L'Agenda des Médiévistes

Deadline for paper proposals: February 15, 2015

University of Rijeka, Center for Iconographic Studies (Croatia) Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, MA (USA) The American University of Rome (Italy) The Institute for the Study of Culture and Christianity, Belgrade (Serbia) in cooperation with Harvard University (USA)  Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) Gregorian Pontifical University Rome (Italy)  are pleased to announce a  CALL FOR PAPERS  for the Ninth International Conference of Iconographic Studies  ICONS & ICONOLOGY 

It is a two-part trans-continental conference that will be held in Rijeka (Croatia), June 01 – 04, 2015 and in Clinton (Massachusetts),  June 11 – 13, 2015.

Icons, iconography and iconology represent some of the most prominent concepts and research topics of art history. They refer both to a particular artistic practice, to liturgical objects, and to methods of art historical interpretations. Given this multitude of meanings and functions that the concepts of icon, iconic, iconography and iconology imply, it is not surprising that all of them have been interpreted as objects of theological reflection, didactic instruments, media of transmitting visual, aesthetic and metaphysical content, and, finally, as artworks in the modern sense of the word.  The conference seeks to explore and discuss recent development in the dialogue between theology, art history, philosophy and cultural theory concerning the ways we can perceive and interpret icons, iconography and iconology. It is also our objective to offer an insight into the development of iconographic studies and related disciplines, and to reflect upon their future development in the broader context of the humanities. We welcome academic papers that will approach icons, iconography and iconology in an interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse way. The themes and subjects can include the following:
• Icons, iconography and iconology: “Western” and “Eastern” perspectives
• Sacred and profane icons
• Reverse perspective: formal and metaphysical dimensions
• Icons as a medium and metaphor
• Icons of power, icons as power
• Icon and modern culture
• Icons and film and digital media
• Icons and the “canon” of modern art • Modern and contemporary icon painting
• Theological and philosophical reception of icons
• Iconoclasm(s)

Paper proposals should be submitted for both parts of the conference electronically to cis@ffri.hr

Contact person: Petra Predoević Center for Iconographic Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Rijeka Sveucilisna avenija 4 51 000 Rijeka Croatia E-mail: cis@ffri.hr
A paper proposal should contain:  1. full name, institution, affiliation, address, phone number(s), e-mail address 2. title  3. abstract (maximum 2 pages – 500 words)

Deadline: February 15,  2015

Fees for conference:
RIJEKA – there will be NO registration fee  CLINTON – there will be a 100 USD fee  Administration and organizational costs, working materials, lunch and coffee breaks during conference as well as all organized visits are covered by the organizers. All presented papers will be published in the thematic issue of the IKON journal in May 2016.
Please contact us for any additional information.

Source de l’information : Medieval Art Research

Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (IMEMS) Aberystwyth-Bangor
Biennial conference, 3rd-5th September 2015, Bangor University

Keynote Speakers:
Michal Biran (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Daniel Carey (National University of Ireland, Galway)
Judith Jesch (University of Nottingham)

The meeting points between travel, mobility, and conflict are numerous. Travel can be a conflictual experience; in medieval Europe, movement may be perceived as being restricted to travel motivated by the exigencies of piety, pillage, or trade. It would however be too easy to suggest a clear binary between a medieval state of stasis and the more leisurely travel and exploration in the early modern period. Until relatively recently, domestic travel and voyages to the wider world remained dangerous undertakings. Utopian fiction and travel writing are two genres that have been closely aligned by scholars who recognise how these genres reshape medieval discourses on the ideal state for an early modern audience. Weary travellers arrive at geographically unspecified places comprising ideal societies, but these ideal societies occupy a liminal space between fiction and reality: these spaces are ultimately unattainable due to the imprecision and prevarication present in the narrative. This draws to focus tensions within documenting imaginary travel and the material world. Far from being a site of concord, they become spaces of conflict. Travel – whether it is real or imagined, or if it has been implemented for public or private purposes – can be obstructed by conflicts; it remains often restricted and always bitterly debated.

