CFP 23.05.2015

Investigating Regionalist Art Forms in late Empires (Wien, 3-5 Dec 15)

Vienna (Austrian Academy of Sciences), 03.–05.12.2015
Eingabeschluss : 30.06.2015

Michael Falser, Heidelberg

The Picturesque Eye. Investigating Regionalist Art Forms in late Empires

Time & Date: 3-5 December 2015, Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna

International conference in cooperation between the Cluster of Excellence „Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, Heidelberg University (Global Art History) and the Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In association with the DFG-Research Group “Transcultural Negotiations in the Ambits of Art”, Institute of Art History at the FU Berlin

Concept: Michael Falser, Project director at the Chair of Global Art History, Heidelberg University

Regionalism as a means of stabilizing the centre? With this as an overarching question, the conference intends to focus on scientific approaches and artistic projects in the inner-European border areas and outer-European colonies between ca. 1900 and 1950 that tried to stabilize the imperial respective colonial project mostly through two strategies: a) a deliberate “re-valuing” of already existing regional cultural forms, and b) a centrally governed initiation of new, regionalistically shaped art forms. Both of these strategies involve actors who – according to the first working hypothesis of the conference – drew on comparably picturesque, i.e. selective, segmented and ‘agreeable’ directions of the eye. In its intention of broad aesthetic consent among the respective target audience, it was above all geared towards establishing political consensus between periphery and centre.

Grouped around the wider context of WWI and WWII, case studies investigating late-colonial Empires can be concerned with two overlapping regions: a) with border areas within the European colonial powers themselves; and b) with overseas colonies. In the latter, special – though not exclusive – attention will be paid to case studies concerned with Asia (as e.g. British India, French Indochina, and the Dutch East Indies) since on this continent – according to a second working hypothesis – the picturesque directions of the eye, historically as well as aesthetically pre-shaped in Europe, could be transferred to ‘Non-Europe’ in particularly impressive ways.

Concerning the different regionalist forms of culture and art themselves, case studies should especially be dedicated to three thematic areas:
a) the methods applied at the time in disciplines like art and architecture history, archeology, anthropology, etc., which were particularly influential in the colonies
b) the institutional regimes and individual actors specifically involved in the regionalist projects, and
c) the primarily visually oriented methods of selection and documentation (e.g. sketch book and inventory) and techniques governing the picturesque steering of the eye (e.g. photography and film).

Case studies should thus either investigate the concrete procedures of mapping and recording, collecting, salvaging, and displaying of already existing ‘regional’ art forms; or discuss newly commissioned regionalist projects. By this, papers show a focus on those visually constructed and at the same time (culture-)politically consensus-oriented approaches that manifested themselves mostly in architecture, sculpture, painting, arts and crafts, costumes, theatre, dance, photography, film and literature.

The international conference with English and German as working languages takes place from 3 to 5 December 2015 in Vienna. It is a cooperation between the Cluster of Excellence „Asia and Europe in a Global Context – The Dynamics of Transculturality” at Heidelberg University (and its project „Picturesque Modernities“, Dr. Michael Falser) and the Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (with its research cluster “Cultures of Knowledge”, Dr. Johannes Feichtinger and Dr. Cornelia Hülmbauer). The conference is planned in association with the DFG-Research Group „Transcultural Negotiations in the Ambits of Art“ at the Institute of Art History, FU Berlin. It is scheduled as a 2,5 days get-together with thematic panels on two full days (Friday and Saturday, 4-5 Dec 2015), two evening keynotes (on Thursday and Friday, 3 and 4 Dec) and an optional post-conference excursion (Sunday, 5 Dec).

The results will be published as a conference volume, as a joint publication of the Heidelberg Cluster Series “Transcultural Research – Heidelberg Studies in Asia and Europe in a Global Context“ and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Applicants are asked to send a proposal (max. 300 words) to Michael Falser, falserasia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de, until the deadline of 30 June 2015. Please include the title of the contribution, an abstract and a short bio-sketch of the speaker with affiliation and contact details. The decision about the selection of contributions will be announced by the summer.

Conference Homepage: www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/the-picturesque-eye

Call for Paper as PDF (English): http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/Documents/Research_Areas/Research_Project_D/D18/The_Picturesque_Eye__3-5_Dec_2015__Final_EN.pdf

Call for Paper as PDF (Deutsch): http://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/Documents/Research_Areas/Research_Project_D/D18/The_Picturesque_Eye__3-5_Dec_2015__Final_DE.pdf

Quellennachweis:
CFP: Investigating Regionalist Art Forms in late Empires (Wien, 3-5 Dec 15). In: ArtHist.net, 23.05.2015. Letzter Zugriff 29.03.2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/10387>.

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