BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//NONSGML WPForms//NONSGML Sugar Calendar Feeds v3.11.0//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Conferences 2014 X-WR-CALDESC:Italian Art Society X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Chicago BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 DTSTART:20131103T070000 TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20140309T080000 TZNAME:CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 DTSTART:20141102T070000 TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 DTSTART:20131103T070000 TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20140309T080000 TZNAME:CDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 DTSTART:20141102T070000 TZNAME:CST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Conferences 2014 DESCRIPTION:Diocletian's Palace in the Works of Adam\, Clérisseau\, and Cassas\n27-29 November 2014\, Institute of Art History - Center Cvito Fiskovic in Split\, Croatia. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abs tract"]The Grand Tour\, as an educational rite of passage\, reached its peak in the 18th century\, widening its traveling radius outside of Rom e and Italy onto further parts of the Roman Empire\, among which Dalmat ia held a prominent position. The international interdisciplinary conf erence on architecture\, urban planning\, and architectural decoration aims to explore the role of Diocletian's Palace in the work of Robert A dam\, Charles-Louis Clérisseau\, and Louis-François Cassas\, as well as the influence of Diocletian's palace on the development of European neoclassicism.[/wpex]\n\nLocal Antiquities\, Local Identities: Art\, Lit erature and Antiquarianism in Europe Between the 14th and 17th Centurie s\n13-14 November 2014\, The Warburg Institute\, London. [wpex more="Re ad abstract" less="Close abstract"]Early modern Europe found new fascina tion in the classical past\, but how that past was conceived varied wid ely. This conference will explore diverse notions of antiquity across E urope in the early modern era\, challenging assumptions about a Greco-R oman past and a ‘Renaissance’ that were both universal and monolith ic. It is already well known that multiple ‘antiquities’ informed t he artistic and literary culture of Rome\, Florence and Venice and much recent work has been done on the reception of antiquity in France\, Ge rmany and the Netherlands. Our conference will consider how this resear ch has fundamentally changed the perception of European antiquarianism and further explore the reception of the classical past on the local an d regional level. European communities considered local antiquities as living testaments to their antique origins\, whether real or fictive. They looked not only to Greco-Roman antiquity\, but also to the culture of pre-Roman\, indigenous populations. Cities and regions shaped their notions of the ‘antique’ not only from a classical heritage but al so that of more recent past\, as when medieval objects or texts were be lieved to be ancient or purposely re-fashioned as such. Real or fictive ruins\, inscriptions\, or literary works could be used to demonstrate a particular idea of the ancient past or as a statement of civic pride.  Described in poetry or other texts\, antiquities were central to the  literary traditions of local communities\; works of art and architectur e either redeployed spolia of recognizable local provenance or were c haracterized by a regional concept of the antique. Adopting an interdis ciplinary and comparative method\, the conference aims to investigate s uch issues. We seek abstracts for papers that explore local concepts of the antique in the form of archaeological excavations\, works of art\,  architecture\, or texts. How were local antiquities used to construct a sense of identity for civic bodies or individuals? How did imported  modes of classical revival merge or clash with local idioms? How did lo cal communities respond to or attempt to rival Rome and other heirs to antique traditions? Papers might address issues of competing 'antiquiti es'\, the character and priorities of local concepts of the antique\, o r relationships between concepts of antiquity in various regions. They might also consider wider aspects of the local reception of antiquity\, such as patterns in myths of origins that recur in different areas of E urope. We would welcome any topic dealing with the impact of local conc epts of antiquity in early modern literature\, antiquarianism or the vi sual arts. This 2-day conference organized by Kathleen Christian (The Open University\, Department of History of Art) and Bianca de Divitiis (ERC/HistAntArtSI project\, University of Naples Federico II) will be held at the Warburg Institute in London on Thursday November 13–Frida y November 14\, 2014. Questions should be directed to Kathleen Christia n and Bianca de Divitiis.[/wpex]\n\n\nThe Power of Affections: Poetry\, Music\, and Spectacle in Seventeenth-Century Italian Opera Librettos\n1 3-14 November 2014\, Philadelphia\, University of Pennsylvania\, Kislak Center for Special Collections\, Rare Books and Manuscripts. [wpex mor e="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]An international conference orga nized by the Center for Italian Studies and the Music Department of the University of Pennsylvania in collaboration with the Institute for Music of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice\, Italy. For more on the them e of the conference\, please see the conference website. Questions may b e directed to Mauro Calcagno.  Organizing Committee: Fabio Finotti\, Mauro Calcagno\, Carlo Lanfossi\, Marina Della Putta Johnston. Registra tion Fee: professionals $100\; students $70\; Closing Dinner: $50.[/wpe x]\n\n\nAugustus Through the Ages\n6-7 November\, Brussels. [wpex more=" Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]Augustus through the Ages: receptio ns\, readings and appropriations of the historical figure of the first R oman emperor. Augusti Manes volitant per auras. In 2014\, many academic institutions and museums will celebrate the bi-millennial of the death of Augustus with colloquiums\, exhibitions\, and publications. The life\ , the political ingenuity\, and the era of the founder of the Roman Empi re have not been honored or discussed in this manner since 1937-1938\, w hen an exhibition\, the Mostra augustea della Romanità\, at the instiga tion of the Fascist regime\, celebrated the two-thousandth anniversary o f the birth of the Emperor. Yet the outcome of the re-examinations in 20 14 will not be complete if emphasis is not put on the enduring fame and fortune he experienced in the West\, for this renowned figure created an empire which united\, for the first time\, the Mediterranean with the r egions north of the Alps. The importance of this personage throughout ou r recorded cultural history makes a multidisciplinary approach essential . It is therefore\, as diverse field and period specialists\, that we wi sh to invite our Belgian and foreign university colleagues to bring toge ther their skills and knowledge - in the distinct fields of history\, cu ltural history\, literature\, art history\, semiotics\, etc. - to retrac e the multiple interpretations and appropriations of Augustus from his d eath to the present days. This colloquium will bring together historians \, philologists\, archaeologists\, and art historians of different perio ds to present papers on various topics in accordance with the following guidelines: Receptions of Augustan politics and ideology and their appro priations\; Religious appropriations\; Representations of Augustus in mi xed media (e.g. comics\, television series)\; Augustus in literature and the arts\, or in movies and on the Web\; Memory of Augustus as the "urb an designer" who transformed Rome into a city of marble. Questions may b e directed by e-mail to Marco Cavalieri. Organizing Committee: Pierre A ssenmaker (F.R.S.-FNRS/UCLouvain) Mattia Cavagna (UCLouvain) Marco Caval ieri (UCLouvain/Università degli Studi di Firenze\, SSBA) David Engels (ULB\, Bruxelles) Costantino Maeder (UCLouvain).[/wpex]\n\n\nBramantino and French Rule in Renaissance Lombardy (1499-1522)\n6-7 November 2014\,  Lugano. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]From 28 Septe mber 2014 to 11 January 2015 the Museo Cantonale d’Arte in Lugano will host a major exhibition consecrated to Bartolomeo Suardi\, known as Bra mantino. The exhibition traces the artist’s entire cultural and expres sive itinerary\, from the onset of his career to his very last works. Wo rks of Bramantino will be shown alongside paintings\, drawings\, illumin ated manuscripts\, sculptures and goldsmith’s art which represent\, in a tightly-knit web of exchanges and interferences\, the most important Lombard figurative tendencies within the frame of the Italian Wars and t he French rule of Lombardy (1499-1525). Since the exhibition will consti tute an important opportunity to re-examine the works of Bramantino and of his contemporaries\, the Museo Cantonale d’Arte promotes a two-day symposium to present and discuss the most recent studies of the research ers active in this field. The symposium will take place in Lugano from t he 6th to the 7th of November 2014. The symposium aims at bringing toget her art historical presentations as well as technical and scientific inv estigations reports on specific works. The proceedings of the symposium will then be published in a volume of the series Biblioteca d’Arte Ski ra.[/wpex]\n\n\nBramante and Lombard Quattrocento Architecture\nOctober 2014\, Milan. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]Promoted by Politecnico di Milano\, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani / Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano\, Dipartimento di Stori a\, Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte. On the occasion of the Fifth Centena ry of the death of Donato Bramante (1514- 2014)\, the Politecnico di Mil ano and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore propose to dedicate a day of study to new information and interpretations concerning the many unsolved problem of Bramante’s architecture. The Study-Day\, to be hel d nearly thirty years after the conference promoted by the Università C attolica in 1986 and in collaboration with others intending to celebrate the Centenary\, aims at offering the opportunity for a dialogue between scholars\, particularly younger ones\, by presenting research in progre ss as well as prospects for future investigations. The aim of the Confer ence is two-fold: the 500th centenary of Bramante’s death presents an opportunity to invite scholars to present new work that will update the catalogue of Bramante’s work in Milan and Lombardy\, as well as promot ing at an international level an exchange of ideas and different approac hes intended to calibrate the importance\, or lack of it\, of the presen ce of Bramante in Milan. Questions may be directed to the organizers by email. The Acts of the Study-Day will be published in a monographic iss ue of the journal Arte lombards.[/wpex]\n\nAndrew Ladis Italian Trecen to Conference\n23-25 October 2014\, Georgia Museum of Art and the Lamar Dodd School of Art\, University of Georgia\, Athens\, GA. [wpex more=" Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] This symposium in memory of schol ar Andrew Ladis celebrates both his love of trecento painting and his co mmitment to its display\, study\, and preservation in a museum context. Funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. The conference will open Thur sday evening with a keynote address by Carl Strehlke of the Philadelph ia Museum of Art and feature speakers from various disciplines and count ries\, focusing on the interpretation and technical development of gold- ground painting in Renaissance Italy the following day. The museum will host a trip to Bob Jones University Museum &\; Gallery\, in Greenvill e\, South Carolina\, on Saturday\, October 25\, 10$ per person. The conf erence itself is free and open to the public. To reserve a hotel room at the Athens Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express\, call 800-315-2621 and m ention the “Georgia Museum of Art Trecento Conference.” RSVP by emai l for the conference and/or trip to Greenville.\n\n\nThursday\, October 23\, 2014\, 5:30 p.m.\n2014 Alfred Heber Holbrook Memorial Lecture\, Ca rl Brandon Strehlke\, adjunct curator\, John G. Johnson Collection\, Phi ladelphia Museum of Art\, “Curating the Renaissance”\n\nFriday\, Oct ober 24\, 2014\, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.\nIntroductions by William U. Ei land\, director\, Georgia Museum of Art\, and Shelley Zuraw\, Lamar Dodd School of Art\n\nRika Burnham\, head of education\, The Frick Collectio n\, “Close Study: Madonna and Child by Marco Basaiti”\n\nPerri Lee R oberts\, professor of art history\, University of Miami\, “Strategies for Learning About Gold Ground Painting”\n\nGianfranco Pocobene\, John L. and Susan K. Gardner Chief Conservator\, Isabella Stewart Gardner Mu seum\, “Giuliano da Rimini’s Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints: Technical Discoveries and the Inscription Question”\n\nDianne Modesti ni\, conservator\, Kress Program in Paintings Conservation\, Institute o f Fine Arts Conservation Center\, New York University\, “Problems in t he Cleaning and Restoration of Early Italian Paintings”\n\nWolfgang Lo series\, researcher and project coordinator\, Kunsthistoriches Institut in Florenz\, “Relics\, Processions and Miracles: Benedetto di Bindo’ s Paintings for the Chapel of Relics in Siena Cathedral”\n\nGail E. So lberg\, instructor in art history\, Associated Colleges of the Midwest\, Florence Program\, “The Altarpiece Trade in the Late Trecento: Taddeo di Bartolo and Spinello Aretino”\n\nGeorge Bent\, Sidney Gause Childr ess Professor in the Arts\, Washington and Lee University\, “Adventure s in Advertising in the Florentine Wool Guild”\n\nNathaniel Silver\, a rt historian\, “Making a Splash: Sant'Antonio di Castello and the Anto nines in Trecento Venice”\n\nSaturday\, October 25\, 2014\, 8 a.m.-4:3 0 p.m.\nTrip to Bob Jones University Museum &\; Gallery\, Greenville \, S.C. View the collection of Old Master paintings\; lunch on the groun ds with discussion facilitated by Shelley Zuraw[/wpex]\n\n\nCarlo Fontan a (1638–1714)\, a Celebrated Architect\n22–23 October 2014\, Rome\, Italy. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]This Internation al Conference is organized by Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in collabo ration with Università degli Studi di Roma 2 “Tor Vergata.” The con ference\, to be held at Palazzo Carpegna\, Accademia Nazionale di San Lu ca\, is dedicated to the architect Carlo Fontana (Rancate 1638 – Roma 1714) on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of his death. The protago nist of Roman architecture as the Baroque was waning\, Fontana\, descend ing from a famous dynasty of Ticinese architects\, organized the teachin g and practice of architecture based on the exercise of drawing and geom etry. His workshop thus prefigured modern design studios. The propagandi stic usage of engravings and printed volumes illustrating and diffusing Fontana's works and ideas constituted yet another factor of his modernit y. In fact\, Fontana understood perfectly the dimension of intellectual and creative freedom of the print\, liberating himself from the dependen ce on patrons and from morphological and typological conventions of his time. The projects of Carlo Fontana range from artifacts of domestic use \, interiors\, civil\, religious and military architecture to the most c hallenging urban and territorial infrastructures (ports\, aqueducts\, gr ain warehouses\, etc.). These design and entrepreneurial features are co mparable then to the great architectural studios of the 19th and 20th ce nturies\, confirming Fontana’s actuality. Such an innovative workshop organization attracted students from all over Europe: Johann Bernhard Fi scher von Erlach\, Nicodemus Tessin\, Lucas von Hildebrandt\, Filippo Ju varra\, Francesco Specchi\, and James Gibbs\, to name a few. In Fontana s studio students could learn innovative typologies\, modern and exper imental techniques\, at the same time measuring themselves up to the gre at Roman construction tradition\, both ancient and modern. Their direct contact with monuments was favored by the works Fontana executed on anti que buildings to make them fit for new usages and new representations. P apers will encompass and explore\, but by no means be limited to\, the a bove mentioned aspects\, always bearing in mind the cosmopolitan and Eur opean horizon that characterizes the production\,  teaching\, and  tho ught of architect Carlo Fontana. Questions may be sent by e-mail messag e.[/wpex]\n\nFace\, Faces\, the Phenomenology of Face\n19-22 October 201 4\, Athens\, GA. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]The No madikon Center for the Visual Arts\, Bergen\, NO and The Center for the Ethics of Seeing\, Albany\, NY hosts interdisciplinary conference. In h is Theory of the Film (1952)\, Bela Balázs wrote that “[f]acial expre ssion is the most subjective manifestation of man\, more subjective than speech.” In the close-up\, the Hungarian film theorist and writer saw an image unbound by time and space\, thus identifying the point at whic h the film image could become a concept\, a supremely expressive unit of signification closer than other types of images to thought. In contempo rary visual culture\, the visibility of the face is a given\, and some w ould perhaps claim that its presence has become almost ubiquitous. Consi der for instance that in 2013 Oxford Dictionaries named selfie the word of the year. Yet despite its cultural pervasiveness\, the face remains a curiously overlooked subject of research in the humanities and social s ciences. For this conference\, we invite papers from any discipline that engage with faciality and the face as a phenomenological\, social\, cul tural\, aesthetic\, visual\, literary\, philosophical\, semiotic\, histo rical\, and textual object. Particularly welcome are discussions that ex plore the concept and materiality of the face in the arts\, with their r ich traditions for representing faciality – photography\, cinema studi es\, art history\, literature\, dance\, theatre and performance\, and so cial media and the digital arts. As an aesthetic category spanning a ran ge of different media\, the face often seems potentially self-referentia l. When drawing attention to itself\, the face may become a source of op acity which inhibits the hermeneutic flow\, something which strips away all context until the only thing we are left with is its sheer material presence. The filmic face is also enigmatic. The film theorist Richard R ushton (2002) has observed that we tend to suppose that the face is hidi ng something\, that it represents “a surface haunted by intimations of concealment\, interiority and exteriority.” Taking the impenetrabilit y of the face as its point of departure\, then\, this conference encoura ges submissions on a variety of topics relating to the face and facialit y\, including but in no way limited to the following: the close-up and i ts long history in the moving arts (i.e. Dreyer\, Bergman\, Warhol\, Cas savetes\, Leone\, Godard\, Pasolini\, Tarkovsky\, Egoyan\, Assayas and K iarostami\, to name just a few)\; the face as a mask (the poker face or blackface\, but also in Heidegger’s conception of the image—the Lati n imago—as a death mask)\; the face as a site of ethical encounter in the philosophy of Levinas (face-to-face)\; Deleuze’s notion of the aff ection-image\, or his study of the dismantling of face in the portrait p aintings of Francis Bacon\; the cinematic reaction shot\; the culture of Facebook and the “selfie\;” the portrait genre throughout art histo ry\; the face as pure surface or exteriority (the face of the earth)\; t he face in relation to ethnicity/race/gender\; the digital interface\; t he various permutations of the look/the gaze/the glance\; the face and s exuality\; the face of/face and disability\; iconicity and the face\; th e face and ethics\; the veiled face\; the face and iconophobia – etc. The conference will be held at the Foundry Inn in downtown Athens. This conference is a continued partnership between the Nomadikon Center for Visual Culture\, Bergen\, Norway and The Center for the Ethics of Seeing \, Albany\, New York. The previous conference in this partnership was "T he Ecologies of Seeing\," hosted in the fall of 2012 at The College of S aint Rose\, Albany\, New York. Registration for the conference is $130.0 0. For further information\, contact organizers Mark Ledbetter\, Susan Cumings\, and Theresa Flanigan.[/wpex]\n\nCollecting and New Directions in Museology\n10-12 October 2014\, MEWO Kunsthalle\, Memmingen. [wpex m ore="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]Research in the history of col lecting has often focused on the development and the uses of historical collections of art and artifacts\, their composition and the choreograph y of display. Over the past decade\, the international forum Collecting &\; Display has been investigating diverse aspects of Collecting Hist ory: female collectors\, dynastic ambition\, the role of nature\, or the location of display rooms within the context of princely residences. To celebrate the first decade of our existence as well as the launch of a dedicated series of publications – “Collecting Histories” under th e editorship of founding member Andrea Gáldy\, PhD\, FHistS – we will host a conference dedicated to new directions in the areas of collecti ng\, display\, visitor experience and the use of modern media in today s museums that might or might not dispel with the need to engage with a ctual objects\, and whether and how the engagement with the history of c ollections has influenced and modified contemporary museology. With this event we intend to look forward towards a future\, which oftentimes loo ks bleak due to funding cuts but also offers exciting prospects as far a s the diverse possibilities of display are concerned\; not to forget the rising visitor numbers at many of the great museums worldwide. What is the mission of collections and museums? And\, how does one balance the h istory of collections and the collections themselves against the need fo r outreach activities\, the call for edutainment and popular access in c onjunction with a sustainable use of collectibles? Is there a way in whi ch the past of a collection may point the way towards the best practice in use and presentation of the exhibits? Questions may be directed to D r. Andrea Gáldy and Dr. Axel Lapp. Memmingen is easy to reach by train via Munich or Stuttgart/Ulm as well as by plane to the Allgaeu Airport.[ /wpex]\n\nGiornate Di Studio Su Paolo Veronese\n25 – 27 September 2014 . [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]On the occasion of t he exhibition Paolo Veronese. L’illusione della realtà (Verona\, Pal azzo della Gran Guardia\, 5th July – 5th October 2014)\, curated by P aola Marini and Bernard Aikema\, an international conference will take place to discuss the new points of view on Paolo Veronese as emerged du ring the two monographic exhibitions in London and Verona. A poster se ssion will run simultaneously to the conference.[/wpex]\n\nFamily Patron age in Early Modern Genoa\, Rome\, and Venice (1500–1750)\n8 September \, Rome\, Bibliotheca Hertziana—Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschich te. Study Day. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Among the increasingly monarchic arena of Early Modern Europe\, the powerful Italian cities of Genoa\, Rome\, and Venice are exceptional. Genoa and Venice\, the largest remaining republics in Italy\, predominated the f inancial\, mercantile\, and military spheres of the Mediterranean. Rome ’s religious authority and historical cachet\, along with its sizable territory\, were the foundations of its leading position. All three of these cities stand out for their oligarchic power structures\; while G enoa and Venice were led by governments elected from a restricted book of families\, Rome fostered an aristocracy both parallel to and partici pating in the electoral principle of the Papal court. Therefore\, in th e absence of hereditary lords\, power and prestige was shared among the ruling families. As a result\, in all of these cities\, the families c ould remain powerful even as the government changed. Central challenge s for these cities’ aristocratic families were how to figure their re lationships to local power structures and balancing their own interests against those of the communal state. The particular social-political c ontexts nurtured different forms and strategies of representation than those deployed in monarchic and ducal societies. The oligarchic aristoc racy had to submit to an abstract concept shaped by values and virtues such as equality and liberty rather than to a dynastic authority. Each of these societies experienced turning points when their political stru ctures shifted and opened to new families—be they from outside the ci ty or from non-noble stock—and their ruling classes sought new method s of representation and patronage to assert their role in the changed s ocial scene. The reforms of 1576 to Genoa’s oligarchic government\, t he rising status of papal families in seventeenth-century Rome\, and th e opening of the Libro d’Oro in the context of Venice’s wars agains t the Ottoman Turks in the late seventeenth century were all moments fr om which such changes arose. Against this background\, this study day s eeks to compare the demands and strategies of art and architectural pat ronage among these non-dynastic aristocratic groups. Although Genoa and Venice have often been mentioned in chorus\, they have never been dire ctly and critically compared. Because of their diverse political allian ces and statuses\, the differences in their governmental structures\, a s well as their differing territorial dispositions\, two distinct types of an early modern republic developed. Furthermore\, the exemplary rol e of Rome for the non-monarchic sphere—its permeable system of social ascension—still asks for a more differentiated view. For more inform ation\, please visit: www.biblhertz.it. Questions may be directed to B enjamin Eldredge (Bibliotheca Hertziana) and Bettina Morlang-Schardon ( Bibliotheca Hertziana).[/wpex]\n\nRenovatio\, Inventio\, Absentia Imperi i: From the Roman Empire to Contemporary Imperialism\n11-13 September\, Brussels. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"]At the occasi on of the 75th anniversary of the Academia Belgica Conference organized by the Academia Belgica (Rome)\, with the support of the Belgian Histori cal Institute in Rome\, and the Princess Marie-José Foundation\, an int ernational conference with confirmed keynote speakers: Wim Blockmans (Le iden University)\, Christophe Imbert (University of Toulouse-Le Mirail)\ , Martin Kohlrausch (KU Leuven)\, Christoph Schönberger (Konstanz Unive rsity). Publication of the proceedings will take place after the selecti on and evaluation of the definitive papers. At the heart of the present conference will be the ‘reception’\, ‘Nachleben’ or ‘permanenc e’ of the Roman Empire\, of an idea and a historical paradigm which si nce Classical Antiquity has supported the most widespread claims to obta in and consolidate power. The focus will be on ‘culture’\, this latt er concept intended in a broad sense\, i.e. including not only the arts\ , architecture\, literature etc.\, but also philosophy\, religion and\, most importantly\, discourse. As such\, a wide array of themes will be s ubjected to academic scrutiny. Whereas the main focus will be on Europe and North America\, this conference will also reach out towards non-West ern contexts\, whether or not directly related to the Roman example. A t heoretical and sociological dimension will join\, and ideally integrate\ , the discussion\, by means of the involvement of methodological issues relevant to the conference theme. More specifically\, the following ques tion(s) will receive particular attention: what is our position as resea rchers\, embedded in a contemporary\, often Western\, democratic and cap italist context\; what about the notion of empire itself\, its constitue nt elements and the kind of ideological prerogatives to which it is gene rally subjected\; in other words\, apart from the many historical varian ts and instances of reception of empire\, through which filters can\, an d inevitably do we approach this topic? Because the world has changed ev er more radically since the beginning of the 21st century: after the dis solution of the Soviet Union\, the events of September 11\, 2001 have in augurated a revivified American ‘imperialism’\, whereas at about the same time an essentially economic variant\, driven by ‘emerging’ po wers such as China\, has increasingly contested existing power structure s. In light of such meta-historical awareness\, the present conference w ill as much inform about the nature of the Roman Empire as it will about its historical legacy and\, more importantly so\, those who claim the l atter inheritance throughout the most diverse epochs. Indeed\, by discus sing some highly contrasting views upon this topic\, participants will e xplore issues that are of fundamental importance to the writing\, creati on and negotiation not only of cultural history\, but also of history it self. The conference will consist of a series of thematic sessions\, eac h of which will offer viewpoints originating from the most varied tempor al and geographical contexts. Questions may be sent by e-mail.\n\n\n Session °1: Rome and its heritage. The legacy of the Imperium Romanum i n European culture from Classical Antiquity to the rise of the European superpowers (1st century-19th century CE) In ancient Rome\, the idea of empire was carefully crafted in the late republican and early imperial p eriod and it proved resilient throughout European (and later also Americ an) history. Roman imperial performance became the cultural and politica l hallmark for the aspirations of medieval kings and emperors of the feu dal era\, for rising State power across the early modern period and for European colonial expansion from the sixteenth century onwards. Imagery and rhetoric mirrored the great classical authors and politicians. Roman architecture set the scene for demonstrations of power and ideology. If the renovatio imperii inspired early Western monarchs like Charlemagne\ , it was Roman law that catered for State centralization of the rising E uropean States from the late Middle Ages onwards and laid the foundation s for State power and the authority of the prince\, as well as for the a ttitudes of kings and dukes during the Renaissance. But at the same time ideas of republicanism and resistance against power yielded by one leve l of authority also claimed descent from Rome. Indeed\, as further exemp lified by\, most notably\, the growing interest in the Roman Empire duri ng the Enlightenment as well as under Napoleon I (see also Ingres etc.)\ , the historical exemplum offered by the Roman Empire is of an extremely versatile and multifaceted nature\, and its applicability cannot by any means be confined to one single interpretation.\n Session °2: Radical ly changing perspectives on a historical category: the Roman Empire in t he contemporary era Since the French Revolution\, which\, in a process o f ‘nationalization of the masses’ (Mosse)\, posited the interests of the people at the core of political and societal debate\, the heritage of ancient Rome has been the object of intense negotiation. In this peri od of high stake discussion concerning the boundaries and legitimacy of individual and collective power\, nations and empires were created. Thro ughout the 19th and 20thcenturies\, ancient Rome was a historical predec essor from which lessons could be learnt\, examples drawn. Whereas on a sociological level\, Roman republicanism inspired much fervour\, arguabl y the idea of empire has subsequently been responsible for most of the k ey defining moments in world history: from instances of aggressive natio nalist politics in the nineteenth century to the twentieth-century rise and fall of popular\, fascist and communist power structures\, from the definitive sanctification of the USA as the only real Western superpower in 1945 to its virtual omnipotence during recent years\, from coloniali sm to post- and neo-colonialism\, Roman imperialism has lost none of its relevance\, whether as an historical exemplum or\, alternatively\, as a n ominous caveat. This session intends to further explore the current\, and indeed also future\, fate of the Roman Empire\, offering as it does various assessments of how contemporary civilizations have claimed\, sha ped and also radically rejected\, the cultural heritage of Rome in their struggle for power and legitimacy.\n Session °3: The imaginary empire . Performance and representation of power In the visual arts\, the refer ence to the Roman Empire has always maintained a certain relevance\, whe reby the exaltation of imperialist-monarchic power has continued unabate dly in subsequent epochs\, starting with the medieval Byzantine\, Caroli ngian and Holy Roman Empires. At the same time\, pagan figurative models were adapted in order to meet the ideological requirements of Christian ity\, a process which led to vociferous debate regarding the status of i magery\, as well as\, ultimately\, to instances of iconoclasm. Consequen tly\, the Renaissance has intensified the interest in Graeco-Roman antiq uity\, in search of a pureness which was often more the product of imagi nation than a tangible reality. Through a certain interpretation of Vitr uvius\, attempts were also made to rival with Roman imperial architectur e\, as a testimony and legitimisation of power and authority. Culminatin g in the so-called Querelle des anciens et des modernes\, the appropriat ion of antiquity has indeed remained a core issue in art history through out the centuries. Various explorations and transformations of the highl y realistic formal language of Roman art\, the sublimation of the arts b y totalitarian States and Empires (from Charlemagne to Napoleon\, from S talin to Hitler and Mussolini)\, modern interpretations of artistic theo ries have been founded on the myth of Greek but also Roman antiquity. It is to the exploration of such themes that this session is dedicated\, w hereby participants will trace their presence in the visual arts\, music \, and literature.\n Session °4: Empires without Rome? In contrast to European (and American) empires\, the idea\, and performance\, of empire as inspired by ancient Rome was less obvious outside the Western world. Yet some imperial development in the Islamic world (the Ummayad and Abb asid caliphates in the Middle Ages and the Ottoman empire from the fifte enth century onwards) built on art\, images and administrative concepts of the Imperium Romanum (and its direct successor in the Eastern Mediter ranean\, the Byzantine Empire). In other parts of the world\, classical Rome was only heard from a great distance or was even a foreign concept. This session wants to explore how the idea of empire was lived in China \, the Indian subcontinent\, and in the Islamic World. Did Han\, Tang\, Sung\, Ming or Qin China develop different concepts or performances of e mpire or were Mongol tribal organization or Mughal India with its Islami c foundations influenced\, through their contacts with Abbasid\, Fatimid \, Mamluk or Ottoman empires\, by older Roman ideas? And finally\, when in the course of the 18th and 19th centuries European colonial power inv aded these very different empires\, did the European\, and therefore Rom an\, concept of empire transpire in local culture\, i.e. traditions of r epresenting and performing imperial ideology? Alternatively\, this sessi on will also allow for discussion concerning empire ‘without empire’ : in an era of unprecedented global economic crisis\, in a world that ha s become a ‘global village’\, globalization and international financ ial capitalism have been characterized as the most recent translations o f empire\, of the interplay between personified ‘financial markets’ which herald the advent of a reinvented kind of empire.[/wpex]\n\n\nCult ural Encounters and Shared Spaces in the Renaissance City\, 1300-1700. A Conference in Memory of Shona Kelly Wray\n12-13 September 2014. Univer sity of Manitoba\, Winnipeg\, Canada. [wpex more="Read abstract" less=" Close abstract"]Recent scholarship in the history of information\, art\, and science has emphasized how knowledge and ideas flowed in varied way s and circulated between people of different social status with distinct levels of formal education and access to power. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to explore in greater depth the ways that material spac es of the early modern city functioned to facilitate cultural encounters and the nature of these exchanges. Where did the exchange of knowledge take place (from workshops to streets to bridges to classrooms to market places to churches\, etc.)? Was the physical arrangement of these places conducive to interaction (e.g. openness to street\; benches outside)? H ow open or closed were spaces to different kinds of people? What sort of information did city dwellers and travelers seek and why\; what knowled ge and information did they bring to these encounters and what did they receive? Were ideas shared openly and how was information demonstrated? How did visitors participate (did they simply watch or did they take par t)? We hope to uncover cases of unexpected encounters (in terms of parti cipants and information) by using creatively the surviving evidence (e.g . graffiti\, architecture\, marginalia\, sketches\, books of secrets\, r icordanze\, archival records\, etc.). In addition we aim to illuminate t he ways in which the activities and vocabulary of different spaces perme ated multiple disciplines and discourses (e.g. politics\, poetry\, philo sophy\, etc.)