This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars working in the fields of medieval and early modern studies to interrogate the relationship between travel and conflict. Topics might include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Travel in times of war and conflict
• Restricted travel
• Forbidden travel
• Exile and travel
• Colonial encounters
• Piracy
• Travel, subterfuge and deceit
• Conflict of body and mind in travel
• Travel, religion and conversion
• Conflicting readings of travelogues
• Debates on travel
• Liminal spaces
• Utopian/Dystopian travel
• Travel and synaesthesia
• Vagrancy
• Matter, materiality and the unreal
• Travel as a violent act
• Remembering and forgetting travel
• Conflict between topography and spatial movement
• Conflict between mapped space and inhabited space
• Language communication and miscommunication
• Pilgrimage or Crusade
• Migration and persecution

We invite abstracts of 200-250 words for individual papers of twenty minutes, or of up to 850 words for panels comprising no more than three papers, to be sent to travelandconflict@gmail.com by 25th January 2015. Please send your abstract in the text of your message, and not in an attached file.

The conference organisers are Rhun Emlyn, Gabor Gelléri, Andrew Hiscock, and Rachel Willie.

Source de l’information : Fabula.org

English version below

Ecole française de Rome, Villa Medicis, Rome
5-7 Mai 2015

Le visiteur qui traverse l’Italie est aujourd’hui encore surpris par la profusion d’armoiries qui couvrent toujours les murs des palais et des monuments publics. Relativement préservé par les grandes campagnes de destruction d’armoiries qui ont marqué l’histoire de l’art héraldique européen, ce patrimoine est une des caractéristiques de la ville italienne. L’histoire de cette mise en signe de la ville, qui retient depuis longtemps l’attention des historiens et historiens de l’art, sans avoir pourtant suscité des travaux à la hauteur du corpus, a fait récemment l’objet de recherches spécifiques qui ont en partie renouvelé les approches et les connaissances, surtout pour l’Italie.

Ces journées ont pour ambition de dresser l’état présent de la recherche et de tenter de faire avancer le sujet, en liant encore plus étroitement l’histoire de la communication héraldique à l’histoire des villes. Ce faisant, elles souhaitent en même temps replacer l’exemple italien dans son contexte européen.

Les armoiries sont un mode d’expression et de communication étonnamment souple et performant. Dans les villes, elles peuvent tout à la fois représenter des individus, des groupes, la communauté urbaine dans son ensemble ou encore le seigneur qui la domine. Ces signes y expriment aussi bien l’unité des habitants – autour des armoiries de la commune et de ses différentes expressions politiques, populi, corps militaire, partis – que leurs divisions sociales ou politiques – en identifiant les différent partis, les groupes sociaux concurrents ou les stratégies de représentation individuelle.

Les processus de mise en signe de la ville, sa chronologie, ses acteurs, ses pratiques et ses enjeux soulèvent de nombreuses questions.

A partir de quand les signes héraldiques occupent-ils l’espace urbain ? Dans quels lieux – publics, privés, sacrés – se retrouvent les armoiries, lesquelles et sous quelles formes ? Est-il possible d’établir une “topographie héraldique” de la ville médiévale ?

Existe-t-il des restrictions pour l’exposition des armoiries dans l’espace urbain, des règlements de leur usage ? Connait-on l’existence des débats sur leurs mises en scène ? Comment les armoiries étaient-elles conçues par les citadins ? Quelles fonctions, quel pouvoir et quelle signification leurs était attribué?

Enfin, certaines régions d’Europe sont-elles plus que d’autres concernées par cette mise en signe de la ville ? Le patrimoine contemporain, qui donne la part belle aux villes d’Italie, est-il le produit d’un effet de source ou le reflet d’un développement particulier de ce système de signe dans un univers politique précis ?

Il s’agira, pour tenter de répondre à ces multiples questions, d’avoir recours non seulement aux témoignages monumentaux préservés ou connus de l’héraldique médiévale mais aussi de s’appuyer sur les différents discours produits sur ces signes dans les sources écrites telles que les registres de villes/Stadtbücher, les lois somptuaires, les sources comptables, les registres juridiques, les chroniques des villes, etc. Si le regard des spécialistes de l’héraldique est indispensable, cette enquête doit également s’enrichir des connaissances et des questionnements des historiens de la ville médiévale.

