CALL FOR PAPERS
43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
May 8-11, 2008

Transformations in Italian Art
Sponsor: Italian Art Society
Organizer: Kirstin Noreen (Loyola Marymount University)

Session I. Reuse
Chair: Dale Kinney (Bryn Mawr College)

“Reimpiego,” “réutilisation,” “riuso,” “remplois,” “recupero,” “relecture,” “relève,” “citazione,” “tradizione,” “mémoire,” “Gebrauch.” All of these words appear in the titles of the published contributions to the 1998 Spoleto conference on “Ideologies and practices of reuse (reimpiego) in the early middle ages.” This session aims to illuminate the nuances implied by these labels, in particular the connections (or differences) between reuse and recovery, rereading, and “use.” Analogies and distinctions across media (i.e., is a citation like a gem? should we think of it as reused, or just used?) are especially welcome.

Session II. Renovation
Chair: Cathleen Hoeniger (Queen’s University at Kingston)

In medieval parlance, to renovate (renovare) meant to “renew” in both a practical and a more spiritual sense. This session will focus on physical transformations of works of art and architecture performed to accomplish a renovation during the Middle Ages. It is hoped that papers will range widely since medieval renovation encompassed practices as disparate as the total rebuilding of a church, the selective repainting of areas of a painting, and the reclothing of a sculptural figure. Papers should not only describe what was done to transform the art work but also probe the underlying intentions, which may relate to the original or later function of the object and to the desires of patrons.

Session III. Revival
Chair: Thomas E. A. Dale (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

This session concerns instances of artistic and architectural revival in medieval Italy. Papers are invited which consider the ways in which the past both ancient and earlier medieval is represented or re-cast for aesthetic, religious, political and/or institutional reasons. Particularly welcome are papers that challenge conventional explanations of revival or highlight the innovative aspects of the translation process from model to revival.

Session IV. Reform
Chair: Nino Zchomelidse (Princeton University)

Reform (“forming again or anew”), a generally peaceful and organized process to change existing social systems and to return to an imagined pristine state, is a frequent phenomenon in the Middle Ages. This session explores various types of reform (i.e. religious, political, educational) and the potential of the arts for visualizing the ideas of reformatory movements from the Early to the later Middle Ages. Papers addressing concepts of ‘primitiveness’ in medieval culture, historicizing phenomena, such as the re-introduction of ancient cults, the re-use of antique architectural forms, or other strategies that aim to visualize ‘originality,’ and their theoretical grounding, are especially welcome.

Please send 1 page abstracts and an abstract cover sheet (available at http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/Assets/pdf/congress/ACS.pdf) by September 15, 2007: