Call for Papers:
The Multi-Media Middle Ages
International Congress on Medieval Studies
May 9-12, 2013 at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art
Organizers: Melanie Garcia Sympson, University of Michigan, and Trevor Martin Verrot, Yale University

Like an image, a medium has the capacity to speak, and different media speak their own language. This panel seeks to focus attention on the media of medieval image-making, whether wood, stone, ivory, glass, parchment or paper, or pigment itself. Medium refers both to the material substratum of a given work, with its array of connotations, and to a capacity to realize and disseminate form and information. It is clear that the medium itself often conveys meaning, and that different media gained significance in relation to one another, whether in composite works or through transferred effects. A discussion of media implies a consideration of change and transformation; new media and new artistic processes affected the production and reception of images and the development of new iconographies. The analysis of media in the medieval period offers an opportunity to examine the connotations of material, and to bring home the point that significance rested not only on the ostensible content of an image but also on its status as an object in a medium.

With this in mind, we invite papers that explore multiple points of departure relating to media. Consider hierarchies among media, for example: While an image may have a life independent of its medium, images rendered in various media seem to have varying worth. Was it a matter of material value alone? Alternatively, to what extent did “accidental” properties of particular media inflect the representation of a single iconography? How did workshop practices, or considerations of labor and artisanry, limit (or stimulate) stylistic change and the development of new iconographies? Relatedly, how were displays of effort and skill registered as value? Could transfers of effect from one medium to another "simulated effects"; add value? And finally, perhaps most fundamentally, is the term media itself still useful in light of recent work within the conceptual framework of materiality?

To propose a paper, please send a one-page abstract and a completed Congress Participant Information Form, available on the Congress website, to one of the organizers. Proposals should be emailed no later than September 15th.

Trevor Martin Verrot: <tmverrotgmail.com>
Melanie Garcia Sympson: <mgarciasumich.edu>