Enfilade

From H-ArtHist:

L’art du diorama, 1700–2000
Culture & Musées: Appel à proposition d’article pour un numéro thématique

Sous la direction de Noémie Etienne et Nadia Radwan

Proposals due by 30 June 2017

Entendu comme un dispositif d’exposition multidimensionnel et multimédia, le diorama est à la frontière de différentes disciplines et catégories d’institutions muséales. Ce dispositif intéresse les anthropologues, les sémiologues, les géographes, mais aussi les chercheurs en histoire naturelle, les préhistoriens, les historiens et historiens d’art. Il interroge également les artistes contemporains, comme le montre la persistance de ce que l’on peut appeler une esthétique du diorama chez des artistes tels que Marcel Duchamp, Edward Kienholz, Marc Dion, ou Thomas Hirschorn.

Les dioramas ont été étudiés comme précurseurs du cinéma (Griffiths, 2002), ou comme dispositifs singuliers dans les domaines des sciences naturelles et de l’anthropologie (Rader, Cain, 2014). Les études postcoloniales, dans le sillage de l’article de Donna Haraway, ont porté un regard critique sur ces installations (Haraway, 1984 ; Mitchell, 1988 ; Çelik, 1992). Pourtant, ces études n’ont considéré que les exemples réalisés en Europe et aux États-Unis, tandis que ces dispositifs sont largement répandus en Amérique latine, en Asie ou au Moyen Orient.

Vingt ans après le numéro consacré aux dioramas par la revue Public & Musées sous la direction de Bernard Schiele (1996) qui questionnait le statut du diorama en muséologie, il importe de réinterroger ces installations. Ce numéro propose de remettre le diorama au centre d’une étude des institutions muséales, en insistant d’une part, sur la matérialité de ces dispositifs (Bennett, Joyce, 2010), et, d’autre part, sur l’identité de ceux qui les fabriquent. Il examinera également les questions liées à l’opérativité symbolique et sociale des dioramas et à leur réception par les publics. Enfin, l’authenticité des espaces ainsi créés sera au cœur des interrogations. Cette question est d’autant plus urgente que de nombreux musées discutent aujourd’hui de la conservation de ces dispositifs qui appartiennent à l’histoire des musées, mais aussi à son futur.

L’objectif de ce numéro est de réunir une série de recherches sur les dioramas entendus comme dispositifs muséographiques singuliers en allant de leur conception à leur réception par différentes catégories de publics. Trois entrées sont proposées :

Sémiotique et Matérialité

Les dioramas donnent une place aux fragments en les organisant dans un système et requalifient la culture matérielle (Kirschenblatt, 1998). Peut-on avec profit les aborder comme des assemblages (Bennett, 2010), des agencements (Bennett et alii, 2017), ou encore, pour reprendre un terme de l’art contemporain, des installations ? Nous nous intéresserons ici aux caractéristiques formelles de ces dispositifs : peut-on établir une grammaire des dioramas ? Quels en seraient les éléments, vu l’hétérogénéité des matériaux (cire, plâtre, bois), des médiums (peinture, sculpture, taxidermie), mais aussi des registres (réalistes, poétiques, etc.)? Enfin, comment les différentes échelles (maquette, mini-diorama, taille réelle, dispositifs monumentaux) déterminent-elles l’usage et la pratique des dioramas ?

Acteurs

On accordera une attention soutenue aux acteurs de ces dispositifs — qu’ils soient artistes, scientifiques, artisans, identifiés ou non. La carrière des sculpteurs, peintres, taxidermistes, photographes, décorateurs ou anthropologues, leur statut en tant que praticiens à la croisée de diverses disciplines, le rôle qu’ils ont joué dans la définition de leur pratique ainsi que les enjeux de la conception des dioramas, retiendront notre attention. En dehors des trajectoires individuelles et collectives, il sera possible d’examiner les réseaux transnationaux par lesquels s’effectue la transmission de savoirs à la croisée des approches scientifiques et artistiques : de plus, du point de vue d’une histoire sociale des métiers, on mettra en évidence les négociations et redéfinitions des identités professionnelles que ces projets collectifs et interdisciplinaires engendrent.