En traitant le cas italien dans son contexte européen et en confrontant les analyses et les dossiers des différentes approches des héraldistes, historiens de l’art, spécialistes de l’histoire de la culture visuelle et de l’histoire de la ville, nous souhaiterions ouvrir des nouvelles perspectives au sujet des armories dans la ville et proposer de nouvelles pistes pour la recherche à venir.

Les communications pourront être présentées en anglais, français ou italien.

Réponses souhaitées avant le 25 janvier 2015 avec un court résumé du propos (200 mots) en anglais ou français à l’adresse suivante: journees.heraldiques@gmail.com.

Journées co-organisées par le programme Héraldique, emblématique et signes d’identité au Moyen Age (Laurent Hablot, CESCM, Université de Poitiers, École française de Rome) et le projet de recherche La performance des armoiries – Die Performanz der Wappen. Zur Entwicklung von Funktion und Bedeutung heraldischer Kommunikation in der spätmittelalterlichen Kultur, Dilthey-Fellowship de la Fondation Volkswagen (Torsten Hiltmann, Historisches Seminar, Université de Münster).

Soutiens : CESCM-Université de Poitiers ; Projet de recherche « La Performance des armoiries » (FondationVolkswagen), Université de Münster; Ecole française de Rome ; Institut Allemand d’histoire de Rome (DHI Rom) ; Académie de France à Rome.

Heraldry in the Medieval City: The Case of Italy in the European Context
Rome, 5th-7th May 2015

A visitor passing through Italy is surprised by the abundance of coats of arms that still decorate the palaces and public monuments of its cities. Relatively undisturbed by the tides of history that destroyed a lot of Europe’s heraldic heritage, in the Italian cities this heritage is still alive and well. While the development of heraldic signs occasionally caught the eye of historians and art historians, they have never done justice to the multitude and diversity of the existing sources. Recently, however, research has taken an interest in the subject with renewed vigour and approaches, especially in the case of Italy.

The aim of this conference is to establish the current state of research and to advance the subject by linking more closely the history of heraldic communication and the history of cities. To do so, the Italian example shall be put into a European perspective.

Coats of arms are surprisingly flexible and efficient means of communication. In cities, they may represent individuals as well as groups, the urban community as a whole as well as the ruler of the city. Heraldic signs are able to express the unity of the people – through the arms of the town and of its political institutions – as well as their social and political divisions – by identifying different parties, competing social groups and individuals.

The staging of these signs in the city, its chronology, actors, practices and challenges pose many questions:

On the one hand, there are questions concerning the factual representation of coats of arms in the city itself. When did these signs start to appear in urban space? In which places – public, private, sacred – are whose arms to be found? How are they presented? Is it possible to establish a « heraldic topography » of the medieval city?

On the other hand, concerning the way the contemporary citizens thought about the coats of arms and heraldic representation as such. Are there restrictions or regulations for displaying coats of arms in the urban space? Are there debates on the ways to stage coats of arms in the urban theatre? How did the citizens perceive their coats of arms? What functions, what effects, and what significance did they attribute to them?

Finally, are there parts of Europe that were more prone to using heraldic signs in urban contexts than others? Is the rich heraldic heritage of Italian cities the mere result of sources surviving by chance, or does it reflect a particular Italian development?

The conference will attempt to propose answers to these questions, not only by looking at the monumental evidence of medieval heraldry, but also by studying the discourses on these signs in written sources such as city records (Stadtbücher), sumptuary statutes, account books, legal records, city chronicles etc. While the expertise of specialists in heraldry is important, such a survey requires and welcomes especially the knowledge of historians of the medieval city, too.

By situating the Italian example in its European context and comparing the different analyses and approaches of heraldists, art historians, historians of visual culture and historians of the city, this conference intends to propose new perspectives on coats of arms in the city and tread new paths for future research.

Source de l’information : Heraldica