural resource for its increasingly diverse audiences. How are these multi-layered sites—at once former and present family homes, public museums, heritage attractions, and exemplars of global exchange networks in microcosm—curated, presented and interpreted in the present? What does this shift and the accompanying research mean for the way these sites present and interpret their houses, gardens and collections? And what might the country house of the future look like?

Taking place online and at the V&A South Kensington on 16th and 17th May 2024, this two-day conference explores what role the country house plays in our national understanding of social and global histories, art and culture, and the axes of change around which such sites are turning, including diverse audience expectation, the climate crisis, and national historical narratives. The conference will focus on public country houses: i.e. those owned, opened, and managed by charitable organisations with an obligation to provide public benefit.

The Public Country House: ‘Treasure of Quiet Beauty’ or a Site for Public Histories? will bring together an international community of colleagues working across heritage, museums, arts and culture, and academia to explore the past, present, and potential future/s of the country house. Through panels, roundtable discussions, and creative interventions, together we will map the barriers to presentation and interpretation in publicly accessible country houses, share ideas and examples of innovative curatorial and interpretative practice internationally, and develop tools and methodologies for change that cut across disciplinary boundaries. We invite proposals for 15- to 20-minute presentations of any format. We also welcome full panel proposals as well as roundtable discussions, workshops, and creative submissions.

Proposals might engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Researching the Country House
• Narratives of loss and destruction: the history of the saving of the country house in the 21st century, fifty years on from the V&A’s Destruction of the Country House exhibition
• Authenticity: Understanding the significance and preservation of the material past
• The potential for country houses to act as case studies in shared national histories
• Exploring the received family histories of place alongside the plural significance of local, regional, national, and global histories, including of contested histories or marginalised histories

21st-Century Meanings of the Public Country House and Its Evolving Roles
• Imagining and celebrating the country house of the future
• Country houses and estates as the nuclei around which entire communities and big historical moments are contingent
• Climate change, the environment, and the country house
• Country houses as sites of creativity and innovation: the dialogues between historic collections and contemporary art

Evolving Methodologies for Interpretation and Display for a Range of Different Audiences
• The future of country house audiences and visiting trends
• Critique of country house re-presentations for different audiences: national and international case studies
• Tools and methodologies for audience engagement, particularly regarding presentation and interpretation—e.g. immersive and sensory presentation, interpretation and experience

The above themes may be interpreted as broadly or creatively as you wish. We are particularly keen to hear from those working in heritage spaces, museums, galleries, cultural organisations, or as creative practitioners. Abstracts of about 250 words (with a brief bio) should be sent to the project’s principal investigator, Dr Oliver Cox (o.cox@vam.ac.uk) by 9.00am (GMT) on Tuesday, 2 January 2024. We would be grateful if you could also let us know if you have any access requirements (e.g. online-only attendance). If you’re not sure how or where your proposal might fit, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

This conference is part of ‘Private’ spaces for public benefit? Historic houses as sites for research and knowledge exchange innovation, a collaborative project led by the V&A and the National Trust. The project is generously supported by a British Academy Innovation Fellowship Award.

William Burges, H. W. Lonsdale, and Thomas Nicholls, Banqueting Hall, Cardiff Castle, Wales, ca. 1870s.

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From the Call for Papers:

Revivalism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, 19 February 2024

Organized by Peter Lindfield

Proposals due by 24 November 2023

Keynote Speaker: Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin (University of Cambridge)

The past often informs the present in many, interconnected ways. For example, Howard Colvin in his well-known essay on the “Gothic Survival and Gothick Revival” offers a nuanced reading of medieval architecture’s perpetuation in C17–C18 Britain (‘Gothic Survival’) and the style’s quite separate revival. Like the ‘Gothic Revival’, references to and recreations of the past can take many different forms across the arts and humanities; these revivals can leverage mimesis, or perhaps they are more frivolous and based upon loose associationism. Revivals’ form, fidelity, function, and motivation are therefore varied and crucial to understanding and mapping the materiality and ideas from history to its continued relevance, recycling, and recreation in the present.

This conference wishes to examine the legacies of the past and the past’s recreation under the broad label of ‘revival’ across time, place, and discipline: how and why has the past been reworked, recreated, or revived; what are the minimum requirements for work(s) to be considered a revival; can revivals be counter-cultural? The conference also wishes to examine how revivals have been interpreted (both positively and negatively); and how revivals can be and are set against the source material that inspired them.

20-minute papers on any aspect of revivalism across the arts and humanities are solicited for this in-person conference. Proposals that explore interdisciplinary manifestations of revivalism are especially welcome. Topics could include:
• Art, architecture, or applied design
• Literature (fiction and non-fiction)
• Revivalism, pastiche, and forgery
• Historiography of revival
• Interdisciplinary revivals
• Motivation(s) for revivals/ism
• Comparisons between revivals and the revived

300-word proposals should be sent to the conference organiser, Dr Peter N. Lindfield, FSA, Welsh School of Architecture (LindfieldP@Cardiff.ac.uk) no later than 24 November 2023.

From the Call for Papers:

Mind, Body, and the Arts, 1100–1800
Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt, 28 March 2024

Organized by Alexander Wragge-Morley and Carmel Raz

Proposals due by 15 November 2023

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, UK as part of The Arts as Medicine? New Histories of the Arts and Health Research Networking Grant

In recent decades, scholars across the humanities have grown increasingly interested in historical understandings of the effects of art on the mind and body. In the Middle East, for instance, Islamicate medics regarded certain musical modes (maqāmāt) as having therapeutic properties, linking them to states of mind and body thought to depend on the four humors. In pre-modern China, writers such as the Song historian Lu You (1125–1210) identified poetry as a means of healing a mind that was closely interwoven with the body. Meanwhile, in Europe, emotional states such as melancholy, nostalgia, or hysteria were theorized as stemming not only from an imbalance of the humors but also to stimulants ranging from the eerie tones of the glass armonica and the disturbing effects of romantic fiction, to the therapeutic effects of the color green.

This workshop asks whether we can reconfigure our understandings of art and health by decentering modern Western accounts of aesthetic experience and psychology. To this end, it will emphasize global early modern perspectives on the links between the body, health, and artistic production/experience. It will bring historical accounts of embodied experience into dialogue with artistic productions—and their associated cosmologies—found across a wide range of early modern cultures around the world. In particular, it will investigate whether there were links between the notion of balance/imbalance in the body, and the notion of harmony / dissonance in artistic productions and aesthetic experiences.

This conference forms part of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project The Arts as Medicine? New Histories of the Arts and Health, led by Alexander Wragge Morley and Carmel Raz. It will consist of three workshops: this workshop at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics in Frankfurt, Germany and subsequent workshops at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK and at Lancaster University, UK.

For the current workshop, we are soliciting papers that will be submitted for a special issue of a leading peer-reviewed journal in the humanities. Draft versions of those papers will be circulated ahead of the workshop, so that participants can discuss them together. We welcome proposals from scholars working on the period 1100–1800 in (but not necessarily limited to) the fields of: history of science and medicine, musicology, ethnomusicology, anthropology, dance studies, literary studies, the history of music theory, history of art, or literary studies. Funding will be available to assist with the travel and accommodation costs of invited participants. Please send an abstract of 250–500 words by 15 November 2023 to a.wragge-morley@lancaster.ac.uk.