\, often generating new ideas. Speakers: Niall Atkinson (Ch icago)\, Christina Neilson (Oberlin College)\, Nick Terpstra (Toronto)\, Yvonne Elet (Vassar College)\, Nicoletta Marcelli (Macerata)\, Cecilia Hewlett (Monash)\, Roisin Cossar (Manitoba)\, Tom Cohen (York)\, Elizabe th Cohen (York)\, Dario Tessicini (Durham)\, Filippo De Vivo (Birkbeck). Click here for full program. Advanced registration for the conference i s necessary. Please register online by September 1\, including your nam e and institutional affiliation. Due to budgetary restrictions\, lunches are open to presenters and discussants only. This conference is generou sly funded by The Lila Wallace – Reader’s Digest Special Project Gra nt from Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaiss ance Studies and a Connection Grant from the Canadian Government’s Soc ial Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Thanks also to the Univers ity of Manitoba’s Institute for the Humanities and Department of Histo ry.[/wpex]\n\nThe Mobile Spectator: Viewing on the Move\n4-6 July 2014. The University of Nottingham\, Department of Art History. [wpex more="Re ad abstract" less="Close abstract"] In theories of looking at art\, spe ctators are usually assumed to be static\, having arrived at a correct v iewing position before a given work of art. Yet in our experiences of ar t\, vision\, and movement are inseparable. Travel is often a prerequisit e to putting oneself in a position to be able to see something\, or to s ee it properly\; physical effort is required to address the object or im age appropriately. Works of art usually inhabit spaces which necessitate adjustment of the viewer's position. Institutions of art require active engagements such as entering\, scanning\, exploring\, traversing\, peru sing\, surveying\, and other forms of behaviour or gestures. When such c ontingencies of viewing are acknowledged\, the question arises as to whe ther the idea of a static viewer engaged in motionless contemplation is a Modernist\, ocularcentric paradigm that fails to take into account mov ements of the body as a precondition to sight. This conference explored the role(s) of physical movement in creating an art viewer\, among other questions. Is there a difference between 'viewer' and 'spectator'? Does one term imply a more active or passive role than the other? Does eithe r term imply motion? We welcome and encourage studies of all periods and locations. Suggested lines of inquiry include but are not limited to th e following: The language of looking Correct positions: the ideology and practices of viewing positions Anamorphosis: the image as at once coded and controlling Narratives and itineraries of viewing art Instances\, o bjects\, structures that demand a viewer's movement in order to see Sust ained ways of seeing First impressions: the moment of encounter Glimpse versus gaze Modes of scanning and surveying Art History on the run: from biennales to pilgrimage The traversal of surfaces Mobility in digital t erms Stasis and mobility in panoramic vision. Questions should be direct ed to Ting Chang and Richard Wrigley.[/wpex]\n\nCrrs 50th Anniversary Annual Conference: Rethinking Early Modernity: Methodological and Criti cal Innovation Since the Ritual Turn\n26-27 June 2014\, Victoria Univers ity\, Toronto\, Ontario. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstra ct"] The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) celebrat ed its fiftieth anniversary with a conference in honor of Edward Muir \, whose innovative studies of Venetian politics and culture helped to e stablish cultural anthropology and ritual as major analytical frameworks for scholarship on early modern European history. Building from Muir's contribution to the field\, the conference focused on the significance o f the methodological changes that have characterized early modern resear ch in history\, literature\, and art history over the last thirty years and reflected upon how these changes have affected our understanding of the importance of the period. Topics exemplified new directions of crit ical inquiry spurred by the methodological developments over this period \, including the meaning of popular culture\, the role of gender\, micro -history\, the discovery of the body\, the importance of ritual\, and ho w methodological innovations in early modern scholarship—particularly in recent years—have informed changes in the nature of humanities inqu iry\, broadly conceived.[/wpex]\n\nSandro Botticelli (1444-1510): Artist and Entrepreneur in Renaissance Florence\n20-21 June 2014\, Istituto Un iversitario Olandese di Storia dell'Arte\, Florence\, viale Torricelli 5. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] The art of Bottic elli is at the very center of Renaissance scholarship. While iconographi c studies have greatly enhanced our knowledge of the artist’s imagery and its intellectual context\, the complex interpretative literature has obscured our perception of Botticelli as a Florentine citizen\, painter -craftsman\, and entrepreneur. Putting less emphasis on the world of ide as\, this conference sought to address crucial issues in understanding the concrete dimension of Botticelli’s artistic activity. The speakers explored four facets that bring together new trends of investigation: h is working methods and technique\; his drawing practice\; his commercial strategies\; and his relationships with neighbors\, patrons and friends . Over the past decades Botticelli's paintings have been subject to cons iderable technical analyses that have highlighted the painter’s extrao rdinary skills. During the conference new findings were presented\, inc luding the recently discovered underdrawings of the Munich "Pietà". Fur thermore\, his use of drawings on paper and parchment will be re-evaluat ed in terms of their attribution\, style and function. Finally\, the con ference sought to address the complex issue of Botticelli’s painting practice in relation to production costs\, artistic competition\, and so cial factors such as honor\, friendship and reputation. Ties of obligati on\, patronage\, and friendship forged by Botticelli help to explain the more immediate local realities of his career’s development. As to his relationship with Angelo Poliziano\, attention was drawn to the questi on of how Poliziano used to communicate with those around him by means o f a close examination of his teaching methods. For full program of speak ers\, please visit conference website.[/wpex]\n\nInvisible Empires: Ital y and Economies of Exchange\n18-19 June 2014\, Parliament Hall\, St. And rews\, Scotland. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Keyn ote Speakers: Barbara Spackman (University of California\, Berkeley)\; K ate Lowe (Queen Mary\, University of London). At the end of the nineteen th century\, Venetian glass-makers made many of the beads offered by Eur opeans to the inhabitants of the territories they were in the process of conquering. This lucrative trade thus implicated Italy in a colonial pr oject which extended beyond discrete national boundaries. This small bu t resonant example of international entanglement suggests the direction which this interdisciplinary two-day conference\, to be hosted by the It alian Department at the University of St Andrews\, aims to follow. What does it mean to participate in a colonial or imperial enterprise which is not easily identified as a national project? What does it mean for a national culture to inhabit the imperial discourse of another? How do cu ltures and people move in\, and out\, of empire? By attempting to ident ify instances in which Italy came to participate in colonial or imperial projects\, sometimes but not always its own\, we work towards an unders tanding of metropolitan imperial culture as a formation which stretches beyond borders. We are particularly interested in imperial cultures or d iscourses of power which remain concealed\, or at least unacknowledged. The conference explored the following topics: Economic Imperialism: Netw orks of cultural and economic exchange\; Cultural and commercial markets : Visibility and distribution\; Desire and gender\; Language and power\; Imagining Empire in popular culture\; Blackness and Whiteness\; Traces and residues. Questions should be directed to organizers Derek Duncan a nd Emma Bond.[/wpex]\n\nSecond Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissa nce Studies\n16-18 June\, St. Louis\, MO. [wpex more="Read abstract" les s="Close abstract"] The Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance St udies  at Saint Louis University provides a convenient summer venue i n North America for scholars in all disciplines to present papers\, orga nize sessions\, participate in roundtables\, and engage in interdiscipli nary discussion. The goal of the symposium is to promote serious scholar ly investigation of the medieval and early modern worlds. Papers\, sessi ons\, and roundtables on medieval and early modern studies. The plenary speakers for 2014 were John W.Baldwin\, of Johns Hopkins University\, and Robert Hillenbrand\, of the University of Edinburgh.[/wpex]\n\nHist ory of Collecting / Sammlungsgeschichte: Collecting Prints &\; Drawin gs\n13-16 June. Schwabenakademie Irsee\, Klosterring 4\, D – 87660 Irs ee. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Cabinets of print s and drawings belong to the earliest art collections of Early Modern Eu rope. Some of them achieved astounding longevity such as the Florentine Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe at the Uffizi. The fame which they acquired t hen demanded an ordered and scientific display. Keepers were employed to ensure that fellow enthusiasts as well as visiting courtiers\, diplomat s and also artists might have access to the print room. Documenting an e ncyclopaedic approach to knowledge\, prints and drawings often depicted parts of the collection in the form of a paper museum. They spread its f ame\, and with it the renown of its owner\, across Europe and into new w orlds of collecting. Themes of this conference included the importance of such collections for the self-representation of a prince or connoisse ur\; the reliability of the presentation of a gallery’s picture hang i n prints and drawings\; differences in the approach to collecting\, pres entation and preservation of prints and drawings in diverse parts of the world as well as the afterlife of such collections to the present day. International scholars were present\, the conference language was Eng lish. The program included an excursion to the Burg Trausnitz\, Landshut . Click here for conference program and more information.[/wpex]\n\nPe regrinatio Pro Amore Dei: Aspects of Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and R enaissance\n12-14 June\, Denver\, CO. The Rocky Mountain Medieval and Renaissance Association (RMMRA) hosted Pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Pil grimage to Christian holy sites and shrines was a mainstay of western Eu ropean life throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods\, and the jo urneys to places such as Canterbury\, Santiago de Compostela\, Assisi\, Rome\, and Jerusalem informed a devotional tradition that encouraged par ticipation from all social classes\, evoked commentary by chroniclers\, playwrights\, and poets\, and inspired artistic\, iconographic\, and lit erary expressions.  Even when the faith-based culture of the Middle Age s began to transform into the more empirical (and experiential) centurie s of the Renaissance and Protestant Reformations\, pilgrimages were stil l very much on the minds of writers and geographers as a source of both inspiration and criticism (Spenser\, Shakespeare\, Milton\, Bunyan\, Hak luyt\, and Raleigh). Papers and panels addressed the conference theme f rom disciplines within the late antique\, medieval\, Renaissance\, and R eformation periods (c. 4th to 17th centuries) with historical\, literary \, scientific\, archaeological\, and anthropological inquiries of pilgri mage\, especially in the following subject areas:  holy sites and shrin es\; cults of relics and saints\; salvific aspects (healing\, science\, medicine)\; gender studies\; geographical reckoning (faith-based vs. emp irical)\; theological promotion\, dissuasion\, and contestation\; mystic al and philosophical beliefs (and criticism)\; internationality\; secula r vs. clerical approaches\; considerations about (and representations of ) space\; relevant aspects of communitas and liminality\; travel and c ommunication\; and\, finally\, intellectual history. Questions may be di rected to the conference’s co-organizers: Kim Klimek and Todd Upton.[ /wpex]\n\nRenaissance Conference of Southern California (Rcsc)\n7 June\, UCLA\, Los Angeles CA. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract" ] 58th Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Conference of Southern Califor nia. Keynote Speaker Adam Knight Gilbert Director of the Early Music Pr ogram Thornton School of Music\, University of Southern California.[/wpe x]\n\nIntersections: Italy in Music\, Art\, Literature\, and Cinema\n6-7 June\, Turin. International conference sponsored by N.E.V.I.S.\, NeMLA\ , Georgetown University\, CSU Chico\, and The College of New Jersey's Sc hool of Humanities and Social Sciences. [wpex more="Read abstract" less ="Close abstract"] Keynote Speaker: Alessandro Carrera "Cinema and the Aesthetics of the Sublime\," University of Houston. In a world that is m ade relentlessly more composite and multidimensional\, the intersecting of art\, cinema\, music\, and literature can help us re-configure rhythm ically and synergetically the dissonant and discrete realities in which we are immersed. The mathematical concept of the intersection or the vis ual image of a multiple road junction provide us with both a figurative and conceptual framework for the investigation of how our understanding can be solicited intellectually and artistically by boundary crossing\, cooperative practices\, and kaleidoscopic experiences. Art\, literature\ , music\, and cinema in Italy have always pointed towards innovative way s in which to intersect and interact\, producing new experiential and ep istemological paradigms. Intersections aims at exploring Italy’s imagi native and idiosyncratic collaborations in and between the arts\, to rev eal how unconventional contacts\, exchanges\, and relations can implode the limits of the imagination and the creative process\, and ultimately expand the horizon of the known and the knowable. Comparative and interd isciplinary analyses pertinent to Italian and Cultural Studies\, Film st udies and the Arts are welcome and may encompass literature\, Italian-Am erican studies\, history\, art history\, philosophy\, anthropology\, mus ic\, political science\, religion\, gender studies\, and any other relev ant discipline. Possible topics may include but are not limited to the f ollowing:  Music and its Intersection with Culture in Its Various Expre ssive Forms: (from Nono and Berio to Visconti-Prasca\, from Vecchioni an d De Andrè to De Gregori and Pino Daniele)\; Literature: Italian Studie s\, Post-Modernity\, Feminist Theory\, Post-Colonial studies and their i ntersection with cinema\, music\, the arts but also with politics\, cult ural practices\, and socio-economic phenomena. In addition\, theoretical intersections can be drawn from the debate on issues involving Globaliz ation\, Global/Local/Glocal\; Art: Contemporay trends in art (arte pove ra\, post-structuralism\,-post-modernism) as they intersect with music\, literature\, cinema\, architecture\, and urban studies\; Cinema and it s Intersections with Literature\, Art and Music: (from Visconti and De S ica\, to Fellini\, Pasolini\, Bolognini\, Risi\, Rosi\, Bene\, Olmi and the Taviani brothers\, from Salvatores and Costanzo to Martone). Questio ns may be directed to the Organizing Committee by e-mail.[/wpex]\n\nAut ori. Autografia. Autoritratti. Incontro Di Studio: Tiziano. Un Autoritra tto\n5 June\, Venice. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Study day hosted at the Museo Correr\, Sala delle Quattro Ponte\, 15:00 -18:30. In conjunction with the exhibition Tiziano. Un autoritratto\, t he Museo Correr hosted a one-day conference with presentations by Gabri ella Belli\, Ilana Chiappini di Sorio\, Lionello Puppi\, Andrea Bellieni \, Jodi Cranston\, Luba Freedman\, and Joanna Woods-Marsden. Click icon at left to see full program. [/wpex]\n\nCosimo Di Giovanni De' Medici (Magnus Etruriae Dux)\n29-30 May. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Archivio di Stato di Firenze. Much has been written about t he institutional\, economic\, and cultural politics of Cosimo I de’ Me dici’s duchy during the nearly four decades of his rule. However\, onl y in recent years have scholars begun to assess Cosimo I's more personal sphere\, largely thanks to work on the correspondence in the Medici Gra nd Ducal Archive (Mediceo del Principato)\, housed at the Archivio di St ato in Florence. Thousands of letters written by and about the duke pain t portraits as intimate and revelatory as those painted by Agnolo Bronzi no. Details about his personality and his relationship with family membe rs are constantly emerging. These letters also record his physical malad ies and psychological distress\, his cynicism\, his humor\, and his comp assion. They speak of his aesthetic tenets\, intellectual curiosity\, mi litary values\, and culinary predilections. Letters address his obsessio n with his enemies\, his conflicting relationships with foreign regents\ , and his dynastic ambitions. Most importantly\, they shed light on the intricate mechanism of court culture\, which saw Cosimo I at the epicent er of his rule. In an effort to retrace Cosimo I’s personal dimensions \, the Medici Archive Project and the Archivio di Stato of Florence orga nized a two-day conference. In addition to the topics mentioned above\, the following themes were addressed during the conference: • educatio n and humanism • self-representation and identity • family and diplo matic networks • communication and information • collections and dec orum • health and religion • decadence and domesticity • self-pres ervation and self-indulgence. Questions may be directed via email to Ma urizio Arfaioli and Samuel M. Gallacher. Click on the icon at left to vi ew full program. [/wpex]\n\nArt/Object: The Artist\, the Object\, the P atron\, and the Audience\n15-17 May\, Florence. [wpex more="Read abstrac t" less="Close abstract"] The Sixth International Symposium on Psychoan alysis and Art was held in the Salone Magliabechiano of the Uffizi Gall ery and other venues in Florence. The symposium presented a unique inter disciplinary meeting of art\, music\, psychoanalysis\, and neuroscience in conversation about those who make art\, who see it\, and who pay for it. Featured speakers include Stefano Bolognini\, Amy Fine Collins\, Jan e McAdam Freud\, David Freedberg\, Vittorio Gallese\, and Laurie Wilson. For registration and program information visit the symposium website.