Réceptions

Les dioramas sont des lieux privilégiés de transmission, mais aussi d’élaboration — et parfois de contestation — des discours scientifiques et historiques, en marge d’autres espaces de production des savoirs (foires, université, livre, etc.). Quel est l’impact des dioramas sur les publics et comment saisir la réception de cette forme dans divers musées à une échelle globale ? Réciproquement, quelle est la portée des publics sur la transformation de ces dispositifs ? Les dioramas ont aussi une dimension esthétique, qui semble avoir inspiré de nombreux artistes. On s’interrogera enfin sur les récits ou encore les images que suscitent ces installations, pour questionner leur portée sensorielle et cognitive sur les imaginaires.

Références

Jane Bennett. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Durham : Duke University Press, 2010.

Tony Bennett et Patrick Joyce. Material Powers: Cultural Studies, History, and the Material Turn. London : Routledge, 2010.

Tony Bennett, Fiona Cameron, Nélia Dias, et alii. Collecting, Ordering, Governing: Anthropology, Museums, and Liberal Government. Durham : Duke University Press, 2017.

Zeynep Çelik. Displaying the Orient: Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth-Century World’s Fairs. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1992.

Alison Griffiths. Wondrous Difference: Cinema, Anthropology & Turn-of-the-century Visual Culture. New York : Columbia University Press, 2002.

Donna Haraway. « Teddy Bear Patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden Even, 1908–1936 ». Social Text 11 (1984–85): 19–64.

Barbar Kirschenblatt-Gimblett. Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1998.

Timothy Mitchell. Colonizing Egypt. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Karen Rader et Victoria E. M. Cain. Life on Display: Revolutionizing U.S. Museums of Science and Natural History in the Twentieth Century. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2014.

Envoi des résumés

Merci d’adresser vos propositions d’articles sous la forme de résumés (environ 5000 signes) par courriel avant le 30 juin 2017 à Noémie Etienne (noemie.etienne@ikg.unibe.ch), Nadia Radwan (nadia.radwan@ikg.unibe.ch) et Marie-Christine Bordeaux (mc.bordeaux@wanadoo.fr).

Les résumés comporteront :
• La revue Culture & Musées un titre
• 5 références bibliographiques
• les noms, adresse électronique, qualité et rattachement institutionnel (Université, laboratoire) de leur auteur.e.

Calendrier

Fin juin 2017 : réception des propositions (résumés)
Début juillet 2017 : réponse aux auteurs et commande des textes aux auteurs retenus
Fin octobre 2017 : réception des textes
Janvier 2018 : réponses définitives aux auteurs et propositions éventuelles de modifications
Avril 2018 : réception des textes modifiés et navettes éditoriales
Décembre 2018 : publication

Contact

Noémie Etienne
noemie.etienne@ikg.unibe.ch
Université de Berne
Institut für Kunstgeschichte
Hodlerstrasse 8, CH-3011 Bern

La revue Culture & Musées

Culture & Musées est une revue scientifique transdisciplinaire à comité de lecture. Ses publications sont orientées vers des travaux de recherche inédits sur les publics, les institutions et les médiations de la culture. Depuis 2010, elle possède une dimension internationale car elle est indexée à l’INIST et sur les bases Arts and Humanities Citation Index (Thomson Reuters). Les contributions, regroupées autour d’un thème, font de chaque livraison un ouvrage collectif chargé d’approfondir un thème ou une question. La revue est co-éditée par l’Université d’Avignon et les éditions Actes Sud.

Directeurs de la rédaction

• Frédéric Gimello-Mesplomb, directeur de publication, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse
• Eric Triquet, directeur adjoint de publication, Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse
• Yves Winkin, directeur de rédaction, Musée des arts et métiers, CNAM
• Marie-Christine Bordeaux, directrice de rédaction, Université Grenoble Alpes

From the conference website:

Building the Scottish Diaspora: Scots and the Colonial Built Environment, 1700–1920
University of Edinburgh, 17–18 November 2017

Proposals due by 24 July 2017

This symposium takes as a point of departure, colonial cultures of Scottish entrepreneurship operating and building in the hemispheres of the Atlantic and the India-Pacific from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It seeks contributions that explore Scottish traders, merchants, agents, missionaries and others influential in colonial arenas of the Atlantic and India-Pacific ‘worlds’, especially within the analytical frameworks of regional, oceanic, and World/Global historiography, methods of cultural and historical geography, as well as economic and business history. We are interested in research that maps diasporic networks—familial, professional, entrepreneurial, religious etc.—and their material presence with a view to better understanding the significance of Scottish modes of operation, particularly (but not exclusively) those that demonstrate their achievement as entrepreneurs in a networked, international environment. In sum, we seek a range of disciplinary perspectives on the spatial and material dimensions of Scottish entrepreneurship in the colonial arena.

