2016 Washington University in St. Louis Graduate Student Art History Symposium
"Endurance, Ephemerality: Art and the Passage of Time"

Inaugural Graduate Student Art History Symposium
Department of Art History & Archaeology Washington University in St. Louis
April 1-2, 2016

Keynote Address by André Dombrowski
Associate Professor, Department of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania

We invite papers that address the relationship between art and time from a broad variety of periods and theoretical approaches in the history of art and architecture. The keynote address will take place on Friday evening, April 1. Paper sessions, followed by response and discussion, will occur on Saturday, April 2.

Time is one of the fundamental conditions of art history as a discipline. We often operate at a historical remove from the periods of our study and continually examine how time has played a role in the lives of objects. This symposium seeks a deeper conceptual engagement with the theme of time and the ways in which its passage has shaped both artistic practice and our understanding of art and material culture. How do artworks register the time involved in their making, and how do they mark the passage of time? How has the intended ephemerality—or permanence—of a specific work been envisioned by individuals and institutions, in either its creation or reception? How have cultural discourses of value regarding the time involved to create an object framed the history of art?

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

- Monumental sites and their lasting effect
- Attitudes toward restoration and conservation choices for art that has disintegrated over time
- Ephemeral art, performance, and happenings
- Discourses on levels of finish in painting and its implications for duration of the object’s production
- Cultivation of the artistic persona through notions of spontaneity versus time-consuming labor
- Speed and slowness in contemporary media
- The biography of an object and its shifts in meaning over time
- Duration of the viewing experience and its impact on the beholder

Current graduate students in art history and related disciplines are invited to submit an abstract (maximum 500 words) for a twenty-minute paper, as well as a current C.V. by December 1, 2015. Please include the title of the talk and level of graduate study. Selected speakers will be notified by December 14, 2015.

Please email materials to GSAHScommitteegmail.com.