[/ wpex]\n\nMoving Body Parts: Their Transcendence of Time and Space in Pre -Modern Europe\n11-12 April\, Munich\, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] According to Jean-Cl aude Schmitt\, “the dead have no existence other than that which the l iving imagine for them” – and sometimes\, the living not only force them to exist in their memory but also to persist materially. By keeping the mortal remains above the earth\, by dividing them\, manipulating th em and moving them to different places\, the deceased are assigned a ver y active role within the world of the living. The title of this workshop includes\, however\, also a second “species” of migrating bodily fr agments\, namely body parts that are imagined to be moving by themselves . We are not sure whether the movement of real\, physical body parts can reasonably be linked with the stories of actively wandering body parts as they can be found in hagiography\, secular badges and popular literat ure of the time\, but from our perspective it seems worthwhile to think about it\, the more so as for some years now there has been developing a broad area of research on objects that move and migrate. Within our wor kshop the following perspectives on body parts in pre-modern Europe migh t be addressed: the reasons why body parts were moved\, the way in which they were moved\, how they were visualized\, the nature of the transpor t media\, both visual and material\, the benefits of body parts transcen ding space and time\, which body parts could be imagined to be moving. O rganizers: Romedio Schmitz-Esser (Historisches Seminar der LMU München) \, Urte Krass (Institut für Kunstgeschichte der LMU München)\, and the Munich Research Center Foundations of Modernity. Questions should be di rected to Romedio Schmitz-Esser (Historisches Seminar\, Ludwig-Maximil ians-Universität München\, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1\, 80539 München ).[/wpex]\n\nOthello's Island: The Annual Conference of Mediterranean an d Levantine Cultural History​\n9-12 April 2014\, Larnaca\, Cyprus. [wp ex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] The 2nd annual Mediaeva l and Renaissance Conference "Othello's Island" is organized by academi cs from the Cornaro Institute\, University of Sheffield School of Englis h\, and the University of Leeds School of Fine Art. It was an opportun ity to discuss diverse aspects of this fascinating period in Mediterrane an and Levantine history with colleagues and research students from arou nd the world. As a multi-disciplinary conference\, art\, literature\, an d other cultural studies are all welcome topics\, as are historical stud ies\, archaeology\, cultural and material history\, social history\, and other topics. Although based in Cyprus the aim of the second conference is to expand our investigations into the wider Mediterranean and Levant ine region\, and to also encompass aspects of Byzantine\, Crusader State \, and Muslim cultural and social histories during the Middle Ages and R enaissance. A major strand is Cyprus and/or the Mediterranean in art\, literature and other culture in the period\, including their presence in the work of Shakespeare and other writers. Cyprus is\, after all\, the island of Othello (in a manner of speaking).[/wpex]\n\nExploring the Ren aissance\n3–5 April 2014\, Tucson\, Arizona. [wpex more="Read abstract " less="Close abstract"] The Society for Renaissance Art History at the South-Central Renaissance Conference. Please join us in Tucson for Ex ploring the Renaissance 2014: An International Conference\, the 63rd ann ual meeting of the South-Central Renaissance Conference. The Society for Renaissance Art History sponsored sessions on a wide array of topics re lated to Renaissance art from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuri es. Program participants were encouraged to submit publication-length v ersions of their papers to the SCRC journal\, Explorations in Renaissanc e Culture. Questions may be directed to the website or by email to Car oline Hillard.[/wpex]\n\nPontormo and Rosso Fiorentino: Court Artists in Turmoil\nFlorence\, 4 April 2014. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Clos e abstract"] A one-day conference organized by Andrea M. Gáldy with La uren Johnson and held at the British Institute of Florence to accompany the exhibition "Pontormo and Rosso. The Diverging Paths of Mannerism." T he exhibition was curated by Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali (8 March- 20 July 2014 at Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi). Jacopo Pontormo (Jacopo Car rucci) and Rosso Fiorentino (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo di Gasparre) tr ained with the Florentine painter Andrea del Sarto in the early years of the sixteenth century. During these politically turbulent years after t he French invasion and the cacciata of the Medici\, diverse Florentine governments for and against the Medici rose and fell while two Medici p opes ruled over an increasingly rebellious Christendom. Rosso eventually left Florence for Rome and\, after the Sack of the Eternal City\, moved to Northern Italy and finally to France where he worked at the court at Fontainebleau. Pontormo stayed in Florence apart from a visit to Rome. Sponsored by some of the leading families of Florence\, such as the Capp oni and the Borgherini\, he also received intermittent patronage by the Medici. Eventually he became of the main artists at Cosimo I de’ Medic i's developing court during the early years of the young duke's rule. Ro sso (with Primaticcio) founded the School of Fontainebleau\, whereas Pon tormo established a "dynasty" of Mannerist court painters through his su ccessors Agnolo Bronzino and Alessandro Allori. Both Rosso and Pontormo were responsible for the development of a new painterly style\, the earl y maniera\, which was much influenced by the art of Michelangelo. Relig ious reform and violent political events\, such as the Sack of Rome and the siege of Florence by imperial troops in 1530\, have been used to exp lain the radical departure from High Renaissance art. As young men Rosso and Pontormo set out to revolutionise art\; their religious works of ar t\, in particular\, were considered to be either highly original or down right controversial. This one-day conference sought to explore the oeuvr e of the two artists\, surviving as well as lost\, with a special focus on the works of art brought together for display at the show at Palazzo Strozzi in spring 2014. This conference is intended as an interdisciplin ary forum for discussion in which Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino speciali sts presented new research alongside experts from other fields who wish to take their findings to the art of Early Florentine Mannerism. Questio ns should be directed  to the organizers. Click here to see the progra m.[/wpex]\n\nMediality\n3-4 April 2014\, Annual Spring Conference\, Med ieval and Renaissance Center (MARC)\, New York University.  [wpex more= "Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] New York University’s Medieval and Renaissance Center invites proposals for papers that address the to pic of "mediality" with respect to any medieval or early modern cultural practice or practices. The term mediality refers to a new approach in t he discussion of media. While we ordinarily associate "media" with commu nication – writing\, images\, radio\, TV\, film — the approach captu red by the term mediality shifts the focus to the ways and means of medi ation. It accentuates the fundamental fact that access to history is con ditioned by media. The goal is less to define what a medium is than to d escribe medial situations: moments of the in-between\, in which somethin g is assigned the function of a medium\, and in which mediation occurs o r effects of mediating become visible. The concept of mediality can thus open up our understanding of any historical period and is particularly promising for study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance\, periods that ar e already marked by an intense interest in media\, including the explora tion of the possibilities of mediation and the development of new medial forms. The concept helps us to understand almost any object of study fr om these periods: from professional practices such as the law\, to cultu ral practices such as ritual\, to concrete material artifacts such as te xtiles\, to the threshold between the age of manuscript and the era of p rint. Papers investigating the mediality--the specific “in-betweeness --of any cultural phenomenon are welcome as well as those that investi gate such matters as media awareness\, media interference\, cross medial ity\, media and the senses\, media and power\, and the uses and abuses o f drawing attention to the conspicuous mediality of in any object\, beli ef\, or practice. Questions should be directed to Martha Rust.[/wpex]\n \nThe Production of Ornament: Reassessing the Decorative in History and Practice\n21-22 March 2014\, University of Leeds. [wpex more="Read abst ract" less="Close abstract"] Keynote speakers: Susanne Kuechler\, Profe ssor of Material Culture in the Department of Anthropology\, UCL and Ali na Payne\, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture\, Harvard.  