Call for Paper Proposals for the College Art Association Conference 2012, Los Angeles, CA

Historicizing Somaesthetics:
Body-Mind Connections in the Medieval and Early Modern Viewer

Session Organizer and Chair: Allie Terry-Fritsch, Bowling Green State University (alterrybgsu.edu)

Somaesthetic fashioning, a term used in recent years to point to the purposeful cultivation of the mind-body connections of an individual to heighten aesthetic experience, has emerged recently in art-historical discourse as a means to argue for and to better understand certain contemporary art practices. Richard Shusterman and Martin Jay, for example, have pointed to the somaesthetics of Hip-Hop, Body Art, and Performance Art as practices that encourage a full-bodied reclamation of the viewer’s experience and serve as a means to combat the increasing alienation of the viewer from the work of art. Grounded in John Dewey’s democratic approach to art as experience, the somaesthetic tradition advocates for a renewed interest in connecting the sentient experience to the appreciation of art and life. According to Dewey, in order for this to occur: 1) Art must be integrated into the everyday life of the masses; 2) aesthetic experience must be active and interested, as opposed to Kant’s characterization of the contemplative and disinterested experience; and 3) the body, not just the mind, must be fully engaged with the aesthetic experience.

While the call for somaesthetic engagement, until now, has been decidedly focused on present practices, this session seeks papers that consider how the somaesthetic philosophical tradition can be used to address and examine aesthetic experience in Medieval and Early Modern culture. The foundational aspects of somaesthetic fashioning were common features of viewers’ relationships to art and architecture in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Yet, despite rigorous scholarly attention to Medieval and Early Modern bodies and beholders, discussions of historical art experience remain tied to anthropological notions of “ritual,” “religious practice,” and “performance” or concerned with intellectual traditions that informed the visual process. By historicizing somaesthetics, this session seeks to reconnect the mind and bodies of Medieval and Early Modern viewers and forge a new theoretical construct of the historicized aesthetic experience. Submissions might address, but are not limited to, any of these broad questions: What is at stake in defining Medieval and Early Modern aesthetic experience in “somaesthetic” terms? How did Medieval and Early Modern individuals cultivate aesthetic experience through their bodies? How, apart from the language used to describe such experiences, does such an understanding help to bridge the Medieval and Early Modern viewer to their contemporary counterparts?

Deadline for Paper Proposals: May 2, 2011

Proposals should be sent in hard copy to:
Dr. Allie Terry-Fritsch
Art History, School of Art
Bowling Green State University
1000 Fine Arts Building
Bowling Green, Ohio 43403

Proposals must include:
1) Completed session participation form, found at: http://www.collegeart.org/proposals/2012callforparticipation
2) Preliminary abstract of one to two double-spaced, typed pages
3) Letter explaining speaker’s interests, expertise in the topic, and CAA membership status
4) CV with home and office mailing address, email address and phone and fax numbers. Include summer address, if applicable
5) If mailing internationally, it is recommended that proposals be sent via certified mail

If applicants have any questions, please contact Allie Terry-Fritsch (alterrybgsu.edu)