Related questions include (but are not limited to): how do we begin to understand the particular Scottish contribution to the colonial built environment, and why is it important? Does reference to a ‘British’ empire in this context too readily encourage coagulation, even confusion, especially where clear ethnic predominance was seen to occur? And how might architecture have been used to forge, or even dissolve, distinctive forms of Scottishness within the wider limits of British identity? Please send paper abstracts of no more than 300 words, plus a brief bio of 150 words, to buildscotdiaspora@gmail.com by 24 July 2017.

Saint-Cloud to Bernardaud: New Horizons in French Porcelain, 1690–2000 
The French Porcelain Society Symposium
The Wallace Collection, London, 20–21 October 2017 

Proposals due by 15 June 2017

From top left: Saint-Cloud Vase, 1695–1710 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art); Bastien & Bugeard Clock, 1848–58 (Paris: Musée des Arts décoratifs); Mennecy Jug, 1760 (London: Victoria and Albert Museum); Villeroy Monkey, 1745 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art); Guérhard & Dihl Vase, 1797–1804 (Clandon Park, National Trust); and Bernardaud Vase, 2015, by Hervé Van Der Straeten.

The French Porcelain Society is pleased to announce this year’s two-day symposium, entitled Saint-Cloud to Bernardaud: New Horizons in French Porcelain, 1690–2000. It will be chaired by Dr Aileen Dawson, former Curator, The British Museum, London, and will take place on 20–21 October 2017 at The Wallace Collection, London. The symposium will present new research on French porcelain factories outside royal or state control. At times unjustly neglected in favour of the royal manufactory at Sèvres, these earliest factories operated from the late seventeenth century; many continue in production today. They include, but are not limited, to Saint–Cloud, Villeroy, Mennecy, Niderviller, the Paris factories, such as Dihl, Schoelcher and Dagoty, and Limoges factories operating during the 19th century and up to the present day. Subjects for consideration include: locations, size, capitalisation, techniques of manufacture, employment of artists and designers, marketing, and clientele, each deserving of greater scholarly attention.

The French Porcelain Society encourages networking between academic researchers and museum professionals. Proposals are welcomed from doctoral candidates in art history as well as curators, collectors, and researchers; we are also pleased to receive papers from colleagues working in literature, philosophy, and history. Speakers confirmed to date include Sonia Banting, Howard Coutts, Aileen Dawson, Virginie Desrante, Nicole Duchon, Cyrille Froissart, Errol Manners, Audrey Gay-Mazuel, Hélène Huret, Tamara Préaud, and John Whitehead.

Themes for papers may include
• History of collecting (public and private) and connoisseurship
• Historical, political and socio-economic background to French porcelain production
• Design sources, production trends, fashion
• Cross-cultural influences
• Porcelain used as diplomatic gifts
• Domestic uses, tablewares and the history of dining
• Literary and theatrical themes, especially in figure production
• Porcelain as sculpture at Niderviller and other factories
• The art market

Papers should be between 20 and 50 minutes in length and fully illustrated. They may be presented in English or French. Please send a 300-word abstract with a short CV in the form of a PDF file to Aileen Dawson at aileendawson@hotmail.com by 15th June 2017.

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From H-ArtHist:

Imago Multitudinis: The Image of the Multitude in Art and Philosophy
The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 10 March 2018

Proposals due by 15 September 2017

The Courtauld Institute of Art, The British Academy and the Collège International de Philosophie are pleased to announce a one-day interdisciplinary conference focusing on the philosophical representation and the artistic conceptualisation of the multitude and its associated concepts: the many, the masses, the crowd, the mob, and the commonality.

A spectre is haunting our times: the spectre of the multitude. Uprisings, popular unrests, mass migrations, revolutions—the past ten years have been marked by unprecedented quests for freedom, embodied by unconventional political subjects pointing to the possibility of alternative outcomes of the crisis of both authoritarian regimes and representative democracies. Through the masterful drawing of Abraham Bosse, Hobbes attempted to tame the multitude forever. Constrained within the body politic of the monstrous Leviathan (1651), the multitude was transfigured into an obedient people and its potentia was (apparently) usurped. Yet, the multitude resisted—and still resists—this movement, challenging the predominant definitions of sovereignty. Following the collapse of modern master narratives, such as in the nascent seventeenth century, the multitude has returned.

Our investigation revolves around the political and aesthetic meanings of this omnipresent, if elusive, collective being. In particular, we would like to ask the following questions: how do philosophers represent the multitude and translate their concepts into cogent images? How do artists think about the multitude and its agency? This enquiry, which spans from the Middle Ages to the present, concentrates on the way in which images and iconographic motifs are elaborated in philosophy, as well as how political concepts are articulated in the visual arts. In order to understand the images pervading, and the concepts informing, recent collective political action (from Tahrir Square to the streets of Tunis, New York, Madrid, Ferguson via Rojava and Lampedusa), we intend to focus on their modern and contemporary genealogies. This is not only a historical enquiry. The history of the multitude can help us better understand the present. The aesthetic, agency and ambitions of this political subject do not only survive in books and museums, they also live on among us. The multitude resists, and if this is the conflict that characterises political modernity, then modernity has begun again.

Invited speakers: Horst Bredekamp (Humboldt-Universität); Claire Fontaine (artist); Sandro Mezzadra (Università di Bologna).

We invite submissions on the following topics including, but not limited to
• Political iconography (from the Revolt of the Ciompi to the Arab Spring via the German Peasants’ War)
• Feminism and the multitude
• The multitude in the USSR
• The multitude and the English Civil Wars
• Hobbes’ Behemoth
• Spinoza’s, Machiavelli’s, Negri’s, Deleuze’s and Schmitt’s depictions of the multitude
• The ‘popular hydra’ in nineteenth-century Paris
• Baroque and the multitude
• The multitude and migrations in contemporary art

Please send a title and an abstract of no more than 500 words together with a short CV to jacopo.galimberti@manchester.ac.uk by the 15th of September. Successful candidates will be notified in early October. Papers should not exceed 25 minutes in length.

From the conference website:

European Architectural History Network: The Tools of the Architect
Delft and Rotterdam, 22–24 November 2017

Proposals due by 15 May 2017

The European Architectural History Network (EAHN) is pleased to announce the EAHN’s fifth thematic conference The Tools of the Architect, to be held at Delft University of Technology and Het Nieuwe Instituut HNI (Delft and Rotterdam, The Netherlands) 22–24 November 2017.

Architects have for their activities of drawing, writing, and building always depended upon the potential of particular tools—ranging from practical instruments such as straight edges, French curves, compasses, rulers, and pencils to conceptual tools such as working drawings, collages, photographic surveys, infographics, diagrams, casts, and mass models.

As technologies advanced, the toolbox of architects has changed and expanded. Today architects have an extraordinary array of sophisticated tools at their disposal but also rely on many of same tools as their 18th- and 19th-century peers. Working drawings, pencils, and tracing paper continue to appear in the designer’s studio while their role and potential is being redefined.

Time and time again, architects have engaged with new tools. The quest to find the most appropriate and adequate tools to articulate, test and communicate design ideas has never ended, and in this pursuit architects have appropriated tools from other disciplines, such as art, historiography, sociology, philosophy, computer sciences and engineering. Out of this perspective the tools of the architect have become a field of intense exploration of the encounter of architecture with other disciplinary perspectives.

Inventions and innovations of tools throughout history have not only provided better answers to questions of analyzing and representing the built environment, but they have also pointed to new ways of conceiving and intervening. Ellipsographs made it possible to precisely draw an elliptical space in the 19th century and computer-aided drafting software has allowed for a new conception and construction of complex geometries in the 20th and 21st century. New tools have continuously affected the imagination, character and qualities of architectural projects.

This conference wants to focus on the changing practical and conceptual tools of the architect and their effect on the logos and praxis of architecture. The conference will be structured along three thematic lines:
• The Instruments of the Architect  (i.e. the apparata and equipment of the architect)
• The Tools of Analysis (i.e. the devices to study architecture and the built environment in general)
• The Tools of Intervention (i.e. the devices to intervene in the built environment)

We welcome papers that consider the tools of the architect from this threefold perspective. Papers should be based on well-documented research that is primarily analytical and interpretative rather than descriptive in nature. Abstracts (of 500 words) can be registered and uploaded. Please click here to register.

Time Frame
15 May 2017: Deadline Submission of abstracts
15 June 2017: Notification of Acceptance
1 September 2017: Full papers

Keynote Speakers
Mari Lending (Professor of architectural theory and history, Oslo School of Architecture and Design/ OCCAS: the Oslo Center for Critical Architectural Studies)
Michiel Riedijk (Professor at Chair of Public Building, Delft University of Technology/ Neutelings Riedijk Architects, Rotterdam)

Conference Chairs
Tom Avermaete, Delft University of Technology
Merlijn Hurx, Utrecht University

Organising Committee
Carola Hein, Delft University of Technology
Marie-Terese van Thoor, Delft University of Technology
Koen Ottenheym, Utrecht University
Petra Brouwer, University of Amsterdam
Dirk van den Heuvel, Jaap Bakema Study Centre/ Het Nieuwe Instituut

Scientific Committee
Tom Avermaete, Delft University of Technology
Merlijn Hurx, Utrecht University
Alona Nitzan-Shiftan, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
Maristella Casciatio, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles
Anthony Gerbino, University of Manchester
Sebastian Fitzner, Freie Universität Berlin
Wolfgang Lefevre, Max Planck Institute, Berlin

From the conference website:

Fluctuating Alliances: Art, Politics, and Diplomacy in the Modern Era, 16th–18th Centuries
Technische Universität, Berlin, 21–22 September 2017

Proposals due by 20 May 2017

Macchina per le nozze de il Principe di Asturias e Isabel d’Orleans, Domenico Paradisi, Roma, 1721.

In January 1722 after a few days of heavy rain in Rome the ephemeral ‘macchina d’artificio’ built to celebrate the wedding between the Prince of Asturias and Isabel d’Orleans was finally burnt before the palazzo di Spagna. The machine, designed by Domenico Paradisi, showcased a clear message of unity and power between the former enemies: France and Spain. At the summit, allegories of both countries shook hands before the representation of the Four Continents. This functioned as a gentle reminder to their enemies after the years of turmoil surrounding the War of Spanish Succession, which had deeply affected the balance of power in Europe.

This symposium, Fluctuating Alliances: Art, Politics and Diplomacy in the Modern Era, seeks to explore the role played by prints, drawings, and any kind of artistic production, such as music and literature, which represented the changing alliances among kings, rulers and countries in the fluctuating early modern political environment.. Taking as an example the War of Spanish Succession, but not limited to it, we encourage researchers to explore the uses of art for that purpose.

We invite scholars at all stages of their careers to propose 20-minute presentations, preferably focused on case studies. We encourage proposals that deal with particularly tricky diplomatic encounters and which explain how art helped or, indeed, hindered these negotiations. There is no official language for the conference (we accept English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French), but for the sake of clarity all the communications, as well as the proposals, should be in English.

Candidates are invited to submit their proposals by 20 May 2017 to Pilar Diez del Corral diezdelcorralcorredoira@tu-berlin.de. They should include an abstract (up to 500 words) and a brief CV with recent publications (max. 1 page). Unfortunately, it will not be possible to cover travel and accommodation costs for participants. The scientific committee will inform all the applicants of the final selection by 31 May 2017.

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From H-ArtHist:

Celebrating Female Agency in the Arts
Christie’s Education New York, 26–27 June 2018

Proposals due by 15 July 2017

Following the success of the 250-anniversary conference held in London in July 2016, Christie’s Education is organizing its second academic conference on the theme of women in the arts. The conference will take place at Christie’s, 20 Rockefeller Plaza in New York on Tuesday June 26th and Wednesday June 27th 2018.

From Antiquity to today, women have always played a significant role in the arts and their markets. With this call for sessions, we welcome proposals coming from a wide range of disciplines that would consider women’s diverse contributions to the arts from a transnational and transhistorical perspective. We hope that the sessions will reflect the global and historical diversity of the issues at stake.

This conference is not advocating for a separate history nor an alternative history of art and its markets, but rather we want to look at the central role played by women in the creation, development, support and preservation of the arts and, also how their contribution has changed over time. Sessions should consider globally and throughout history women as artists, patrons and collectors of art and architecture, dealers and brokers, art historians and art critics as well as curators and preservers of culture. From the presence of women in emerging and established art centers to historical aristocratic patronage and back in time to the medieval period and antiquity we hope that the sessions will investigate a diverse range of topics.

We encourage academics across disciplines and art professionals to submit proposals for individual sessions. Sessions will be 115 (4 x 20 minute papers) or 90 minutes (3 x 20 minute papers) in length. Please send a 250/300-word abstract to Dr. Cecily Hennessy (chennessy@christies.com) and Dr. Véronique Chagnon-Burke (vchagnon-burke@christies.edu) by July 15th 2017. We look forward to receiving your proposal.

Left to right: Sir Godfrey Kneller, Queen Caroline of Ansbach, when Princess of Wales, 1716, oil on canvas, Royal Collection Trust; Jean-Baptiste van Loo, Augusta, Princess of Wales, 1742, oil on canvas, Royal Collection Trust; Thomas Gainsborough, Queen Charlotte, 1781, oil on canvas, Royal Collection Trust.

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From the Yale Center for British Art:

Enlightened Princesses: Britain and Europe, 1700–1820
Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and the Tower of London, 29–31 October 2017

Proposals due by 15 May 2017

Co-organized by Historic Royal Palaces, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, in association with the exhibition Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte, and the Shaping of the Modern World, on view at Kensington Palace, June 22–November 12, 2017

Caroline of Ansbach (1683–1737), Augusta of Saxe Gotha (1719–1772), and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818), three Protestant German princesses, became variously Princess of Wales, Queen Consort, and Princess Dowager of Great Britain. Recent research has explored how in fulfilling these roles they made major contributions to the arts; the development of new models of philanthropy and social welfare; the promotion and support of advances in science and medicine, as well as trade and industry; and the furthering of imperial ambition. While local contexts may have conditioned the forms such initiatives took, their objectives were rooted in a European tradition of elite female empowerment.

This symposium, Enlightened Princesses: Britain and Europe, 1700–1820, seeks to investigate the role played by royal women—electresses, princesses, queens consort, reigning queens, and empresses—in the shaping of court culture and politics in Europe of the long eighteenth century. Papers that explore some of the following themes are invited:
• Royal women as political agents
• Royal women: networks and conversations
• Royal women: education, charity, and health
• Royal women as patrons of art and architecture
• Royal women and science
• Royal women: mercantile culture and the wider world
• Royal women as political gardeners

The conference will take place October 29–31, 2017, at Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and the Tower of London. Please send proposals of 400 words maximum, for papers of 25 minutes, together with a short biography of 100 words maximum to samantha.howard@hrp.org.uk.

From H-ArtHist:

Uniqueness and Multiplication: Plaster as an Art Material
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, 10–11 October 2017

Proposals due by 5 May 2017

The study of plaster objects is experiencing a true revival, amongst others attested by the scientific conferences of the past years. Plaster, a material of low value often used for reproductions, has been part of sculpture practice for centuries. The conferences and publications of the past years have discussed a wide range of subjects related to plasters, from the restoration and valorisation of plaster collections to the study and possible implementation of conservation and restoration campaigns.

The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA, Brussels), is the Belgian federal institution committed to the inventory, scientific study, conservation and promotion of the country’s cultural heritage. The Institute, whose chief mission is research and public service, represents a unique instrument for the Belgian heritage, both movable and immovable. Amongst others active in the historical study, conservation and restoration of these objects, KIK-IRPA has partnered up with Epitaaf. Since 1989, this non-profit volunteer organization manages the former sculptor’s and mason’s studio of the Ernest Salu dynasty, active in Laeken (near Brussels) between 1872 and 1983. As a funerary art museum they have a substantial collection of plaster moulds and models that were manufactured in the studio. The wide range of approaches presented on this international conference will allow us to study different aspects of plaster objects.

The conference will take place at the KIK-IRPA in Brussels 10–11 October 2017 and consists of three sessions:

Session 1  Plaster (and plaster moulds), their role and signification within the studio
This session will focus on the role of plaster (as a material for sculpture or architecture), plaster moulds (casts) and plaster models in art history. The following topics could be addressed: plaster for which use, the use and or role of plaster in the artist’s training, in an institutional context (academy, art education) or in that of the studio? The authenticity and position (status) of plaster in the artistic process (design, intermediary state, model, art work)? The added value of plasters, prints and photos in the artist’s studio? The representation or the role of plasters in the practice of the artist’s studio, and more particularly their position within an artist’s oeuvre and its diffusion? The significance or status of plasters as autonomous objects?

Session 2  Plaster collections, their origins, aim, and future
The aim of this session is to put together a survey of existing plaster collections as museum collections, not in the form of an exhaustive inventory, but in order to get a broad and general view of the wide range of differences (and significations) of the collections to get insight in the collection building and composition of the different plaster collections. The lines of approach are the collections’ history and objective. How should one go about their presentation (museology) and what is the status of plaster collections within a public (museum), semi-public (university, academy) or private context (artist’s collection).

Session 3  Conservation and restoration of plasters (and plaster moulds)
This session is the logical continuation of session 2. Due to a renewed interest in plaster objects, regardless of their context, repairing them has once again become a priority. Which conservation and restoration techniques are best suited for plaster and plaster objects? Should a different approach be adopted with regards to their presentation and status (within art history or as an educational tool)? Can the material or technique used tell us more about the period, place of origin or author of the plaster? These topics are preferably evoked through case studies and examples of best practices, by choice concerning so-called masterpieces. The official language of the conference is English (submissions in French or Dutch are also accepted).

Candidates are invited to submit their proposals to Géraldine Patigny (geraldine.patigny@kikirpa.be) by May 5th 2017. This should include an abstract (up to 300 words) and a brief CV (max. 1 page). The conference organizers are unable to cover travel and accommodation costs for speakers. Interested parties are encouraged to apply for aid from their respective institutions. The Scientific Committee will inform all the applicants of the final selection on June 16th 2017.

Scientific direction
Géraldine Patigny (KIK-IRPA)
Tom Verhofstadt (vzw Epitaaf)

From H-ArtHist:

Die Barocken Pfarrkirchen und ihre Dekoration
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 23–25 October 2017

Proposals due by 30 April 2017

Im Rahmen der Forschungsgruppe „Baroque Ceilling Painting in Central Europe (BCPCE)“ veranstaltet das Institut für Kunst- und Musikhistorische Forschungen der ÖAW gemeinsam mit dem Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, dem Königgrätzer Landkreis und dem Verein Omnium von 23. bis 25. Oktober 2017 in Wien ein Symposium zu den malerischen Ausstattungen von Pfarrkirchen katholischer und lutherischer Konfession. Die Veranstaltung greift damit ein in der kunsthistorischen Forschung sehr stiefmütterlich behandeltes Thema auf, standen doch bisher vor allem die zum Teil weitgespannten Dekorationen der Kloster- und Wallfahrtskirchen im Zentrum des Interesses.

Die Analyse der wandfesten Malereiausstattungen—gleichsam als Kerngeschäft der BCPCE—macht in diesem Fall nur im Rahmen einer breiten historischen Kontextualisierung Sinn. Allgemeinhistorische und kirchenhistorische Rahmenbedingungen sind als Voraussetzung ebenso zu diskutieren wie theologische und liturgische Aspekte. Der Zeitraum ist durch die Konfessionalisierung im 16. Jahrhundert einerseits und die josephinischen Reformen im späten 18. Jahrhundert vorgegeben; der geographische Raum mit dem zum Großteil habsburgisch regierten Mitteleuropa sowie mit Mitteldeutschland—also mit wesentlichen Teilen des Alten Reichs.

I  Rechtliche Situation und institutionelle Organisation
Grundlegend ist hier die Frage nach der kirchenrechtlichen Entwicklung der Pfarrkirche und ihrer Funktion im Laufe der Zeit. Die katholische Kirche macht einen Unterschied zwischen den (den Stiften inkorporierten) Klosterpfarren und den bischöflichen Pfarren. Gab es zwischen Bistum und Stift Auffassungsunterschiede und Konflikte (etwa in Bezug auf Kirchensteuer, Pfründe, Stolgebühren)? Anders liegen die Verhältnisse bei protestantischen Pfarrkirchen: Es gibt lediglich Kirchen mit Gemeinde und solche ohne Gemeinde. Eine kirchenrechtliche Unterscheidung existiert zwischen den Bauten nicht. Der weltliche Landesherr ist gleichzeitig oberster Bischof, von ihm getroffene Regelungen sind nur für seine Landeskirche verbindlich. Welche Rolle spielten die Landesfürsten in der Organisation des Pfarrkirchenwesens? Welche Auswirkungen hat die Organisation des religiösen Lebens in den Pfarren (Bruderschaften und die von ihnen vorgenommenen Stiftungen) auf Architektur und Ausstattung der Pfarrkirchen bei Katholiken, Lutheranern und Reformierten?

II  Räume der Herrschaft
Der funktionelle Radius und damit die angesprochene Öffentlichkeit von Pfarrkirchen sind im katholischen Bereich wesentlich weiter gefasst als bei Schlosskapellen, Bischofs- oder Ordenskirchen. Dies führt zur prinzipiellen Annahme, dass die Pfarrkirchen in vielleicht höherem Ausmaß als die anderen Kirchentypen Orte von Überlagerung vielfältiger Ansprüche auf Herrschaft gewesen sein könnten. Auf dieser Annahme basierend ergibt sich eine Reihe von Fragen: Existieren Herrschaftsinteressen und entsprechende Strategien von Seiten der Orden, der bischöflichen Kanzleien bzw. der protestantischen Patronatsherren in Bezug auf die Pfarren und der mit ihnen verbundenen
Rechte? Welche Rolle spielt katholischerseits die Pfarrkirche in der fein abgestimmten Hierarchie der Kirchenbauten von der Bischofskirche bis zur kleinen Filialkirche. Welche Auswirkungen haben Interessen der kommunalen Verwaltung, aber auch der Landesherren für Architektur und Ausstattung, im Besonderen der Deckenmalerei? Werden von der Obrigkeit andere Interessen kommuniziert als in den großen Wallfahrts- und Klosterkirchen? Im lutherischen Bereich stellt sich die Frage nach der Einflussnahme auf die Kirche und ihre Ausstattung durch die Gemeinde, den Patronatsherrn oder auch den Landesherrn.

III  Räume der Theologie
Gerade mit dem Medium der Decken- und Wandmalerei sollten im Rahmen der Tagung an Hand ausgewählter Fallstudien zu katholischen und lutherischen Pfarrkirchen die theologischen, liturgischen und territorialen Konfessionsspezifika und ihre künstlerischen Reflexe beleuchtet werden. Etwa: Hat die unterschiedliche Auffassung von der Heiligkeit des katholischen bzw. protestantischen Sakralraums Auswirkung auf die formale Beschaffenheit der Pfarrkirchen? Ergeben sich daraus Tendenzen einer Normierung oder Typisierung von Architektur und Ausstattung? Man weiß, dass das lutherische Bekenntnis zur Realpräsenz Christi am Altar ihren (katholisch anmutenden) Niederschlag im Altarbau der lutherischen Pfarrkirche gefunden hat. Ist diese göttliche Realpräsenz auch in der Deckenmalerei reflektiert? Oder bleibt letztere didaktisch der Auslegung des Wortes verpflichtet? Öffnet sich in der lutherischen Pfarrkirche die Decke in den Himmel gleich der katholischen, oder findet man dort lediglich ein Bild des Göttlichen? Gibt es in den katholischen Pfarrkirchen spezifische, an der Deckenmalerei manifeste Programme oder entsprechen sie weitestgehend den Themenbereichen in den Ordens- und Bischofskirchen? Ist die jeweilige Ordensspiritualität in den Ausstattungen der Pfarrkirchen fassbar?

IV  Räume der Vergangenheit und ihre Neuausstattung
Ein spezifisches Problem der barocken Ausstattung von Pfarrkirchen mit Malerei und Skulptur besteht im signifikanten Umstand, dass es im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert keineswegs flächendeckend zu Neubauten von Pfarrkirchen gekommen ist. Aus verschiedenen Motiven heraus wurden ältere, vorwiegend spätmittelalterliche Bauten weiter als Pfarrkirchen benutzt und barock ausgestaltet. Dabei konnte sich die Neuausstattung nur auf Bereiche konzentrieren, die nicht in direkten Konflikt mit der mittelalterlichen Substanz gerieten: Die Wand- und Deckenmalerei spielt deshalb im Verhältnis zu Hoch- und Seitenaltären eine nur geringe Rolle. Diese Reduktion erforderte zugleich eine Konzentration auf bestimmte Themen. Die entsprechenden Forschungsfragen und Fallbeispiele sollten sich hier auf die Konflikte und Synergien richten, die sich aus der Koexistenz von Mittelalter und Barock ergaben. Dieser Koexistenz verschiedener Ausstattungen setzt der josephinische Kirchenbau mit seiner strikten Normierung von außen und innen ein deutliches Ende.

Abstracts für Vorträge, nicht länger als eine halbe Seite, gemeinsam mit einem kurzen Curriculum, bis spätestens 30. April 2017 zu senden an Herbert Karner, Herbert.Karner@oeaw.ac.at, und Martin Mádl, madl@udu.cas.cz.