The descriptive terms ‘decorative’ and ‘ornamental’ are in many ways synonymous with superfluity and excess\; they refer to things or mo dalities that are ‘supplementary’ or ‘marginal’ by their very na ture. In the West\, such qualitative associations in made objects inters ect with long-standing and inter-related philosophical oppositions betwe en ‘form’ and ‘matter’\, ‘body’ and ‘surface’\, the ‘p roper’ and the ‘cosmetic’. Accordingly\, this has weighed both on determinations of value in artistic media\, and on the inflexions of rel ated histories – particularly histories of ‘non-Western’ art\, des ign and culture\, where a wide range of decorative traditions are deemed unworthy of critical attention. Yet such frameworks are no more histori cally stable than they are culturally universal. To take one very clear and ‘central’ counter-example\, decoration in some strands of Renais sance architectural theory (Filarete\, Alberti) emerged as a rigorous co dification of meaning\, as an essentially functional (political) languag e. In many ways the history of ornament may itself be seen as a process of marginalisation of such ways of thinking\, and the separation of orna ment from any form of social practice. This two-day conference sought to explore the various ways in which ornament might be regarded as itself productive of its objects and sites. How might the technologies\, techni ques\, and materials of ornament be related to the conception and transf ormation of modes of object-making? How might ornament be understood to inform its objects\, disrupting the spatial categories of ‘surface’ and ‘structure’\, and the temporal models in which ornament ‘follo ws’ making? What are the relations between ornament and representation \, and what is at stake in the conventional oppositions between these ca tegories? What are the roles of ornament in larger dynamics of copying\, hybridisation and appropriation between things? In what ways have pract ices and thinking on ornament staged cultural encounters\, and engendere d larger epistemological and social models? The conference\, with the su pport of the Henry Moore Foundation\, explored the production of orname nt across a broad range of historical and geographical contexts. Questio ns should be directed to Dr Richard Checketts and Dr Lara Eggleton.[/wp ex]\n\nVasari Als Paradigma. Rezeption\, Kritik\, Perspektiven/the Parad igm of Vasari. Reception\, Criticism\, Perspectives\n14-16 February 2014 \, Florence\, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz - Max-Planck-Instit ut\, conference organized by Alessandro Nova and Fabian Jonietz. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] For the past decade and a half\, numerous research projects have rededicated themselves to the ke y sources of art history and to editing and commenting on early art his toriographical writings (Vasari\, Bellori\, Sandrart\, Malvasia). One m ain difference between earlier attempts which dealt with these authors is a current approach which no longer concentrates on factual and docum entary evidence alone\, but which aims to reveal the narrative models a nd literary strategies of such texts as well. This fact may be connecte d to the self-reflexive modes of modern art historical studies and the attention to its own narrative traditions. Hans Belting's "The End of t he History of Art?" (1983)\, in particular\, led to general questions r egarding art historical methodologies - which were followed by various attempts to define the discipline in a new way (under diverging rubrics such as e.g. "kunsthistorische"\, "kunstwissenschaftliche"\, "bildhist orische" or "bildwissenschaftliche Forschung" in German scholarship).  The "Lives" of Giorgio Vasari\, published in 1550 and 1568 respectively\ , have to be acknowledged as an inevitable center of all of these disc ussions. As a purposeful continuation\, the implicit model of reference or the decided rejection\, Vasari serves as paradigm to all art histor ical writings of both the early modern period and modernity. The issues of current art historians (regarding questions such as how specific ap proaches to works of art are conditioned or how historical processes ca n be translated into a narrative) are particularly linked to art histor y's own traditions as an academic discipline\, which in many ways conti nued Vasari's narrative: Such is the case of Jacob Burckhardt\, who com posed his works using excerpts from the "Lives" ("700 tiny notes just w ith quotations from Vasari [...] cut out and put into order")\, Anton S pringer and Herman Grimm\, transforming the artist's biography into a 1 9th-century bestseller\, and many more. And even if there have been num erous attempts to renounce the 'Vasari' of this older tradition\, many of the key concepts of the "Lives" still persist as models in current s cholarship\, being more present ('Renaissance') or less (e.g. the artis tic 'school' of a person or region)\, intensely discussed or almost ign ored. This conference aims for the first time to review Vasari's role i n the formation of theoretical concepts and practices of later 'art hi stories' in its entirety. The proposed time frame covers his early mode rn followers (besides those authors already mentioned above e.g. Van Ma nder\, Houbraken\, Dézallier d'Argenville or Fuseli) as well as the in tensive discussion of the "Lives" in the 19th century\, when the critiq ue regarding Vasari's truthfulness led to historical contextualization by Gaetano Milanesi\, Carl Frey and Wolfgang Kallab. Not only were nat ional differences in the reception of Vasari's work have to be consider ed\, but also how this transformed view of Vasari from 1870/1900 influe nced the generation of Warburg\, Panofsky and Gombrich\, whose studies shaped the modern art historical discipline more than any other. By doi ng so\, this look at the "Lives" as model hopefully explained what rele vance Vasari's concepts still hold for today's interests and practices of art historical studies. Even more crucial\, however\, is the questio n of whether the critical revision of this art historiographical model might also open new perspectives for future challenges of art historica l studies. Questions may be directed to Alessandro Nova and Fabian Jo nietz.[/wpex]\n\nBaldassare Peruzzi and the Figurative Arts\n13-14 Febru ary\, 2014. Biblioteca Hertziana (Max-Planck Institute for Art History) \, Rome. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] The multi-t alented Sienese artist Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481–1536) worked producti vely in Renaissance Rome as architect\, stage-designer\, mechanical engi neer\, and painter. Scholarship on his accomplishments and legacy\, howe ver\, is currently in a state of fragmentation\, where case studies of s ingle works in discreet media lead the research. While much new informat ion has emerged over the last two decades concerning Peruzzi's buildings \, the pictorial activity that was the other center of his career has re ceived far less attention in recent years. As a result\, Peruzzi's place among the artistic and cultural circles of his generation is still know n only partially. With a thematic focus on the figurative arts\, this co lloquium hopes to begin a scholarly dialogue that would lead to fresh av enues of inquiry. The purpose of the colloquium is twofold: to recons ider Peruzzi's figurative oeuvre against questions of artistic practice and critical reception\, and to bring together scholars from across the globe interested in revisiting Peruzzi's figurative works. Download pro gram.[/wpex]\n\nCrusades: Medieval Worlds in Conflict\n28 February - 1 M arch 2014\, Saint Louis University\, Third International Symposium on C rusade Studies. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] Plena ry Speakers: Adrian Boas\, University of Haifa\; Christopher Tyerman\, O xford University. World events continue to bring the subject of the Cru sades to a place of prominence and importance. This surge of interest co mes on the heels of a renaissance in Crusade scholarship that has greatl y expanded our understanding of all aspects of the movement. While a wes tern phenomenon\, the Crusades also represented an interactive episode i n which diverse cultures -- western Christian\, eastern Christian\, Jewi sh\, and Muslim\, among others -- came into contact\, conflict\, and col laboration. The International Symposium on Crusade Studies is organized quadrennially by the Crusades Studies Forum at Saint Louis University to explore and inquire into these questions and dynamics. The Symposium provides a venue for scholars to approach the Crusades from many differe nt perspectives\, to present the fruits of new research\, and to assess the current state of the field.[/wpex]\n\nMedieval and Renaissance Studi es\n6-9 March 2014\, New College\, Sarasota\, Florida. [wpex more="Read abstract" less="Close abstract"] The nineteenth biennial New College Co nference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies program included papers on topics in European and Mediterranean history\, literature\, art\, music\ , and religion from the fourth to the seventeenth centuries. Further det ails are available at the conference website. The conference was held o n the campus of New College of Florida\, the honors college of the Flori da state system.[/wpex]\n\nBack to Conferences &\; Lectures URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.italianartsociety.org/events/conferences-2014/ UID:urn:uuid:63eba417-d583-47f6-a2d9-f7735e5054e1 STATUS:CONFIRMED ORGANIZER: DTSTAMP:20260509T053342Z DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20140306 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20141127 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR